Endler help please. Does anyone know how to distinguish between a female endler and a young female guppy?

Question

I am assuming that the mature female guppy will be slightly larger..but I would like to separate them now...they are about 1/2- 1" right now. I know that there has been considerable debate as to whether these are separate species or not. I believe that they now have their own status. Can anybody advize me? Thanks.

Answer 1

It's going to be rather difficult to be able to sort them out. Did you have guppies and Endler's in the same tank to begin with? If so, then there's almost no point in trying to separate one from the other as they've almost certainly hybridized by now. But in the future, you should try to keep the Endler's separate from the guppies and even try to keep separate types of Endler's separate from each other. There's nothing wrong with keeping them together just for your own pleasure, but you should not try to sell any Endler-Guppy hybrids as Endler's. With the males you might have some luck in telling one from the other, depending on what type of guppy you started with, but with the females, it will be almost impossible as, while some female guppies have color on their tails, many have no color at all. Sorry, but if you've had them together in a tank with males for more than an hour or so, then they've already had a chance to hybridize, which defeats the purpose of separating them.

Answer 2

It's hard to tell the difference when they're young The endlers don't grow as big as the guppies.so when they're more grown you can tell. Years ago,what is today sold as endlers were sold as common guppies.

Answer 3

Here are two websites providing images of the two females. I hope it will help you to find the difference.
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/livebearers/guppy.php
http://aquariumhobbyist.com/endlerslivebearer/page2.htm
And no, the Endler is not a Guppy!
http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Endler%27s_Livebearer.html