# FYI Endlers will hunt adult Cherries



## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

So yesterday I was checking on the tanks and sat down to watch the cherry/Endlers tank (smallest but most active tank) and noticed that there was a small swarm going on at the base of the tank (15h). After moving around the tank to get a better view I noticed the biggest female endler and her entourage were actively hunting adult cherry reds and killing them off. This tank has been up for most of a year and the fish are fed twice a day so it isnt like the endlers are only scavenging for food. 

About 30 minutes later, I had an inch of water in the tank and was scooping out Endler's to go into the 55 and feed the remaining fish there.

I knew that Endler's would eat baby shrimp but I never thought that they would actively hunt adult shrimp until I saw it.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

only the females are a well known problem in practically every fish shrimp compatibility discussion thread on this web sight.
I have two dozen male only endlers in a tank with two dozen adult male & female shrimp in the same 30gal tank, and they all get along together just fine. I keep my females endlers, and berried female shrimp and their fry in separate tanks, and move them back to my endler male community tank once they mature to around 2cm in length, which is often longer than the endler males themselves.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

Problem is that the males were involved as much as the females. 

I was figuring that my shrimp were just stupid and the juveniles kept swimming up to the endlers to say hi. In reality the endler's were swimming up to the shrimp and saying "DINNER".


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

FYI.....they will also eat their young....


Seriously though if they eat their own young what's to stop them from having a tasty snack?


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

eklikewhoa said:


> FYI.....they will also eat their young....
> 
> Seriously though if they eat their own young what's to stop them from having a tasty snack?


the 70 I pulled out of a 15 gallon tank seemed to ignore each other and concentrate on the shrimp..

Today I have more shrimp all over the tank then I have had since day 1 of putting the shrimp in.

and at least 3 endlers are still in the tank...

hmm, c02 the tank to pop the endlers is an option.


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## fishscale (Jul 25, 2007)

How big are endlers exactly? I am wondering since I have full grown diamond tetras in with cherries and they leave the adults alone.


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## SimplyOrange (Oct 5, 2007)

fishscale said:


> How big are endlers exactly? I am wondering since I have full grown diamond tetras in with cherries and they leave the adults alone.


says about 3/4 of an inch. just like a feeder guppy male.
http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Articles/TonyGriffitts/Endlers_Livebearer.html


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## jrh (Sep 6, 2007)

Tetras tend to have smaller mouths I think, whereas endlers and guppies and danios all have big 'ol mouths.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

and the generalizations just keep on coming...

male endler mouths are tiny
so have my _Chela dadyburjori _
which are lovely yellow Danio.

I have a dozen of each in with
two dozen adult Cherry shrimp
and suffer no predation at all.

and saying Tetra's have smaller mouths?
tetra's include 160 varieties in their species
many of whom could swallow a large female
cherry shrimp in one gulp. for example I
would never put my Nematobrycon palmeri
in with cherry shrimp, even my larger Amano
would get their limbs nipped off.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

spypet said:


> and the generalizations just keep on coming...
> 
> male endler mouths are tiny
> so have my _Chela dadyburjori _
> ...


The generalization that I WATCHED happen? Which led to me stripping the endlers out of the tank?

Really, you might want to look up Generalization, I dont think it means what you think it means.


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## jrh (Sep 6, 2007)

spypet said:


> male endler mouths are tiny
> so have my _Chela dadyburjori _
> which are lovely yellow Danio.


My bad. I thought danios were _Danio sp_ or _Devario sp_.

Actually, I just looked at some pics of the Chela dadyburjori, and those look like mosquito larvae eating mouths to me. I'm surprised they don't go after shrimplets.


_click on image for a larger version_


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## PMD (May 3, 2005)

My dwarf livebearers will not eat RCS or RCS babies. I have a swarm of possibly over 100 in my 55 gal and my RCS are still going gangbusters. I've seen them totally ignore newborn RCS. It probably helps that their mouths are too small to even consume their fry.


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