From Aqua Guide, the free encyclopedia
Endler's Livebearer
Poecilia wingei
- Temperature
- 24–30 °C
- pH
- 7 – 8.5
- Min. tank size
- 40 L
- Lifespan
- 3 years
- Diet
- omnivore
- Care level
- easy
Endangered on the IUCN Red List. That describes the wild population — the criteria cover only wild populations inside their natural range, and captive-bred fish are not assessed. Captive-bred stock is widely available and takes nothing from the wild population.
| Scientific classification | |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name: | Poecilia wingei |
| Family: | Poeciliidae |
| Origin: | Northeastern Venezuela (Laguna de Patos and nearby waters) |
| Care Characteristics | |
| Care Level: | easy |
| Diet: | omnivore |
| Max Size: | 2.50 cm |
| Water Type: | freshwater |
| Temp Group: | tropical |
| Temperament: | peaceful |
| Min Group: | 3+ together |
| Varieties: | Many named lines rather than formal strains, and the naming reflects lineage as much as appearance. Wild-type Endler's are described by collection locality and by line — Campoma, Cumana, El Tigre, Staeck, El Silverado and others — with each carrying a characteristic pattern of black bars, orange saddles and metallic green. Selectively bred forms exist too: black bar, tiger, peacock, japan blue, lime green, and various long-finned and lyretail types, many of which carry some guppy ancestry. The hobby uses a three-tier convention to describe purity. Class N describes fish believed to descend from documented wild collections with no guppy introgression; Class K describes fish of uncertain lineage; Class P describes known hybrids. This is a hobbyist system rather than a scientific one, and a label is only worth the record behind it — buy from a keeper who can tell you where the line came from. Long-finned and heavily ornamented "Endler's" are almost always hybrids, since wild Poecilia wingei carries no such finnage. If you want pure fish, ask about the line and keep them away from guppies. |
| Lifespan: | 3 years |
Quick Tips
- Bioload:Low
- Min Tank:40 L
- Substrate:Gravel or sand; planted with floating cover
- Plant Safe:Plant-safe
- Filtration:Low
Endler's Livebearer (Poecilia wingei) is a species of fish in the family Poeciliidae. It is native to Northeastern Venezuela (Laguna de Patos and nearby waters). The Endler's livebearer is a 25 mm fish carrying more colour than most fish ten times its size — males patterned in metallic green, orange, black and blue in combinations that vary from line to line. It comes from north-eastern Venezuela, and its wild status is bleak: the population in Laguna de Patos, the water it is named for, is believed extinct, killed by pollution from an adjacent rubbish dump. The fish survives in the hobby and in a few other waters. It is closely related to the guppy and it is a valid species in its own right — genetic work confirms Poecilia wingei as distinct from P. reticulata. The two will crossbreed, and the hybrids are fertile, which is the single most important fact about keeping them. It is prolific, hardy in hard water, and one of the best fish available for a small planted tank.
Compatibility
- Temperament
- peaceful
- Keep in
- Groups of 3+
- Swims
- top
- Fin nipper
- No
- Delicate fins
- No
Species similar to Endler's Livebearer
Matched on family, then category, then water type