Poecilia wingei – Endler Myths

Endler Myths

Several of these topics are somewhat controversial among Endler hobbyists. While much of the following information is based on known facts some of the information is purely based on opinion based on our experience with keeping Endlers over several years.

Our goal is not to argue but to share the most accurate and up to date information available. If you have additional facts, a differing opinion, or would like to share another myth I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Endler Myth 1: Endlers Are Extinct In The Wild

When Endlers were first introduced into the hobby it was widely believed that Endlers had become extinct in the wild. This was thought to have occurred due to a loss of habitat because of pollution, and due to storms that were believed to push sea water into much of the Endlers natural habitat.

Although it has been reported that it has been difficult to find any Endlers in the Cumana Region in locations where they were reported to have been captured, Endlers have been found in other areas of the Campoma & Cumana Region in recent years.

Some of these Endlers were captured in locations that are believed to contain wild guppies. Because these Endlers where found in the same waters that contain wild guppies many hobbyist believe that they have naturally hybridized with guppies and therefore cannot be considered pure Endlers.

While there may have been wild guppies in the same waters as Endlers, there is no proof that all of the Endlers that were discovered in those areas are hybrids. Hybridization within separate species in the wild does not always occur in the same manor as do hybrids that are created in confined aquariums.

Endlers can evolve quickly due to their rapid life cycles and how frequently mutations occur. Due to natural changes in the Endlers themselves as well as the possible changes to Endler habitat, I believe it is entirely possible that specific strains that were once found in the wild are now extinct in the wild.

With more and more Endlers being discovered all the time, hybrid or not, I have a difficult time believing that all of the pure Endlers have died and there are no more.

Why do I find this hard to believe, lets look at the reasons they are believed to be extinct.

The lake where they were discovered had become polluted by a dump.

This dump was described by Armondo Pou as an occurrence that happened some time between his visit to Laguna de los Patos in 1998 and 2004. During both visits Armondo Pou collected hundreds of Endlers.

When Armondo Pou revisited Laguna de los Patos in 2004 he noted ” The edges of Laguna de Los Patos had been filled in by building materials and rubbish”.

He described Laguna de los Patos as being four lakes that were heavily polluted. He also noted that “two lakes which now lie on the eastern side of a highway called Autopista Antonio Jose Sucre are somewhat cleaner than those that lie on the western part of the highway”.

Armondo Pou noted that the larger of the two lakes on the eastern side was a “within the mining compound and has very scant vegetation remaining along its fringes. Additionally it has been stocked with Cichlids, which have effectively eradicated most of the Endlers.”

In the smaller eastern lake he reported “a very interesting population of melanistic Endlers. One of these Endlers appeared nearly black from the surface but eluded every attempt I made to net it.”

Armondo Pou named this small pond the “black Endler pond” to help differentiate it from the other ponds.

On the western side of the highway Armondo Pou described the southern most lake to be heavily polluted. He noted that it was so polluted with raw sewage and debris that he could not find any signs of fish life in it.

The northern most lake was described as “the last stronghold of the original endlers. Although also polluted and ranging from milky white to tan in colour, Endlers are very common here.”

He went on to describe a unique find, “From a water hyacinth choked drainage ditch leaving the northern lake of Laguna de los Patos I pulled a small jewel – a single male specimen of the fabled black pectoraled Endlers.”

From the description of the lake from Armondo Pou’s visit to Laguna de los Patos in 2004 it appears that Endlers in that lake are indeed Endangered and could be on their way to extinction.

It is my hope that Endler habitat extends far from Laguna de los Patos where they were first collected. In fact I believe it is likely that they came from another location, perhaps from La Laguna Malagueña or one of the small streams in the area.

The Endlers or Endler hybrids found in other locations in recent years helps indicate that Endlers don’t populate a single area making a single pollution source unlikely to cause the demise of an entire species.

There are several other small ponds and streams around Laguna de los Patos perhaps there are Endlers on some of those locations.

Although there may be Endlers in other locations it’s quite likely that the strains that were found in Laguna de los Patos are gone for ever or at least on their way to extinction.

After raising Endlers for several years I am still amazed at how hardy they are. We even had a time where we had sat aside a 5 gallon bucket of water that contained Java Moss outside for the entire summer. We kept a loose lid on it and the bucket was forgotten until we decided to clean things up in the fall.

Little did we know that some small Endler fry had become trapped in the Java Moss when we picked it out of the tanks and put it in the bucked. Months later we found the bucket and it contained healthy adult Endlers that had produced young fry themselves.

The water in the bucket had evaporated into just a few inches of water and the Endlers had not been fed all summer however they seemed to flourish in such poor conditions. You can read more about what happened here.

My personal experiences with wild guppies also leads me to believe that at least some of the Endlers have survived.

Years ago I was fortunate enough to spend some time in the jungles of the Philippines on the island of Mindanao. During my stay I was able to visit a small town called Banisilan. Cutting through the center of the town was a small stream. The stream was used by the people of the town to bathe and do laundry. It is also where some of the human waste from the town was carried away to the sea.

Although this stream was not a clean, pristine stream at the time it was teaming with wild guppies. I believe Endlers to be every bit as hardy as wild guppies if not more so. If guppies can not only survive but thrive in such polluted environments I would expect that Endlers could do the same.

A typhoon or hurricane caused sea water to wash into the waters where Endlers were believed to inhabit.  Fortunately small numbers of Endlers have been collected at Laguna del los Patos after this occurrence and I don’t believe that all of the Endlers would have been killed from such an event.

I believe this would not be the first time in hundreds or thousands of years that this has occurred. The distance between the ocean and Laguna de los Patos is very small and it likely occurs nearly every time there is a typhoon or tsunami in the area.

Although the water in Laguna de los Patos was once brackish it received water from nearby waterways making it less salty. It is likely that the salinity of the lake fluctuates (as series of small ponds) as water evaporates and is refilled.

Endlers have the ability to adapt to changing amounts of salt concentrations in their water. In fact, like many livebearers, Endlers can be conditioned to live in water that has higher concentrations of salt than the ocean.

While I have no proof because I have never had the opportunity to look for Endlers in Venezuela, I find it difficult to believe that such a hardy and resilient species could be wiped out so quickly and easily.

That being said I believe it is possible if the lake where permanently open to the ocean and the fish did not have time to adapt to the salinity or predators from the ocean.

Maybe Endlers Are Extinct in the Wild!

With all the arguments against pure Endlers being extinct in the wild there is a real possibility that they are in fact extinct and this may not be a myth at all.

Laguna de los Patos and the nearby waterways change dramatically as the seasons change. During the dry season there are only small bodies of water available.

My experience has shown that Endlers can become ill quickly when there is rapid changes in water quality or as their living space becomes overcrowded.

Other locations were Endlers were collected were small canals and ditches. These waterways are not protected from pollution in the same ways they are protected in other countries. Rapid changes in these small waterways could very well cause the demise of the Endlers that live in them.

Although Endlers are being found in other locations majority of them are obvious Endler/Guppy hybrids. There is good cause to believe that even those Endlers that have been recently captured that appear to be pure Endlers may be hybridized with wold guppies.

It is my hope and belief that we have not lost all the pure wild Endlers and there are more beautiful strains waiting to be discovered.

Endler Myth 2: You Should Never Breed Pure Endlers With Guppies

Many people say that you should never breed Pure Endlers with guppies because pure Endlers are so rare that they are Endangered.

I may get a little negative feedback from those who believe differently, however here is why I believe those who want to hybridize Endlers with guppies should do so.

First of all Endlers have never been classified as Endangered. At least not yet. Even if they were endangered, Endlers are so prolific I cannot see how creating new hybridized strains could reduce the numbers of Endlers in the wild nor have a negative affect on the number of pure N Class Endlers being kept in captivity.

Some people claim that if you use fish that you would have used for breeding pure Endlers to breed hybrids you are somehow reducing the number of pure Endlers that would have been produced.

While there is a possibility that this may affect the genetic diversity of Endlers I believe they are so prolific that it is unlikely to affect genetic diversity very much.

I believe that new and exciting hybrids will bring more attention to pure Endlers strains, creating the potential for more hobbyist to desire to breed pure Endlers thereby creating additional genetic diversity for pure Endler populations.

I do however believe there is a real risk to pure Endlers from hybridization. The risk comes from those who would intentionally or accidentally sell hybrids that appear to be pure Endlers. Endler hybrids that are misrepresented as pure Endlers could quickly contaminate colonies of pure Endlers.

For this reason I feel it is extremely important that those who wish to keep pure N Class Endlers get them from reputable breeders and that those breeders should be able to show where their Endlers came from.

I also feel that those who raise hybrid Endlers have a responsibility to clearly state that their Endlers are hybrids if they wish to sell them or offer them to others.

Breeders of pure Endlers that wish to share their N Class Endlers with others have a responsibility to keep their Endlers that they offer to others pure.

Endler Myth 3: Wild Guppies and Endlers are the Same Thing

In order to understand why Endlers are so closely related to guppies it helps to understand a little of the geography where they were discovered.

Although Guppies had previously been described in America, the Guppy, Poecilia reticulata, took on the common name “Guppy” after Robert John Lechmere Guppy discovered the Guppy fish in Trinidad in 1866.

Trinidad is a small island that is approximately 6 miles from the coast of Venezuela.’

Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago could be called the original homeland of the wild guppy.
The original Black Bar Endler as well as other Endler strains where discovered in laguna de los patos in the Cumana region of Venezuela.

Laguna de los Patos consists of several shallow mangrove estuaries that interconnect when the water level rises during the rainy season.

John Endler described the water that Endlers where discovered (re-discovered) in as follows:

“… They were found in (27-30 ° C degrees) deep green waters and harsh hot in a small lake. The bright metallic green is about the only thing a prospective mate can see in this very alga-rich (unicellular). Interestingly enough, a single population of guppies I found in southern Trinidad living in a similar habitat was just starting to develop the metallic green coloration, but it was nothing compared to this species … “

Cumana is approximately 250 miles from the island of Trinidad which was once part of the Venezuela land mass.

The Campoma region, the location where Endlers have been collected by Phillip Voisin & Co. is even closer to Trinidad.

It seems pretty obvious that at one time, perhaps thousands or even millions of years ago, Endlers and Guppies where likely the same fish.

Most hobbyists agree at this point that Endlers are their own unique species. Without getting too technical, this is due to genetic studies that show that Endlers have been reproductively isolated from guppies for thousands or even possibly millions of years.

This is another indication that Endlers did not originally come from Laguna de los Patos as that lake was created only a few hundred years ago.

This genetic isolation is similar the the differences between Swordtails and Plattys.

Some hobbyists believe however that because Endlers can so easily hybridize with guppies that they should not be classified as their own species.

Just like Swordtails and Plattys, Endlers/Guppy hybrids are fertile and will be able to produce hybrid offspring.

Is it possible for there to be pure strains of Endlers in the wild if Guppies are found in the same area? I believe it is possible.

Not only do Endlers look somewhat different than guppies, there are also some differences in the shape of the male reproductive organ (gonopodium) of Endlers vs guppies.

Even where Guppies and Endlers are found in the same waters it’s possible that Endlers would prefer to mate with their own species in the wild.

Endlers & Guppies also have different preferences in water conditions. Guppies seem to prefer clearer and cooler water than Endlers. Endlers seem to prefer dark, hot bodies of water. It’s my belief that these differences have helped to keep the two species separated for thousands of years.

Because of the similarity in their appearance it is easy for those who are unfamiliar with Endlers to confuse wild guppies with Endlers.

While Endlers at first glance appear to be wild guppies their coloration is much brighter with much of the coloration appearing metallic. This is likely due to the dark waters that Endlers prefer to inhabit.

Many Endlers also have what appears to be a sword on the caudal fin however this sword does not always protrude past the clear portion of the caudal fin.

Whether the Endlers found in the wild are pure or hybrids I believe it is important that they should be documented and preserved as they were found in the wild. Given the changing environment and the political situation in Venezuela I feel that work done by aquarium hobbyist may be the only way these wild strains will be preserved.

Endler Myth 4: Endlers Do Not Eat Their Fry

My experience has shown this to simply be untrue. Endlers do in fact eat their own fry.
We have found however that this usually occurs with large, older female Endlers and that younger females or males seldom have any interest in fry.

Once a large female Endler starts eating fry their appetite for Endler fry seems insatiable and is similar to that in large female guppies.

We have never seen a male Endler eat fry although we have seen them chase them from time to time.

Endler hybrids seem to be much more likely to eat all of their fry quite quickly while Endlers are not nearly as interested in eating fry.

Endler Myth 5: Pure Endlers Won’t Jump Out Of Their Tank

Endlers can get quite excited during feeding time or when chasing or being chased by a mate. We have seen Endlers get so excited that they jump out of the water and get stuck to the glass on the side of the tank. Fortunately they always wiggle their way back into the tank.

It seems that Endlers will find the smallest of holes in the tank hood and jump out. This can be a real problem if you keep your aquariums on stands that have tanks above other tanks. it’s important to prevent Endlers or Endler hybrids from jumping into other tanks either of the sides or below the tank and contaminating the genetics of Endlers in adjacent tanks.

Care should also be taken when netting Endlers as the small nearly invisible fry can jump to almost any nearby tank without you even knowing it occurred.

Endler Myth 6: Pure Endlers are More Valuable Than Hybrid Endlers

When it comes to Endlers and just about anything else, Endlers are only worth as much as people are willing to pay for them. We have found that healthy and attractive Endler / Guppy hybrids can sell for just as much as documented pure N Class Endlers. In general the more difficult an Endler or Endler hybrid is to obtain the more expensive it is.

One of the advantage of raising Endler hybrids for sale is you don’t have to worry as much about them becoming genetically contaminated as exposure to other guppies or Endlers simply creates a different hybrid.

While some hybrid Endlers may be worth as much as genetically pure Endlers, this may change as Endler/Guppy hybrids become more commonplace and pure N Class Endlers become more difficult to obtain.

Endler Myth 7: Pure Female Endler Never Have Any Color

This is actually almost always true with a few very rare exceptions.

Female Endlers with any coloration at all is a good indication that the fish have been hybridized with guppies.

There is an exception however. Back when we first started raising Endlers we only had one strain of Endlers, Orchid Endlers.

These Endlers were N Class Endlers that we had purchased directly from Adrian Hernandez (AdrianHD).

We kept no other types of fish and we only had the one strain.

One day we noticed we had one female that had small black markings on her fins and we where concerned that the Orchid Endlers that we had obtained from AdrianHD might have had some Guppy DNA.

We contacted AdrianHD about our concerns and were informed that although it was quite rare it was possible for a female to exhibit a small amount of coloration. You can read more about these unique females here.

After doing some additional research we found that Armando Pou, after collecting hundreds of Endlers, collected a female Endler from the “black Endler pond” that had “black markings on the dorsal and extended dorsal rays”. He also described a female with a “black spot on her side”.

Again this shows how important it is to get your Endlers from a good breeder and that they have documentation showing where their Endlers came from.

Endler Myth 8: N Class Endlers Are Always Wild Type Endlers

Wild type and N Class are actually two different things.

“Wild type” refers to the look of the Endler. A wild type Endler will look similar or identical to those found in the wild.

If you were to take a bunch of different fancy guppies and put them together in a tank after a few years the resulting guppies are will usually be wild type guppies. These guppies are often sold as feeder fish.

This is one of the reasons I feel it is important that careful selective breeding
“N Class” refers to genetic purity. While an N Class Endler is always a pure Endler it does not necessarily look like those found in the wild due to selective breeding.

A pure wild guppy for example looks quite a bit different than a pure fancy guppy. Both of them are pure guppy, however the fancy guppy with it’s bright coloration and large fins has been bred to look quite different than the wild guppy.

It is quite probable due to the Endlers propensity to mutate that Endlers many years from now could look quite different from today’s wild looking Endlers and yet still be pure N Class Endlers.

Resources:
http://endlerpoeciliawingei.blogspot.com
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.akvarium.cz/
http://www.afae.it/pages/tematica/biotopi
http://wingeiespana.blogspot.com