How Much Longer For Endlers To Stop Dropping Babies?

[Gruntle]

Hi All,
 
My "breeding" program is temporarily at an end. I bought 5 male Endlers and 3 female. Now I have about the right number of males (around 20 in a 130l tank), and I have moved the females to another tank.
 
They're still dropping babies, and some of them look ready to drop more. As soon as I see a juvenile begin to colour up, I move it to the male tank (at some point in the near future I'll be donating them and some of the females back to the LFS).
 
Is there a time frame where they'll stop doing this? I've heard that females can hold sperm for an inordinate amount of time. Is it six months? Can the juvenile males fertilise the females before they develop full colour? Am I now in an endless Endler loop?

 

[Byron]

Yes to your last question.  And yes to your penultimate question; male/female need to be separated before the male develops colours, so examination of the anal fin/gonopodium is the most reliable method [though my eyesight would likely not be adequate with fry, lol].
 
I am not certain of the time period during which a female can carry sperm, but I have read up to a year in this species.  The female can actually store sperm packages from different males.  Fry can be released every 23 days, each birthing numbering from 1 to 30 fry.  Some sources call this superfetation, though some recent scientific studies are suggesting superfetation is not evident in the Poecilia species, and this is something I would have to research more fully before commenting.  But whatever we call it, packets of sperm are stored in the female.
 
Byron.

 

[Gruntle]

Ah well, at least they're pretty and my LFS is quite willing and happy to take some off my hands in exchange for some food.