Slow but steady progress is being made on the overhaul of our aquatic setups. It’s been several days since the mass euthanization I was forced into due to a persistent nematode infestation. While that was not a pleasant experience, I am looking forward to the new stock I have in waiting.
so far, the single orange molly has been moved into the ten gallon tank that used to house the first generation mollies. The 46 gallon display tank has been drained, and most of the equipment is outside drying. Once dry, I need to clean everything in bleach water to ensure these pesky nematodes don’t return.
I am itching to get set back up because I’m excited about the Endler’s Livebearers that are waiting for me to give the word to ship. I had an email exchange with Dr. John Endler a while back–he’s the biologist after whom the fish were named. His assessment is that pretty much any endler you can find retail has been crossed with guppies at some point. Many are even 50% guppy. While these make striking fish, they do nothing to help keep the Endler species (poecella wingei) alive. That is important as this fish is nearly extinct in the wild.
The fish I am expecting are known pure endlers, and direct descendants of those collected in the wild before the habitat was damaged. I am expecting two different strains, the black bar endler:
The other is the peacock endler strain:
I’m not sure whether I will keep two tanks to keep the strains separate, or mix them together and get more random color patterns.