Note: This information is shared with the permission of Philippe Voisin.
Two Main Sources For Endlers In The World At This Time
There are two main sources by which the majority of the worlds Endlers have come from at this time; Adrian Hernandez via Armando Pou (United States) and Philippe Voisin (Netherlands).
The Endlers collected by Armando Pou and distributed by Adrian Hernandez came from the Cumana region of Venezuela.
Most of the Endlers collected by Philippe Voisin (along with his son and friends) came from the Compoma region of Venezuela however he has collected a few Endlers that came from the Cumana region of Venezuela.
About Philippe Voisin
Philippe Voisin has arguably developed some of the most beautiful strains of Endlers available in the hobby today.
Philippe has many strains that he has not yet released onto the hobby and believes that he will likely be the source of approximately 80% of the Endlers in the hobby once he is able to offer the strains he is developing, however, he says that most credit must be given to Adrian Hernandez (Adrian HD) who made Endlers popular.
At the time of writing this post (May 2018), Philippe was 66, married and living in Rodez in the South of France.
Philippe has been raising fish for more than 40 years. In 2008, Philippe’s son Bastien was able to arrange for a trip into Venezuela where he was able to collect 24 Endlers and start his Endler hobby.
Since that time Philippe Voisin has been able to take more trips to Venezuela with his son and several friends.
Despite the dangerous conditions in Venezuela at the time, Philippe, his son Bastien and his friends were able to export many more Endlers and he keeps approximately 70 different patterns or strains of Endlers both Campoma and Cumana.
He has also been able to maintain some natural hybrids including a population of Poecilia sp. “San Jose”, natural hybrids of Puerto La Cruz’s region.
Philippe Voisin’s Fish Room
Some of the Philippe Voisins most popular Endlers, El Tigre, Blue Star and El Silverado Endlers, as well as many others, were originally caught by his son Bastien.
Philippe never mixes Campoma and Cumana Endlers as he says to do so would significantly decrease their value.
Philippe’s fish room is quite small, less than 9 m2 (under 100 square feet) keeping about 70 aquariums most of them are raised in 15-liter tanks (under 4 gallons). In the summertime, Philippe is able to raise his fish in large outdoor tanks.
Not all of Philippe’s tanks are filtered and he does not use substrate however he says that the Endlers don’t seem to mind. He does use plants in his tanks and says his favorite is microsorum which he claims to do quite well for him. He also keeps cryptocorynes in small jars.
Philippe maintains his collection by doing changing about half the water in his tanks every month. He says his water is rather soft but his fish adapt well. He keeps his aquarium temperature between 10° and 26° Celsius ( 50° and 78.8° Fahrenheit) and ideally at 24° Celsius ( 75.2° Fahrenheit).
The main food his Endlers are given are Tetra Discus granules to which he adds rabbits granules (I’m assuming that’s rabbit pellet food), and boiled vegetables consisting of cabbage, salad, and stinging nettle. He also gives his fish live food such as micro-worms and enchytrées and sometimes daphnias.
He says his fish rarely get sick and if it happens he treats them with salt or Ektol Cristal of JBL.
Because Philippe has such a small fish room and so many different strains the number of fish he has available for purchase at any given time is limited.
Good day, I am from South Africa and pure N-Class Endlers is hard to come by. My wife will be traveling to France soon and I have been on the internet trying to find a place or person that could assist. That is how I ended up on your website. Great read regarding Philippe Voisin. Very interesting indeed. You you be able to assist putting me in contact with someone in France that could possibly provide me with 1 or 2 strains of N-class Endlers? Your assistance will be highly appreciated. Thanks
Unfortunately we don’t trade with anyone from France so it would be difficult for me to give a recommendation.
There are several great Facebook groups that have members in that area. You could even try to contact someone directly via Facebook.
Hopefully this helps. Good luck!
This is Tekko Mua Lee from Facebook. Thanks a lot Marty for all the information you just provided! Right now I have Campoma 31, Santa Maria, Campoma NR 17, El Silverado, Blue Star, Staeck and a couple that I created of my own. Majority of the Endlers I got are from this lady name Amy Coughlin, Daniel Grummon, and some unknown from England. That was me just email you the other day if you would sell me some of your albino.
Unfortunately we don’t offer any of our fish for sale at this time. I haven’t been fortunate enough to see or own Campoma Nr 17. I would highly recommend Endlers from both Amy Coughlin and Daniel Grummon.