Endlers Guppy

 The Endlers Guppy, Poecilia wingei, was discovered in 1937 by Franklin F Bond in North-eastern Venezuela. It comes from Venezuela, from a limited number of localities. The type locality of Poecilia wingei is Laguna de Patos. It is also apparently found in several other nearby places including Laguna Campoma, Laguna de Buena Vista (Cariaco) Paria Peninsula and Carúpano, Sucre State, Venezuela.

The common name is from Professor John Endler who found it in 1975. It is also called a number of other names including the Endlers Live bearer, and the Venezuelan Guppy. The last name is somewhat misleading since the Guppy, Poecilia reticulata, is also found in Venezuela. Some scientists prefer the name Campoma Guppy from the place in Venezuela where it was found.

Comparison with the Guppy, Poecilia reticulata

The Endlers Guppy is very similar to the normal Guppy. Like the Guppy, it has extremely varied colours, the wild form is very hardy, it is extremely easy to breed, it is peaceful and a good community fish with other small peaceful fish.

There are some differences. The Endlers Guppy prefers a slightly higher temperature, and a thermostat setting of 27̊ C (80̊ F) is suitable. The average gestation period of the Endlers Guppy is slightly shorter.  Perhaps 23 days as compared with the Guppy’s average of about 28 days.

The male Endlers Guppy is a little smaller than the male Guppy, but the females of the two species are similar.

Scientific Name

The only accepted scientific name the Endlers Guppy has ever had is Poecilia wingei, Poeser, Kempkes & Isbrücker, 2005.

Theatened?

The IUCN has not evaluated this species, but eye witness accounts of the lagoon it was originally collected in suggest it is already extinct in this place.

Other evidence strongly suggests that it still survives in good numbers in some other places. It is unknown how long these places will remain suitable habitats for this fish.

The Endlers Guppy in its pure form is threatened in captivity by the fact it will hybridize with the normal Guppy, producing fertile hybrids that are very attractive. While there may be nothing intrinsically wrong with this and nice fish can result, I think several captive populations of the pure Endlers Guppy should be maintained.

Sources and Picture Credits

IUCN. FishBase. NRADMIN. Mat Pedersen.
Steve Challis

Extract from NRADMIN’s article about a visit to the place this fish was first found, with a translation below.

“eine Müllhalde mit stinkendem brackigem Wasser, der Wasserstand maximal 20 cm und heiß (40°C), man kommt vor lauter Müll kaum zum Wasser und von Fischen oder anderen Lebewesen keine Spur.”

English translation via Google Translate:

“a garbage dump with stinky brackish water, a water level of no more than 20 cm and hot (40 ° C), hardly any trace of water and no trace of fish or other creatures.”