I need info on this fish!

[lewk]

I'm going a little nuts right now, but any information would be great. 

I ran into a Facebook discussion where someone posted the following image: 


Am I correct in believing that the fish on the bottom right is a dark-colored female Endler!?  I actually tried turning the lights off on my Endler tanks thinking this is a lighting issue, but I can't seem to get them to appear like this - any photographers able to tell if this could be caused to appear differently because of the camera? It it is indeed black, I can't find anything like it online. I ran into this article talking about small dark spots on female Endler fins - something I have seen in person with my El Tigre Endlers, but definitely nothing to this scale.

I've reached out to the original poster of the image but haven't gotten a reply quite yet. I would love any information regarding this - the name of the book, any experiences with black endlers (that aren't guppy hybrids), or anything! I'm guessing that this is just a totally darkened photo or something of the like, but in the event it isn't I've found my Holy Grail Fish.

[TheSwissAquarist]

Wildfang means wild caught in German.

Wild-caught female endler would be a direct translation. If that’s an old book it means the strain may have died out, otherwise it would be the next big thing.

[TOtrees]

The photo’s caption shows the “female“ symbol so the book’s author agrees with you, that it’s a female endler. 

Since all four fish in the photos were wild caught, we can rule out hybridization with guppies or other livebearers, which is one of the sources of variation among the more riotous strains of Endlers these days.

Even without that hybridization, endlers show really high morphological (color) variation within the species (many of the fantastic and impressive Endler varieties available today came about through line breeding of the original collections, without any hybridization at all). Most of that variation is seen in the males, but females carry the same genes and just don’t show it.

The male in the top right photo closely resembles the popular black fire or black flame strain. What’s interesting for me is to see what could well be the origin of that strain, in a wild caught specimen. One of the hallmarks of that strain is more black coloration of the body, especially towards the rear. All this just shows that dark body coloration is a known/normal occurrence in the wild populations. Depending on whether that is a dominant or recessive characteristic (genetics, yuck) it may appear or not when it’s present. Obviously, in the bottom right photo, the characteristic is present and displayed.

I used to keep Endlers, and while I never encountered any dark females like the photo, I did occasionally see “blonde“ females in my colonies. Which is simply coloration in the opposite direction, i.e. lighter than normal instead of darker.

Sadly, I don’t think you’re onto anything new here. 🥲

[gardenman]

They're native to Venezuela and that's not the easiest place to do business these days. They may still very well exist in the wild in Venezuela, but not be on the market. There's a list of tropical fish exporters in Venezuela (link below) and they list three exporters, but none seem to specialize in tropical fish. If no one in Venezuela is collecting and exporting them, they won't reach the US market. Given the issues in Venezuela, it's unlikely there's a hot market for the fish down there. 

Here's that list of tropical fish exporters. Venezuela is on the right-hand side near the top. Tropical Fish Exporters, Sellers, Suppliers, Distributors, Wholesalers and Manufacturers by country You can click on the number after the country to see the list of exporters. As you'll see, none specify that they export tropical fish as a primary business. That overall list is a bit iffy, at best, but it's the best I could find in a few minutes' time.

They're reportedly native to the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela, so if you ever happen to find yourself there (very unlikely) take a net along and prowl the streams and you might just find what you want.

[lefty o]

while lighting may play a part in the appearance, that looks to be a darker female endler.

[lewk]

Well, I talked to the original poster of the picture. He believes that the black coloration is due to photography and not the actual color of the fish. This seems to me to be one of the more plausible explanations, though disappointing. He did also give me information on the book I requested, but I forgot how much aquarium books cost and don't really feel like paying $90 for a book in a language I haven't attempted to read since high school. 

On 9/30/2022 at 5:18 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Wildfang means wild caught in German.

Wild-caught female endler would be a direct translation. If that’s an old book it means the strain may have died out, otherwise it would be the next big thing.

It's a fairly recent book in terms of fishkeeping - 2015 publication. I could definitely see it being gone, though.
 

On 9/30/2022 at 7:19 AM, TOtrees said:

The photo’s caption shows the “female“ symbol so the book’s author agrees with you, that it’s a female endler. 

Since all four fish in the photos were wild caught, we can rule out hybridization with guppies or other livebearers, which is one of the sources of variation among the more riotous strains of Endlers these days.

Even without that hybridization, endlers show really high morphological (color) variation within the species (many of the fantastic and impressive Endler varieties available today came about through line breeding of the original collections, without any hybridization at all). Most of that variation is seen in the males, but females carry the same genes and just don’t show it.

The male in the top right photo closely resembles the popular black fire or black flame strain. What’s interesting for me is to see what could well be the origin of that strain, in a wild caught specimen. One of the hallmarks of that strain is more black coloration of the body, especially towards the rear. All this just shows that dark body coloration is a known/normal occurrence in the wild populations. Depending on whether that is a dominant or recessive characteristic (genetics, yuck) it may appear or not when it’s present. Obviously, in the bottom right photo, the characteristic is present and displayed.

I used to keep Endlers, and while I never encountered any dark females like the photo, I did occasionally see “blonde“ females in my colonies. Which is simply coloration in the opposite direction, i.e. lighter than normal instead of darker.

Sadly, I don’t think you’re onto anything new here. 🥲

I'm a big nerd when it comes to some of this stuff and have dove pretty deep into the Endler rabbit hole, including some proposed genetics for the species. My understanding is that the Black Flame comes from crossing with moscow guppies, and that's how it got its black coloration. It also seems that many of the people who have worked extensively with Endlers believe that the coloration is Y-linked, meaning in pure strains it's almost exclusively passed on through the male - this would explain in part why Endlers tend to breed true much more than guppies, and why crossbreeding is done with guppies rather than other endlers to produce new strains.

That is an interesting point on Endlers occasionally throwing blonde offspring - I have seen that before but thought it was mostly reserved to a couple specific strains. Maybe there are occasional melanistic ones too. I suspect you're right though.
 

On 9/30/2022 at 8:33 AM, gardenman said:

They're native to Venezuela and that's not the easiest place to do business these days. They may still very well exist in the wild in Venezuela, but not be on the market. There's a list of tropical fish exporters in Venezuela (link below) and they list three exporters, but none seem to specialize in tropical fish. If no one in Venezuela is collecting and exporting them, they won't reach the US market. Given the issues in Venezuela, it's unlikely there's a hot market for the fish down there. 

Here's that list of tropical fish exporters. Venezuela is on the right-hand side near the top. Tropical Fish Exporters, Sellers, Suppliers, Distributors, Wholesalers and Manufacturers by country You can click on the number after the country to see the list of exporters. As you'll see, none specify that they export tropical fish as a primary business. That overall list is a bit iffy, at best, but it's the best I could find in a few minutes' time.

They're reportedly native to the Paria Peninsula in Venezuela, so if you ever happen to find yourself there (very unlikely) take a net along and prowl the streams and you might just find what you want.

From the sound of it, I think AdrianHD still occasionally gets imported fish from a source in Venezuela, but yeah, it definitely doesnt seem like the easiest place to get things from right now. I would love to go collecting someday, but even if I did I'd probably pick someplace a little more stable. Hopefully things improve there.
 

On 9/30/2022 at 8:43 AM, lefty o said:

while lighting may play a part in the appearance, that looks to be a darker female endler.

That's what I thought as well! I'm still crossing my fingers!

[Biotope Biologist]

According to another german aquarium magazine the males can have their black spots smudged into a “smoky pattern” that may appear all black during courtship but is not a true melanistic strain. The females of this strain are blonde and I believe that exact photo of the female is the one duped in your image. 
 

called “smoky mary”