Framingham Nature Blog - Endler's Live B...

On the morning of October 28th, My pregnant female Endler's Livebearer (poecilia wingea) gave birth to around thirty young. The fish fry were schooled up near some horn wort. I collected some of them into a plastic bin to get pictures. I soon re-added them into the aquarium though, because Endler's are not known to eat their young.

By November 1st, Some of them have disappeared. They clearly died and their bodies vanished into the mess of leaves, muck, and plants at the bottom of my tank. This could have been a result of too strong a filter, They may have been eaten by the damselfly larvae I have seen in my tank, and they might have just not eaten enough. The ones that are still surviving, though, are now slightly bigger. They are actively pecking at fish food flakes. They have formed their own tight shoal which skims around on the surface near the plants, looking for flakes and drowning insects.

On November 3rd, They are a week old. The remaining fry are much more confident and willing to eat. They are acting like small adults. Their appearance still has not changed much. I realize I am going to have too many fish soon. My Tank can probably only properly support around 35 fish. If all the remaining fry survive, They will reach and exceed this amount. Not to mention my already re-impregnated female. If any of my readers wants some fry, I am happy to hook you up.

It is almost the end of the month. (28th). My fry now look like smaller, grayer versions of the adults. Below is a picture of the Adult Females, November fry and October Fry taken on the 28th with my micro-lens.

Day Old Fry

Month Old Fry

Adult Female (2-4 Months old)

This is fascinating to watch, and I am glad they are doing well, But I am beginning to have a major overcrowding problem. It is too late in the year to find a predator like a baby pickerel, snapping turtle, or dragonfly larvae. I am going to try and give them away. I am terrified of what will happen once the female babies become adults and rather than having two active females, I will have around 15.