What are Staecks Endlers?

Steacks Endler is a really pretty fish, but there are several types in the hobby. Hybrids as well as supposedly "pure" fish. Some say that the orignals were hybrids. What is real seems to change depending on who you talk to.

The fish were collected by Dr. Wolfgang Staeck in a creek around Laguna de los Patos in Cumana in 2004. That much is clear!
It is also clear that they were crossed with Poecilia wingei "Yellow Top Sword" by Karen Koomans. Today there are several strains in the hobby, which look a bit different from each other.

Two years ago I got the fish below from Claus Osche and they can be traced back to a DGLZ-member in Berlin who wasn't shure if they were hybrids or not. Still pretty fish, none the less!

They are quite similar to the Karen Koomans hybrids below. Thanks to Phillip Voisin (Philderodez Endlerslover on social medias) for lending me the photo!

Except for the coloured dorsal in my fish, they are very similar and the difference could simply be different breeders selecting in different directions.

So, what does the real one look like? A good guess is these fish I got earlier this year from Jef Pedro who has the nice website Casadiguppy.

These fish is from a strain with the tracing Dr. Wolfgang Staeck - Dr. Fred Poeser - Leo van der Meer - Jef Pedro - Me. To me they look much more "wingei" in appearance. In any case I find the very pretty.