Fish Folk Posted April 13, 2022 Share Posted April 13, 2022 Gotta say, these guys are always fun for me to watch… Just lookin’ into my office tank a moment. 4 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSwissAquarist Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Rainbow Shiners? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 On 4/14/2022 at 1:11 AM, TheSwissAquarist said: Rainbow Shiners? Yes! Notropis chrosomus (Rainbow shiners) and Enneacanthus obesus (Banded sunfish) Also in this tank, though not in this video, there are 4x Etheostoma caeruleum (Rainbow darters). 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Beautiful! I had to share these with a Biologist friend who researches native fish here in WA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 @Patrick_G That's awesome! Now: we just need to find a Biologist unafraid of a little criminal enterprise who will help us break into a certain undisclosed location and retrieve a sample of these to breed ex situ... the Holy Grail of U.S. Native Fish... The Devil's Hole Pupfish. Living blood diamonds my friend. We need 007 to get these... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 As a kid I remember camping at the Salton Sea. Near our campsite was a spring full of little pupfish. I proceeded to net out a couple dozen of the them into a bucket. I was lucky the Ranger was good natured and didn’t ticket my folks when I showed him my catch later that day! I had read an article on them and I knew they were endangered, but had somehow convinced myself it would be ok to keep some in a bucket. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 On 4/14/2022 at 9:15 AM, Fish Folk said: We need to get some of these guys into your hands. If anybody can breed them, it’s you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 On 4/16/2022 at 11:23 AM, Odd Duck said: We need to get some of these guys into your hands. If anybody can breed them, it’s you! Oh my! No no no… don’t say it!!! Pretty sure that’s a long prison sentence! 🤣🤣🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 On 4/16/2022 at 10:37 AM, Fish Folk said: Oh my! No no no… don’t say it!!! Pretty sure that’s a long prison sentence! 🤣🤣🤣 😆 I didn’t mean illegally! With permission, permits, etc, all T’s crossed and i’s dotted. 🤣 🤣 🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 (edited) I’ve gotten into pretty drawn out conversations with researchers before about doing an “ark” project for endangered species. Here’s the truth… most of us (I’m totally guilty) don’t focus long and hard with scientific precision on things. We THINK we do, but actually we only tend to for single tanks… single projects… single species… rarely more than a single year at a time. For example, I’m the proud owner of a small colony of one CARES species, endangered in the wild — Xenotoca doadrioi (Redtail Goodeids)… I started with 8x, and I’ve bred well over 80x more. It feels like I’ve had them for years… but in truth, it’s only been for a year and a half. And honestly… I’m a bit bored with them 😑 The best places to “ark” breed seriously endangered species are well-endowed University ichthyology or ecology departments. I’m reasonably sure that’s already being done for the DHPF. They’re virtually “annuals,” so I hope some Dutch Killi enthusiasts are engaged with their research! I think these pupfish breed at really high temperatures (90°-F+) and the water chemistry must be very peculiar, given the unfathomed depth and curious rock leeching. I’ll look up ark breeding projects for them — I’m sure there’s videos about that. Awhile ago, I badly wanted to dedicate a number of tanks to breeding these endangered Vermillion Darters… You can see a neat little intro to their study in the wild here… I contacted people, asked a lot of questions, but in the end had to learn basically that “buzz off” was more or less an appropriate response to my fanatics. Truth to be told, I’d have zero business working with these. One scientist I corresponded with was basically explaining to me (these are my words), “Look, even if you successfully breed a few, it will be less than they’d produce in the wild. If the goal is to help them multiply, then preserving their natural habitat makes sense. If you just want cool fish to play with, there’s lots of others that aren’t endangered.” I was irritated at first, but it makes a lot of sense now. Edited April 16, 2022 by Fish Folk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 Here’s another 60-second video. If you watch closely, you can spot both banded sunfish along with the shiners… There were Darters moving around too, but they punked my shot by not showing up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jawjagrrl Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 On 4/14/2022 at 10:08 AM, Fish Folk said: @Patrick_G That's awesome! Now: we just need to find a Biologist unafraid of a little criminal enterprise who will help us break into a certain undisclosed location and retrieve a sample of these to breed ex situ... the Holy Grail of U.S. Native Fish... The Devil's Hole Pupfish. Living blood diamonds my friend. We need 007 to get these... I learned a lot about these little guys from a very unlikely YT Channel - Kaitlin Doughty's Ask A Mortician. Their environment is insane parameters, but there is a research facility that finally cracked the code and have managed to breed some in a "secret" location that matches their environment to the last detail. Apparently if they are kept with any other pupfish species their genes lose out completely in any crossbreeding. But their space was part of decades-long water wars and even under threat by Charles Manson, who was obsessed with this place and wanted to drain it completely. Apparently it was where he and his followers needed to be to survive the coming "Helter Skelter". On 4/14/2022 at 6:59 AM, Fish Folk said: Yes! Notropis chrosomus (Rainbow shiners) I still can't get over their breeding displays! I can see a setup with these and other natives one day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 (edited) On 4/16/2022 at 1:21 PM, Jawjagrrl said: I learned a lot about these little guys from a very unlikely YT Channel - Kaitlin Doughty's Ask A Mortician. Their environment is insane parameters, but there is a research facility that finally cracked the code and have managed to breed some in a "secret" location that matches their environment to the last detail. Apparently if they are kept with any other pupfish species their genes lose out completely in any crossbreeding. But their space was part of decades-long water wars and even under threat by Charles Manson, who was obsessed with this place and wanted to drain it completely. Apparently it was where he and his followers needed to be to survive the coming "Helter Skelter". Crazy stuff!!! Wow… I will say, there’s interesting evidence here that genetic health & stability can be maintained within a small population for a LOOOOOOONG line. Though their old world (African) annuals, I’m working on breeding these short-lived fish right now that are somewhat similar to the DHPFs… Nothobranchius guentheri Nothobranchius rachovii The delight / challenge with these is that you HAVE to breed them successfully within a year, or you’ll lose the whole line. I’ve got eggs for both in ziplock bags waiting a few more months until eggs can be hatched! Edited April 16, 2022 by Fish Folk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 (edited) Here we go… three-species US native tank, full expo… (Sorry this video cuts off mid sentence… my phone must have just had enough 😂) Edited April 16, 2022 by Fish Folk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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