# Guppy/Endlers Population Control



## Zoomy (Sep 13, 2014)

A friend gave me 2 pair of Endlers <2 weeks ago. I currently have them in my 5 gallon tank (with an ADF and nerite snail) while I put together a 20 long. The big mama gave birth to 12 fry yesterday. Eventually I can sell them to our LFS, but I fear #s could very rapidly get out of hand, at this rate.

So I'm wondering about "Circle of Life" means of keeping fry #s in check. I plan to move my ADF to the larger tank and add 1-2 more. I thought maybe he/she'd eat fry, but I'm pretty sure ADF eyesight is too poor to be a very efficient hunter. Would a dwarf gourami do the job? What other fish might be helpful in this situation?


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## Zoomy (Sep 13, 2014)

Googling around to find some info. Looks like tetras may eat fry. Might be a solution, as I have 7 glowlight tetras that I don't love in my 50g (I eventually want to put barbs of some sort in that tank and I don't think the tetras and more aggressive barbs would get along). Might be cool to try a group of different tetras in the 20 with the glowlights, too...perhaps some neons.

I could also consider going with a 29g tank on the same stand, then try a couple angels. But I'm not sure I want another deep tank. My 50g is also 18" tall and I kind of like the idea of a tank that doesn't require getting wet up to my armpits if I'm doing maintenance when it's full.

Any other suggestions of fish that might work?


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

I'd suggest a single fish that's pretty good at hunting rather than a school, mostly because that way you'll end up with just a few (really fast) fry surviving, which is nice because endlers aren't terribly long-lived. A dwarf gourami could work, or a female or plakat betta. Both species can be a bit iffy with endlers, though, they often take all that flashing and long-tailed-ness as a territorial challenge. Otherwise, you could try a smallish (6 or so) school of tetras and a bunch of good hiding spots. 
Angelfish will eat adult endlers, too. Not your best choice.


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## Zoomy (Sep 13, 2014)

Betta132 said:


> Otherwise, you could try a smallish (6 or so) school of tetras and a bunch of good hiding spots.


Sounds like my 7 glowlight tetras might be perfectly suited for the job. And maybe a single betta, if need be. My plakat died not long ago (he had Lymphocystis). He was such a cool, athletic betta. I just wish plakats were easier to find. I don't think our LFS usually has them. I found my late guy at Petco, which is probably why he had that virus. I've found that long-finned bettas and ADFs don't work well together. My ADF killed my first betta by constantly nipping at his fins. Those red, flowy fins probably looked a lot like bloodworms, his favorite food.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Petco and Petsmart often have dragon-scale bettas, or at least what they claim are dragon-scales. Petco 'dragons' get larger than usual and have shorter fins, so they probably have a lot of plakat in them. 
Be sure to put a bunch of moss in the tank if you want any endler fry to survive the tetras. If you give them a bunch of hiding places, the fastest and healthiest fry will survive.


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## Zoomy (Sep 13, 2014)

Betta132 said:


> Petco and Petsmart often have dragon-scale bettas, or at least what they claim are dragon-scales. Petco 'dragons' get larger than usual and have shorter fins, so they probably have a lot of plakat in them.
> Be sure to put a bunch of moss in the tank if you want any endler fry to survive the tetras. If you give them a bunch of hiding places, the fastest and healthiest fry will survive.


I'll check. Generally our Petsmart's fish area seems a LOT better staffed and maintained.


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## 0xDEADBEEF (Aug 22, 2014)

I had similar problem see here but I made it worse by saving all the fry and putting it in a 2.5G tank to grow in peace. 3 male Endlers + 2 Tequila Sunrise females produced hundreds of offspring which took over my main tank. LFS didn't want any of that, I gave some away to random people who were starting little fish tanks for kids and the rest went to an owner of an Oscar ;-)

I do love guppies but they do breed like crazy in good conditions.
Maybe you can control them with some small cichlid?

Anyway, I have one guppy fry left in 30G tank which is too clever for me to catch it. Maybe I can build a laser cannon to eradicate it ;-)


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## Zoomy (Sep 13, 2014)

0xDEADBEEF said:


> Maybe you can control them with some small cichlid?
> 
> Anyway, I have one guppy fry left in 30G tank which is too clever for me to catch it. Maybe I can build a laser cannon to eradicate it ;-)


A teensy tiny laser cannon!! :grin2:

I'd love another ram, but would need a bigger tank to consider that. My little Bolivian Ram male is such a cool little fish.


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