Pupfish Keeping? C. Nazas breeding and care info.

[Ninebreaker]

Hey all, I'm not new to fisk keeping, but am new to pupfish. Specifically,  I picked up some C. Nazas from a local auction.  I couldn't connect with the seller, but wanted to know if anyone had information on this fish? 

All I currently know is that they do well with extreme conditions and prefer tubs (not happening until next June with me being in the northeast). 

Currently,  I popped in a heater for 72F and a handful of crushed coral and a large java fern mat into a 5G tank (juveniles), along with a cycled sponge.  

Bonus for breeding tips. I've bred ricefish and killis with mops and peat, so just looking for what kind of spawners they may be too. 

[Fish Folk]

Awesome find!

You need to reach out (somehow) to this guy…

He has uploaded the only photograph of these fish to fishbase, back in ca. 2009.

Here are known collection locations.

 

 

Pupfish are HIGHLY intense fish. Be advised! Their size is not an indicator of their aggression.

Here are some pupfish I video-recorded last Friday at the PPG Aquarium in Pittsburgh, PA. Not sure on the species…

There was someone  on here who kept Pupfish awhile ago… I’ll try to find them…

[Ninebreaker]

On 10/3/2022 at 4:05 PM, Fish Folk said:

Awesome find!

You need to reach out (somehow) to this guy…

He has uploaded the only photograph of these fish to fishbase, back in ca. 2009.

Here are known collection locations.

 

 

Pupfish are HIGHLY intense fish. Be advised! Their size is not an indicator of their aggression.

Here are some pupfish I video-recorded last Friday at the PPG Aquarium in Pittsburgh, PA. Not sure on the species…

There was someone  on here who kept Pupfish awhile ago… I’ll try to find them…

Thanks! Appreciate all the info. 

I'll reach out if I can. I heard of an upcoming talk RE: cyprinodons locally. I may have to become an expert haha.

[KentFishFanUK]

Hi from Reddit! 

 

I think I saw @OnlyGenusCaps might know about pupfishes? Hopefully they can chime in!

 

Side question, how confident are you on which pupfish species they are? The lack of information on the Nazas ones make me think maybe they aren't really in the hobby and your ones could be a different type? 

[Ninebreaker]

On 10/3/2022 at 4:36 PM, KentFishFanUK said:

Hi from Reddit! 

 

I think I saw @OnlyGenusCaps might know about pupfishes? Hopefully they can chime in!

 

Side question, how confident are you on which pupfish species they are? The lack of information on the Nazas ones make me think maybe they aren't really in the hobby and your ones could be a different type? 

Well, honestly I am about 80% confident it's correct because the club itself I got it from is well known and the person who kept them had a lot of interesting things that were super fish nerdy. If that makes sense. I might reach back out on Facebook to see if they have time to chat or are on FB.

[Fish Folk]

On 10/3/2022 at 4:39 PM, Ninebreaker said:

Well, honestly I am about 80% confident it's correct because the club itself I got it from is well known and the person who kept them had a lot of interesting things that were super fish nerdy. If that makes sense. I might reach back out on Facebook to see if they have time to chat or are on FB.

Definitely keep in touch with your source!

[KentFishFanUK]

On 10/3/2022 at 9:39 PM, Ninebreaker said:

Well, honestly I am about 80% confident it's correct because the club itself I got it from is well known and the person who kept them had a lot of interesting things that were super fish nerdy. If that makes sense. I might reach back out on Facebook to see if they have time to chat or are on FB.

Yeah definitely makes sense - much more likely to be correct than a random import from an LFS that could be incorrectly indentified/labelled. 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

It's a pretty intense week for me, but my ears were burning, so I had to come over here.  Pupfish you say?!  Yes, I love pupfish!  I have some.  Different species, though same section of the clade.  Nice find on the C. nazas!  Full disclosure, I am no pupfish expert.  There are some older folks who have been at it decades, some of whom have literally been the reason species didn't go extinct.  I have been lucky enough to have them give of their time to mentor me.  So anything I do know really goes back to them.  Anything I get wrong...  Well, that's from me! 

@Fish Folk is right that they tend to be a bit cantankerous.  With juveniles, would will have a few months before you have to worry about that though.  Part of the reason they "do well in tubs" is just the larger space.  Also, having enough males to spread out the aggression is handy.  Pupfish are tolerant of a wide range of conditions, but different species have various optima, from all I understand, and if you hit that sweet spot they will reward you much more.  Tracking down a successful keeper, in your case your source, can be really helpful in that regard!

Two things seem to be consistent when i talk to folks doing pupfish when it comes to successful breeding: rock bottoms, and hair algae.  Both of these seem to be universally agreed upon for helping with breeding - although there are also the folks who can just keep things in tubs year-round, and they tent to tell me "you just put them in a tub and they breed".  For those who have to use tanks at least part of the year, I heal a lot more trial an error.  I imagine if the two factors were included in tubs, it could only help.

Was that helpful, @Ninebreaker?  I feel like @KentFishFanUK might have gotten your hopes up too far for what I know.  Baseline, for really just about anything, is it is best to assume I know very little.  😆