Breeding Endler's Livebearer

How to breed Poecilia wingei, a prolific livebearer: sexing, brood size, birth cycle, fry care and keeping the strain pure from guppy hybridization.

Overview

Poecilia wingei is a livebearer and one of the easiest aquarium fish to breed. Seriously Fish describes it as incredibly prolific, breeding readily in the community tank and producing new broods every 23-24 days. Wikipedia similarly reports births approximately every 23 days.

Sexing

Males are noticeably smaller and far more colorful, developing intense black, orange, and metallic green hues, while females remain drab silver to gold and are much plumper, being almost perpetually gravid. Wikipedia notes adult females can be twice the size of males.

Breeding Setup

• Keep several females per male to spread out male harassment
• Dense planting to give fry cover
• Move heavily gravid females to a separate tank to give birth; breeding nets and traps are discouraged because the fish are small

Spawning Behavior & Trigger

Males court constantly, spreading their fins and quivering in front of females. No special trigger is needed; given mixed sexes the fish reproduce continuously.

Egg & Fry Care

Broods range from roughly 5-25 fry depending on the age and size of the female (Wikipedia gives a wider range of one to about 30). The fry are relatively large at birth and adults rarely eat their young, though newborns are most vulnerable in their first hours. Feed brine shrimp nauplii, powdered flake or fry food 2-3 times daily. Males begin to color up within 3-5 weeks and females reach reproductive maturity around 2 months.

Common Challenges

The main concern is keeping a strain pure: Wikipedia notes that Endler's readily hybridize with guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to produce fertile offspring, so they must be kept away from guppies if pure lines are wanted. Because they breed so readily, keeping males only is an option if offspring are not desired.