Endler's Livebearer (Poecilia wingei)

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It has come to my attention that not everyone on AC is aware of the Endler situation, so I thought I would bring it to your attention.

While being a close relative to Poecilia Reticulate (Guppy) the Endlers livebearer was scientifically described in 2005 as Poecilia wingei.

The original description was published by Poeser, Kempkes and Isbrucker in Contributions to Zoology, and is now widely accepted. An article was later published in Practical fishkeeping magazine.

It was concluded that P. wingei is smaller and differs in colouration and behaviour from P. reticulata (Guppy).

The species was added to fishbase some time ago:
http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/Spec...y.php?id=63223

It is now believed that P. wingei may be endangered due to human activity in their only known habitat in Venezuela.

Efforts are being made to determine their population and future. It is expected that the species will be added to the IUCN Red List in the near future. (note: I have not yet been able to confirm this with a reliable source, consider it a strong rumour)

It is important that the global fishkeeping community is responsible and makes an effort to sustain the purity of the species.

I'm not an expert on these things, but please .. If you do crossbreed P. wingei with P. reticulata at least make sure any recepient of your crossbreed is well aware of the situation. Do not promote your fish as P. wingei unless you are absolutely sure that these are pure breeds. Do not ignore the fact that this is an important species different from Guppy.

The original paper is here: http://dpc.uba.uva.nl/ctz/vol74/nr01/art07
The PFM article: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...m.php?news=889