Endlers and Guppies

[Fish Buddy]

Are endlers and guppies totally different species like comparing platties with mollies?

 

[EX-AmP]

not sure but they crossbreed a lot and where i am, the feeders are usually endlers/guppies

 

[William]

Technically seperate species should not be able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring, yet endlers and guppies combine to produce fertile hybrids. I do believe there is quite a lot of genetic difference, at least between the guppies seen in the shops today which through many many generations have been artificially selected to be much bigger than they ever were in the wild. Endlers are much more like the wild type guppies - except more colourful! Perhaps they are a subspecies, but I think it is vital that some endlers are kept seperate from guppies as they are significantly different to guppies be able to be wiped out by hybridisation.

 

[toddnbecka]

Latest word from the scientists is that they're the same species, just different color variants. Incidentally, the last trip to collect wild stock from the original collection site didn't turn up any fish that looked like the first batch collected. It's entirely possible that the originally collected color morph is now gone from the wild population.

 

[dunchp]

Latest word from the scientists is that they're the same species, just different color variants. Incidentally, the last trip to collect wild stock from the original collection site didn't turn up any fish that looked like the first batch collected. It's entirely possible that the originally collected color morph is now gone from the wild population.

They are not the same species; guppies are Poecilia reticulata and endlers are Poecilia wingei. They are very, very closely related and genetically very similar and this is why they hybridise. They are not a different species like Platies and Mollies, but they are different species like Platies and Swordtails.

In the next magazine, the British Livebearer Association will have an article on this very subject written by one of the scientists who discovered and identified the species as a separate species. You will need to join the club, but it is well worth it.

See www.britishlivebearerassociation.co.uk

 

[Phatphish]

Professor John Endler (gave his name to the fish)is a fellow member of the Endlers R Us forum and he is probably one of the foremost authorities on the subject.....

 

[OldMan47]

Endlers and guppies are the same the way swords and platies are. They can be bred but they are not naturally easy to breed. It has been found that after several generations in captivity, the endlers were much easier to breed with guppies than their wild ancestors but that does not make them the same thing. Body shape is different, color range is different, energy levels are different, size is a lot diferent but they do both belong to the same larger family. The poecilia wingei (endler) and the poecilia reticulata (guppy) are related but so are poecilia velifera (mollies) and poecilia sphenops (also called mollies) and poecilia latipina (sailfin mollies). Many of these related fish have been crossed to change characteristics in fish being bred for sale but they each started life as separate species.

 

[helterskelter]

This has been a major field of topic for the last 30 years, to be honest the scientists are not 100% so all we can do is let them get on with it.

Personally i have always said their be a sub genus of the Poecilia reticulata But they have been given their on species name for now.

So lets hope that soon things will be sorted.

 

[dunchp]

Professor John Endler (gave his name to the fish)is a fellow member of the Endlers R Us forum and he is probably one of the foremost authorities on the subject.....

And? It is good to know that you have someone who can shed some light on the matter and it would be good to ask him.

The main area of confusion is that the scientists who have identified Poecilia wingei, have not, I believe called them Endlers Guppy but Campoma Guppies. Similarly the type location for Poecilia wingei is not the same location as where Dr / Professor Endler collected them (I believe). An Endlers Guppy is not therefore necessarily Poecilia wingei and vice-versa.

I think the right approach is to consider Endlers as Endlers and Poecilia wingei as Poecilia wingei and try to ignore the obvious link that they are the same species. I do not believe that they necessarily are.

Of course I am not an expert on this matter, Professor Endler possibly is. I know this contradicts my earlier posting, but I have had the chance to look at some literature on the subject and I am happy to admit that I may not previously have been correct.

 

[5teady_2012]

*** Walks down the street and Whistles***