Species Spotlight: Mini Rainbow Tiger Endlers

The Rainbow Tiger Endler is a hybrid strain of endlers livebearer. This particular strain was developed in Asia and is believed to be a cross between a male cobra tiger guppy and a wild type endler female. The original endler’s livebearer from Venezuela isn’t a true guppy, but is so closely related that guppies and endlers can hybridize. Just like other endlers livebearers, rainbow tiger endlers are hearty, peaceful, colorful community fish. Their small size makes them ideal for nano tanks starting at about five gallons. Best  kept in a small group, these gregarious little fish love live plants and medium to hard water. They prefer an omnivorous diet that leans heavily towards carnivore and will accept live, frozen and prepared foods with gusto. Live daphnia and grindal worms are particularly a favorite. Fry are large enough to accept powdered fish food, newly hatched artemia, microworms and vinegar eels.

Breeding is a snap. Fry can be sexed at age 4-8 weeks and should be separated into males and females if you intend to breed them. Select only your best fish for breeding. I prefer the best colored males and the biggest females with the best body shape. As they are livebearers, males will incessantly pursue any female they encounter trying to mate with her. For breeding, select one male per three females just to give the females a break from the constant advances. Pregnant females will drop fry approx. every 30-45 days with a clutch size of five to thirty fry. Through superfoetation, pregnant females can carry male sperm for up to three months from the previous copulation. Given a large amount of plants, newborn fry may not have to be separated from the tank. Some parents can be fry eaters and some parents might just ignore the fry.