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I found endler's livebearers at a local petstore! I was so excited!

So I'm going to be setting up a tank for endlers soon, and I was wondering about the ratio of males and females I should get. It's going to be a 7-12 gallon tank, and I was thinking about getting 3 pairs. The profile on this site says that the males will be constantly harassing the females to breed, so does that mean I should get more females than males?

This will be a species tank, with only endlers in it. Possibly some bottom feeders such as ottos or ghost shrimp - but I don't want to have too many fish in such a small tank.

Tips? Suggestions? Advice? Comments? =)

If you can, get trios rather than pairs - two trios would be a good place to start. However, if they're only selling pairs, don't feel too bad about it - as livebearers go, Endler's are some of the gentlest. Just provide lots of hiding places and so on so females can escape the males. Depending on the hardness, temperature, ph, and who knows what other qualities of your water, the sex ration of the fry could be skewed male or female, so it's better to keep an eye on that in terms of whether the females are going to be vastly outnumbered than stress about having an equal number to start.
Of course, if the only option's pairs, you could also remove a couple of the males and keep them on their own in a nice little desktop tank or something.

-Molly
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So...it would be better to have, say, 2 males and 4 females?

And (sorry about all the questions), would a 7 gallon tank be too small for 6 endlers, considering that they may breed in the tank? Should I start taking fish out once they reach a certain number?

2m4f would be just fine - great, in fact.

They will breed but Endler's are tiny and I'm of the opinion that they can be stocked more like Neons - 3-4 per couple of gallons, depending on size. You might be better off starting with a trio but either way you're going to be overstocked and have to move fish out so start with the two trios if that's what you want.

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

That's wonderful LittleMousling! Thanks for the advice. =)

Congrats on the find

I breed Endler's in a 10g with three panda cories and two otos for tankmates. I also have four pairs plus fry in a 5g QT tank. IME Endler's do not eat they fry, and I've not had problems with the other fish eating the fry either.

A ratio of at least 1M/2F is good, more females even better. The males aren't as agressive with the females as other livebearers, and I've noticed because the females are larger they'll chase the males away if they get tired of the attention.





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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

In May of this year i got a trio of endlers 1m/2f .I now have so many endlers they`re impossible to count.I`ll be moving them from the 10 gal to a 20 gal in a couple weeks.Endlers need alot of plants like Mousling said.Another thing,they don`t eat their fry,give birth every 22 days with brood size increasing after the first birth(which is usually only a couple fry ).I wouldn`t reccommend anything less than a 10 gal for Endlers.

What sort of plants/decorations/rocks do you have in your 5 gallon, TheresaM? I'm looking at getting a similarly sized tank (so that it doesn't completely take over my desk...), and was wondering about leafy plants and sunken ships and such for the fish to swim around and for the babies to hide in.

I really like the look of the little Eclipse tanks, although I'm disappointed that many of them have incandescent lights. They're also more expensive than I'd expected. =)

The 5g I keep Endler's in was a last minute idea. The tank was sitting empty, I ordered some Endler's in a different color pattern than those I breed and wanted to keep them separate for while, so I decided to set up the tank.

I have a mix of regular gravel and Flourite for substrate, and there is one rock cave in the tank. I have floating hornwort, floating and planted anacharis, planted java fern and moneywort. The plants are doing quite well. If you're interested in other plant ideas for a small tank I started a thread here.

My 10g Endler's tank has lots of floating anacharis and hornwort...I call it the 'maternity ward' because the mom's ready to drop usually stay in there until they give birth. The rest of the tank is planted with small swords and dwarf sag.

Eclipse tanks are nice because they have a bio-wheel. I have an Eclipse 6 that does have a flourescent bulb. The only problem I've found with Eclipse tanks and Mini-bows is that they don't come with a heater.

edit: Since Endler's fry are quite small I recommend covering the filter intake to avoid losing any that way. I use cheesecloth, which does deteriorate quickly but I just remember to check it with each water change. I previously used nylon, but it tends to get dirty quickly and slows down intake quite a bit.



Last edited by Theresa_M at 27-Oct-2004 09:47

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean