Breeding Endlers/Guppies - characteristics

[davros]

At what age should I expect to see all the characteristics come out in the fry? I have "batches" that are 1 -3 months old. A little disappointing that I don't see the massive forked tail of the male coming out. ( japan blue they claimed)

 

[emeraldking]

There's not a steady age when male endlers will develop their coloration and patterns. Does the father have a fork tail? It also can depend on the mother's genes wether the male offspring gets the same coloration and pattern of the father. The genetic background of both parents are in play for the phenotypical outcome of the offspring. Even if a certain trait of the father is Y-linked, which means in general that all his male offspring will show the same trait(s) of the father, can be put down by a dominant gene or genes of the mother. As long as you don't know the genetic background of both breeding parents, it will be a guess what the outcome will be in the offspring.

 

[davros]

Yes the male has the forked tail. So far the male progeny have bit of colour on the top and bottom of the tail but the shape is the same as the female's.

 

[emeraldking]

Yes the male has the forked tail. So far the male progeny have bit of colour on the top and bottom of the tail but the shape is the same as the female's.

Give it some time and see if they will develop a fork tail or not. Sometimes you have to wait a bit longer before they are fully developed.

 

[davros]

We are seeing some signs of development. I guess I should allow for the fact it is a room temperature tank and things progress more slowly.
Dad is in the back - both are the same size, sorry for the potato quality photo, I have not yet developed my techniques for fish "snaps".

 

[biofish]

Yup! Like what emaradlking said, just give it time. In my experience of breeding forked tails, the fry started off with normal shaped guppy tails and then as they got older those forks started growing. And it can take awhile for a guppies coloring to finish coming in which make the fork more pronounced.