wot_fan

I received some Endler's Livebearers (Black Bar Class N) that I won on AquaBid today. The auction was for 3 pairs but the seller was kind enough to send me 4 males and 7 females . They all arrived in great shape except for one male that has a little fin damage. The others leave him alone so I am sure he will be fine. I will keep an eye on him just the same .

It is hard to get a good shot of them since they are so small and move so fast. Here are the best pics I could get .

Here is the male with fin damage

namehater

wow! i tried taking pics of my endlers today and could barely get 2 or 3 decent shots, and none of the pictures come close to yours! they look great, i dont know about your endlers, but today i dropped in some algae tabs for my plecos and the endlers devoured one by themselves, it was a good show, give it a try.

question for you, are your endlers smaller than you had imagined they would be? i had thought they would be bigger

wot_fan

Thanks. My camera deserves most of the credit .

Yes I have to say I was surprised at how small the males are. The biggest one is less then an inch from tip to tail. The largest female I received is at least twice as long as the biggest male. I am curious if they are full size now or if they will get a little bigger. Profiles I have seen on the net say the males reach 1" to 1.5" depending on what site your on. I guess time will tell.

namehater

mine sound like the same size. when i was picking up my endlers the owner had 2 tanks full and thats about the same size as all of hers as well so im guessing what we have is about as big as they are going to get. i cant imagine how beautiful the males would be if they got the size of the females!

namehater

i cant believe i forgot to upload my photos to photobucket to share them, its such a horde on that algae wafer lol.

Master Snake

Great job on the bidding! You sure won some lovely fish!

Lucy

Wow, awesome pics. The females look nothing like the males, do they?
Gorgeous little fish.

namehater

just got home from work and checked my endler pics, they arent even worthy of posting now! ive gotta learn how to use my camera lol

Lucy

lol, I know there pics weren't taken with a little point and shoot like I have.

wot_fan

Master Snake: Thanks . I got lucky. The seller seems to put endlers up every week or so. My winning bid was $22. Last weeks winning bid was $31.

BTW, if anyone is in the market for some I highly recommend the seller - Skiboy. He included an instruction sheet with the fish on how to acclimate and what food he uses as well as samples of the food. He also sent extra fish along. The packaging was first rate too.

Lucy: Thank you . Yeah the females look like a completely different species. This is one fish that I am not worried that the males will harass the females to death. If she gets sick of the attention she can just eat him. He would only be a couple of bites if she is full grown .

namehater: Please post the pics. I would love to see your colony .

BTW, the food Skiboy included with the fish was Decapsulated Brine Shrimp Eggs and Kens Premium No Carb Micro Pellets. So far I have only fed them the brine shrimp eggs and they love them. They are small enough that I think the fry could eat them as well.

agabr123

gorgeous pictures!!!

Autumn8504

Congrats! I was surprised at how small they are as well when I first got them. It is so cool watching the juvie males get their colors! You are going to have a great time watching that happen...I check my tank constantly to see how they are coming along and it never ceases to amaze me. They start off with a hint of black on them and progress from there. Good luck with your colony! I love the pics btw...I'm still working on getting some post-worthy ones myself. I love how that last fish has blue on his top fin...mine don't share that trait.

wot_fan

Thanks agabr123 & Autumn8504

I am really happy with the quality of these little guys. I think it is going to be a blast watching the colony grow and taking pictures of their progress. I have 3 more pair (Black Bar Class N) coming later in the week from another breeder so I should have nice diverse stock. Once a couple batches of fry have grown, I am hoping to do some selective breeding with the best looking fish. Maybe I can even develop a strain of my own .

Thanks again for the feedback. I enjoy taking pics of my fish, but the positive comments I get here make it even more fun .

maptis

awesome pictures

namehater

tried again today to get pictures up to par with yours, still no luck! i did notice in the pics that i do have that you can see at least one preggo endlers. after i saw that i scoped around the tank and find a new fry every other day or so.

it is very cool to see the colors develope on the young males, the black bars are the first color to show, so once you spot some black on the fry you know that is going to be a male.

wot_fan

Thanks maptis .

namehater: Thanks for the info. I am really looking forward to having some fry. From what I have read, these guys breed like guppies. Based on that I have to believe that my larger females are preggo. I am not sure how to tell that a female is going to drop soon. I plan on keeping a close eye on them and figure it out though .

SWilkins

Your pics are great!!! Love those endlers. I have the peacock endlers that I got off of Aquabid. They have a tank all to themselves and they are doing great. The colors are just unreal they are so bright. Glad to see another endler person out there.

wot_fan

Thanks . I saw some red peacocks on AB. I think they were being sold by AdrianHD. I was really tempted to get some. They are great looking fish. I would love to see some pics of yours if you have any.

Autumn8504

Like many livebearers, Endler's stomachs start to look boxy right before they give birth (flatish on the bottom). It is pretty easy to tell if they have already given birth because they take on a very flat look afterward. You can tell if their preggo because their stomachs look very big and round, and their gravid spot gets big.

wot_fan

Thanks for the info . It appears I asked a little too late though. I was checking out my fish after work and to my pleasant surprise I saw a fry peaking out from behind one of the plants . I watched for a little while and saw a total of 3 .

SWilkins

I have to ask....what kind of camera is that? I might could actually get a shot of my fish if I had one that worked that well. Usually by the time mine flashes the fish are long gone.

wot_fan

SWilkins: My camera is a Canon 5D Mark II. It is a great full frame DSLR. It is very good in low light conditions (high ISO). Basically it allows me to have faster shutter speeds so the fish have less of an opportunity to move during the shot. It is a 21Megapixel camera so I am able to crop pretty far down and still have a good size pic. On top of that, it is Canon's first DSLR that does video (full HD 1280p). It is a little pricey, but you get what you pay for .

SWilkins

Thank you so much and you are right you get what you pay for in a camera that is for sure. Oh and congrats on the babies by the way. Your photos just got the best of me there.

I seem to find new endlers every few days in my tank and the parents really don't seem to bother them...knock on wood.

wot_fan

Your welcome .

My fry are much bolder today. They still hide most of the time, but they come out more often as the day goes on. I have seen as many as 5 at one time . I'll try to get a couple of pics of them tonight .

My second batch of Endlers arrived today. They are still a little stressed from the trip so it is hard to tell if they are as good looking as the ones I got from Skiboy. There is a little fin damage on most of them, but nothing that won't heal with proper care. Based on the condition of the fish, packaging and included extras, I would recommend anyone looking to get some Enders to buy from Skiboy. I just checked and he has some up for auction now.

wot_fan

Here are a few more shots .

namehater

your pictures continue to blow my mind! last night you actually had me shopping for a new camera, i just cant make mine work well enough

wot_fan

If you are in the market for a DSLR, I recommend you check out Canon and Nikon. Both make good cameras. If you plan on using to take a lot of pictures of your fish, I also recommend getting a macro lens. It allows you to get much closer to your subject than a standard lens. Most if not all of the pictures I have posted on Fish Lore were taken with a 100mm Canon Macro (approx $300). My final suggestion is to get an external flash. Getting the flash off the camera makes it a lot easier to eliminate the flash reflection from the front of the tank.

Good luck and if you pull the trigger on a new camera, let me know what you get .

namehater

ah, our next camera will be a pocketable point and shoot for trips and such. my current camera is a Canon S2 IS. it was upper-end (i think) when we bought it a couple of years ago, i think the main problem is that i just dont know how to use. im pretty sure that 90% of that camera's life it has been set to Auto.

Autumn8504

Congrats on the fry!!!

wot_fan

The fry are really fun to watch. They are big enough already that the adults don't even chase them halfheartedly anymore. This is the first species tank I have ever setup and I think I am really going to enjoy it .