Endlers and Inverts

[Jennifer V]

Happy Wednesday! 

I'm thinking of getting a couple Endlers for my 5g but it's also a snail breeding tank and has a few shrimp in it. Would that be a problem? Is there a better choice of super hardy, colorful little fish to add? 

[1moretank]

Having endlers with shrimp or snails works fine in my 10, 20 and 29 gallon tanks, but be aware that your endlers may reproduce as fast or faster than guppies, which may be a problem in a 5 g.  In my experience, if the endler population gets too large for the container, it may crash and you can lose all or most of the endlers.

[lefty o]

endlers really wont bother snails.

[Jennifer V]

2 hours ago, 1moretank said:

Having endlers with shrimp or snails works fine in my 10, 20 and 29 gallon tanks, but be aware that your endlers may reproduce as fast or faster than guppies, which may be a problem in a 5 g.  In my experience, if the endler population gets too large for the container, it may crash and you can lose all or most of the endlers.

That's a really great point. I don't know enough to know when I have too many. Should I just pick a different fish? Or watch the tank and parameters and just re-home the ones I don't want? 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Just get male Endler's then.  All the color, none of the babies.

[Jennifer V]

47 minutes ago, OnlyGenusCaps said:

Just get male Endler's then.  All the color, none of the babies.

Is there any potential for aggression with just males? 

[anewbie]

There is the potential but it comes down to different factors. To be honest just about any fish you have there can be some aggression - it just isn't too bad - they aren't likely to kill each other or shred each other but there is always that potential. In my 5 gallon i have a few stray guppies 5 ember and 6 neons along with a ton of baby mystery snails and a few shrimps. The stray guppies will eventually be remove if they get large but they seem to be oh what is the term - not runts but throw backs. Anyway small tetra neon, ember small rasbora kubotai are wonderful but perhaps a bit too active but i think they would work anyway. endlers are fine - all of these fishes can show some aggression - well i've not seen any with the kubotai (aquahuna sells them) but certainly the tetras will show some aggression. 

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Anyway if you like endlers i'd say just go for it.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

3 hours ago, Jennifer V said:

Is there any potential for aggression with just males? 

I've never run into issues.  I use male Endler's as dithers and for fish in cycling.  They don't seem to argue with each other more than when the ladies are present.  In some cases they almost seem to sulk a bit, like a bunch of guys who got into the club only to realize it's just other dudes in there.  I also give away groups of males to kids starting tanks.  They love them, and the parents don't have to deal with a booming fish population.  If you know someone with Endler's, they'll likely have a few males they might even be willing to part with.

[RonBFree]

My general rule of them is to never have any type of fish in your shrimp tank if you want to breed them.  That being said I do keep some adult shrimp in my endler breeding tank to help feed on the algea