Breeding endler's guppies

[Nik_n]

I just added 4 endler's, 1 male and 3 females in my planted community tank. I'm planning to breed these fish and keep as many of the fry alive as possible. I intend to take the female out when she is ready to give birth, and transfer her to the fry grow out where the fry won't get eaten.  How can I tell when my female endler is about to drop fry? I believe all of the female are in the early stages or pregnancy, and I want to move them before they drop any fry. I know that it's possible to tell from the dark spot underneath their belly, but I'm not sure how.   

[lefty o]

her abdomen will get big, and the dark gravid spot will get bigger. final sign a few days before she's ready, the back of her belly will sort of square off.

[rockfisher]

I haven’t really had issue with male endlers  eating fry. When you first start it may be good  but depending on how well she produces you may not need to remove her in future batches. I find it hard to remove the females always before hatches. If you cant remove them give the fry places to hide in. Floating plants or even some artificial plants 

I have used fake grass like this with Enders and guppies. It works well. It’s tight enough to keep out adults but the fry are safe inside. I turn it upside down and let the “grass”grown down. I know it’s not the prettiest but it does work especially in small tanks. It comes in did styles and is about 5”x5”. In a bigger tank a fern works well if you don’t have a planted tank already.

It has helped jump start breeding for me in the past and saved a lot of fry. 

[cavdad45]

I have endlers in a community rank with a honey gourami, a little bristlenose, and a band of corys.  Two days ago, one of the females dropped pups.  So far, I haven't had a predation problem, there are a few java ferns they swim through, but love the water sprite. The other fish go by all the time but don't hunt the babies, I am feeding the whole tank a bit more often to keep the rest from getting hungry.

Edited December 8, 2022 by cavdad45

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I have 1 male endler with 2 female guppies in my 10 gallon aquaponics tank. I probably have 40-50 fry/juveniles in that tank right now. The tank gets fed Xtreme nano pellets in the morning and frozen self-hatched BBS at night. I put the male and 2 females together and just kept doing my thing. Population has exploded. 
 

This tank has just some Java moss that grows around the intake to the pump for the aquaponics tray. I’m shocked at the number of fish in this small 10 gallon, but it all works out. My Gold Tetras even passively bred in here! I guess what I’m getting at is nature finds a way, even in a small space. 

[Nik_n]

I will move the endler's into their own tank soon, however I doubt many will survive in the tank. I'm aware they are prolific breeder's, I was hoping to find a way to determine when the female guppy will drop fry. 

On 12/8/2022 at 12:49 AM, lefty o said:

her abdomen will get big, and the dark gravid spot will get bigger. final sign a few days before she's ready, the back of her belly will sort of square off.

Thank you!

[Andy's Fish Den]

I have not had any issues with endlers preying on their fry. All my tanks have plants of some kind, whether rooted and/ or floating, so the fry have plenty of hiding spots.

[tolstoy21]

On 12/8/2022 at 1:59 PM, Andy's Fish Den said:

I have not had any issues with endlers preying on their fry. All my tanks have plants of some kind, whether rooted and/ or floating, so the fry have plenty of hiding spots.

Agreed.

I have only unintentionally bred endlers. But in my experience with them, the parents don't eat them. At least not at a rate that stopped their numbers from growing by leaps and bounds. 

A grow out tank will certainly work, but if you want avoid maintaining a second tank for endlers and are just going to transfer them back to their parent's tank, you might be able to save yourself some work.

On 12/7/2022 at 4:59 PM, Nik_n said:

my planted community tank.

Oh sorry, just saw this bit . . . .  yeah depending on the other inhabitants, your mileage may vary. 

I've kept mine with bettas, keri tetras and apistogramma and haven't seen a reduction in the fry rate by predation from any of these species. But, other fish might gobble them up. 

Edited December 8, 2022 by tolstoy21