Snakeskin Orchid Endlers Raised to Maturity

The Experiment

Male Snakeskin Orchid Endlers look much like regular Orchid Endlers up until a few weeks before they reach full maturity. We would like to share with you the various stages of growth our young Snakeskin Orchid Endlers go through.

Normally the fish we use as breeders and their offspring are treated and fed a little different than in this example however we tried to make the conditions as close as possible to those that an everyday hobbyist might have.

To simulate average conditions we are doing a quarter water change once a month and are feeding the fry crushed flake food that we purchased from Walmart.

What Makes Snakeskin Orchid Endlers Different?

Snakeskin Orchid Endlers are a strain of Endler that we developed by Marty Andersen. The strain was developed from a variation or mutation of only one of thousands of pure N Class Orchid Endlers we produced.

Technically because the Snakeskin Orchid Endlers are the direct progeny of pure N Class Orchid Endlers these beautiful Endlers are still simply N Class Orchid Endlers however because the strain has changed so much it now does not look like a regular Orchid Endler so we offer these as pure N Class Snakeskin Orchid Endlers.

For the most part Snakeskin Orchid Endlers look very much like Orchid Endlers except for a snake pattern that is produced on the rear half of the fish and caudal fin.

The Original Male

The Original male that produced the Snakeskin Orchid strain has long since passed away. He was an adventurous male and one day we could no longer find him in his tank. This can be a common problem when you have nice healthy Endlers. They seem to be able to find the smallest of holes in the aquarium lid.

He was an amazing variation and we could not pass up the opportunity to try to create a line based on his beautiful markings.

These are the only pure N Class Endlers we are aware of that have markings like these so we were really excited to find this unique male in our mature male tank.

Fortunately he left us with some pretty awesome offspring before he left us.

The sire

The sire of the fish shown in this post is the offspring of our original male.

We chose this male due to the unique black bar that separates the snakeskin portion of the male from the regular Orchid Endler portion.

The males we select for our breeders are what we would categorize as perfect examples of what we would like all of the males produced from this strain to look like.

We have several breeding tanks all with male that look similar to the sire used in this post.

Most of our breeder males have the black bar in them however the males produced by these beautiful fish don’t always have the bar and more closely resemble the original male Snakeskin Orchid Endler.

As with regular Orchid Endlers the patterns and coloration are unique in each fish while the distinct overall look of this strain is easily recognisable.

30 Days After Birth

30 days after Snakeskin Orchid Endlers are born they are indistinguishable from regular Orchid Endlers at the same age.

The males are approximately 1/2″ long and the females are slightly larger.

At this point it is easy to separate the males from the females except for the late blooming males that may show up once and awhile.

At 30 days of age the male sex organ called the gonopodium is nearly fully developed and can easily be seen.

The first signs of color that show up on the males is the black coloration. The black coloration shown at this point shows the areas where the black coloration is likely to be the darkest as the male matures.

40 Days After Birth

The males are now approximately 1/2″ in length and the females are approximately 3/4″ inch long.

The young males are now starting to show their first signs of color.

The black spots are not as easy to see at this stage as the body of the fish is becoming more reflective.

The areas that eventually will become a bright metallic green are starting to become more prominent and reflective.

There is also a hint of coloration in the dorsal fin of many of the males.

The caudal fin is showing signs of developing a sword. This sword is not technically a true sword as it seldom protrudes outside the caudal fin.

At this stage the sword appears white or light blue.

The males are not yet showing much interest in the females yet however they may chase off a rival males from time to time.

50 Days After Birth

At this point we can tell that the Endler will develop nice patterns and colors as it reaches adulthood. We can also have a fairly good idea what the Endler will look like as it matures.

While the majority of the males have developed a nice snakeskin pattern there are a small number of them that produced little or in rare cases no snake pattern.

These males are culled from the other Endlers and are placed in one of our display tanks to live out their lives without being exposed to females.

The males are now closer to 3/4″ in length. The females continue to be a little larger than the males and are now nearly an inch long in overall length.

The colors on the males are continuing to intensify and the patterns are starting to develop.

The very first hints of the snakeskin pattern are starting to be seen.

The sword on the caudal fin often starts showing a red color as well as the previously seen white or light blue color. This red color may continue to intensify until all or most of the white is gone.

The males will now actively pursue any females they may encounter in the tank.

The females are starting to show signs that they are gravid (pregnant).

60 Days After Birth

The snakeskin pattern varies with each male.

Some of the males seem to be developing faster than others.

Some males have quite a bit of snakeskin pattern while a small percentage have very little.

Much of the white or light blue which was on the caudal fin sword is now an orange color.

The patterned area on the caudal fin is also getting a little bit more orange and developing a little more pattern.

The males now spend most of their time pursuing and displaying to the females

The young female Snakeskin Endlers are showing signs that they may give birth soon.

70 Days Old

At 70 days old the males appear to be fully developed. Their patterns and coloration are quite noticeable at this point. The males spend most of their time pursuing and displaying to females.

While the males do their best to impress the females they haven’t yet mastered the movements and displays that the older males use.

At this age the males will often clamp their fins together in an attempt to display to the females rather than flair the fins out like the older males. The younger males are also not as good at swimming backwards like the older males.

The sword on many of the male Snakeskin Orchid Endlers is now protruding slightly past the clear portion of the caudal fin.

The female Snakeskin Orchid Endlers have had their first small drop of fry. This first drop is usually only 4-5 fry.

100 Day Old Snakeskin Orchid Endlers

At 100 days old the male is now fully developed. The male pictured looks a little bit different than it’s sire.

The sword is longer and straighter and has a little bit different coloration.

This particular male developed nice coloration on the dorsal fin and a great looking caudal fin.

Although the male is full grown he is likely to develop even more coloration over the next couple of years. The sword may get longer and the snake pattern should become more defined.

What a great looking pure N Class Endler!

200 Day Old Snakeskin Orchid Endlers

We didn’t plan on sharing anymore about the Snakeskin Orchid Endler growth cycle after 100 days so after that point we started treating this male the same as our other fish and switched his feed to high quality flake food mixed with Golden Pearls.

As you can see from the photograph, the Snakeskin Orchid Endlers continue to get more beautiful as they age as long as they are given proper food and living conditions. At almost 7 months old this Snakeskin Orchid Endler is a real beauty. The patterns continue to become more distinct as the male ages.

We usually don’t ever get to see our fish grow to this age other than our breeders as they are sold so quickly.

This male really has all of the traits we would like to see developed in all of our Snakeskin Orchid Endlers so we have decided to keep him for ourselves and use him as one of our breeders.

We are certain that we have produced many more fish that are much more beautiful than this one however we will never know (unless you share a photo) because they were sold long before they reached their full beauty.