Guppy Endler: types, maintenance and care

Endler's guppies were found in nature only in one of the lakes of Venezuela. The harmful effects of humans contributed to the extinction of this species in the wild, so they can now be found only among aquarists.

Dwarf guppies belong to the Pecilia family and are freshwater viviparous fish.

The maximum growth of females reaches 4.5 cm, males are about 1 centimeter smaller. The life span of males is about three years, in females - about two, since frequent childbirth greatly weakens the body.

Endler's classic guppies have a yellow-orange color interspersed with emerald and purple spots, but there are many varieties of these dwarf fish with a wide range of colors.

There are several types of Endler guppies:

• gold - these are fish with a golden body color, a light abdomen, a transparent tail with a bright outline;

• japanese blue - the head and fins are transparent, the tail is transparent with a bright blue edging, has the shape of a double sword, the body is blue with a neon tint, in the middle of the body there is a black spot (females are transparent);

• Tiger - the body is olive or rich yellow, dark abdomen, transparent tail with dark edging, almost transparent pelvic fin;

• cobra - the color resembles a snake skin pattern and shimmers very beautifully in daylight, there are dark spots on the yellow background of the body, completely yellow and fins (except for the abdominal), tail;

• Venezuela - its color is dominated by orange, black and green-yellow colors, the transparent tail is similar to a double sword in its shape and has a bright orange edging, the dorsal fin is partially colored and has an elongated shape, the ventral fin is transparent;

• sky blue - these fish have a nondescript body color, fins and tail are painted in a rich sky blue.

From the same pair of dwarf guppies, hybrids can be born simultaneously with purebred individuals of the same variety. The endless variety of color combinations makes these fish extremely attractive to all aquarists.

The maintenance of Endler's guppies is extremely simple, the only difficulty is that they need a separate aquarium so that they are not offended by other species of fish. Dwarf guppies are peaceful and friendly fish. It is undesirable to add common guppies to them, since hybrid individuals with weakened health will begin to be born, and many females will die during childbirth.

The neighbors of dwarf guppies can only be slow and calm aquarium inhabitants: neons, zebrafish and shrimps.

It is recommended to keep either one pair of guppies, or at least three females in one aquarium and two males, so that the boys fight less and the girls are less aggressive and stop dividing the territory of the aquarium among themselves.

One fish needs 3 liters of water. The aquarium should be equipped with aeration and filter. If the fish do not have enough oxygen dissolved in the water, they try to jump out of the aquarium, so do not overpopulate the tank. It is imperative to close the aquarium with a lid, while leaving a small gap of 2-3 cm or put the lid on a stand to provide air access, otherwise the water will sour.

The optimum temperature for keeping Endler's guppies is from +23 to +25 degrees. To constantly maintain such a temperature regime, you can purchase a special thermostat. If the water is warmer, then the fish will grow and reproduce rapidly, but their lifespan will be significantly reduced.

It is best to use sea pebbles or ordinary pebbles of black and gray color as a soil (before placing them in the aquarium, the pebbles must be washed with baking soda, rinsed thoroughly, boiled for 5 minutes, drained, and allowed to cool).

Artificial lighting should be as close to daylight as possible. If the lamp is too bright, the color of dwarf guppies fades and fades, they very quickly lose their beauty.

The filter should be purchased based on the size of the aquarium. Dwarf guppies are very unpretentious and there is relatively little dirt from them, so a simple medium-sized filter that creates a minimum flow is suitable for them. It is not recommended to buy a filter with a built-in aerator, such a device saves space only slightly, but the filler clogs up much faster, and some of the microalgae comes out with air bubbles back into the aquarium.

The walls of the aquarium can be easily cleaned with a piece of gauze to collect all microalgae deposits. It is enough to carry out this procedure once a month.

The bottom can be easily cleaned using a siphon filter or a simple plastic tube with a hose (once every 3-4 weeks). After that, the settled tap water should be added to the aquarium to the usual level.

Endler's guppy requires a fairly dense and lush vegetation: all varieties of limnophila, bacopa, vallisneria, moss, hydrotrich, etc.duckweed can be placed on the surface, but it grows rapidly and needs frequent thinning. It should be remembered that the number of plants depends on the capacity of the container and the number of fish (it is enough to plant two rows of tall vegetation along the back wall, a layer of plants near the water surface in which fry can hide, and 2-3 low-growing bushes in the foreground).

Plastic and painted clay decorations, as well as multi-colored soil for aquariums, amaze the imagination with their diversity, but they often release toxic substances into the water, so it is better to give preference to ordinary stones, shells and glass decorations.

Newborn fry should be fed within 2 hours after birth with special fine food (you can use the zooplankton "Artemia"). Baby dwarf guppies grow very quickly, so they need three meals a day. However, you should not overfeed them.

In terms of nutrition, guppies of all ages are unpretentious. The following feeding scheme is recommended:

• dry food is given once a day every other day;
• a vitamin mixture in the form of flakes once every two days (alternating with ordinary dry food);
• live food once a week (it is better to buy a small one: daphnia moina and a nematode, but bloodworms are not all suitable, since it is large, and the fish themselves are only 2-3 cm in length).

It is not recommended to feed fish with frozen food. Dwarf guppies are very thermophilic, so cold food will negatively affect their health. Sometimes you can feed them raw scraped meat. To do this, you need to scrape off some meat from a frozen piece of beef with a sharp knife, let it warm to room temperature and feed it to the fish. You cannot store such food. It is better to give live food to small fish one by one, so that excess worms do not settle to the bottom and do not rot there. One worm is enough for one fish per week.

If the owners are often absent due to business trips and trips, an automatic battery-powered feeder will come to the rescue.

Males and females differ in the shape of the pelvic fin: in males, the fins on the abdomen are elongated, in females, they are rounded.

Males of Endler's dwarf guppies are noticeably smaller in size than females, and much more brightly colored. Females of many subspecies are completely transparent - you can see all their insides and spine with the naked eye.

The scales of males shimmer with neon reflections, the scales in females (if they are not transparent) most often have only a faded silvery or golden hue without overflow.

Guppies are viviparous fish, so it is necessary to place the pregnant female in a separate container on time or to catch the fry from the general aquarium in time. If childbirth takes place in a regular aquarium, it is necessary to place a thick layer of algae (duckweed, herringbone) so that the juveniles can hide in them and survive. At the moment of birth, the fry, twisted into a ball, rolls out of the female, hits the bottom, unwinds and floats up very quickly. Under natural conditions, dwarf guppies are not carried away by the current, as in classic guppies, but adults can pursue them, defending their territorial rights. If the fry are planted in time, they will be very easy to grow.

A few days before giving birth, the female begins to lose balance and swim, slightly tilting to one side, or leaning forward. At this time, the black spot near the anus reaches its maximum size.

Females of dwarf guppies are able to give birth every month, but in order to get stronger offspring, it is better to give her a month of rest between pregnancies, keep her in a separate container for about 30 days after giving birth, so that her body can fully recover. One fertilization can be enough for several litters.

At the age of two months, young guppies acquire the ability to reproduce., but early pregnancy has a detrimental effect on their health and on the resulting offspring, therefore it is recommended that males be removed from females at the age of 1.5 months. It is better to start breeding at 3 months, when the body of the fish will finally get stronger.

You can look at the beauty of Endler's guppy further.