Devils Hole Pupfish

[Diztrbd1]

I was recently watching a documentary from National Geographic's US National Parks collection. The last disc in the set is about California's Death Valley National Park This is a very cool 45 minute video I highly recommend watching the full video and even checking out Death Valley itself online, interesting stuff for sure. This place is fascinating considering it's one of the driest & hottest places on the planet. Under the surface of Death Valley is one of the world's largest underground reservoirs ( Aquifer ) spanning some 40,000 square miles. It is fed by the Amargosa River and Salt Creek. On the Nevada side of the park is Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, this is where you will find Devils Hole which is part of the underground reservoir . There is a species of Pupfish that lives there called the Devil's Hole Pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) & this is the only place on the planet that they live. This is one of the rarest fish on the planet & you won't be finding them in any LFS any time soon. Atleast I hope not as there are less than 400 (maybe not accurate but close enough) in existence. They are a beautiful little fish that get no bigger than an inch & they live in water that is 33°C/93°F on average. Thought I'd share some vids and info about these interesting fish.
The first vid (5 minutes) is from the DVD itself. The rest I found on youtube, are a few minutes each.
Hope you enjoy!





These are Death Valley pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus) These pupfish adapted to the shallow, hot, salty water of a particular part of Salt Creek that flows above ground year-round, and is also sometimes referred to as Salt Creek Pupfish, I didn't research these as much. Just seen the vid and thought I'd add it


This is a species from Mexico that I couldn't find a name on yet:


Here's some other interesting links:
Devils Hole Pupfish Home Page
Endangered Earth - Water Under the Desert




a few pix:

[Ursus sapien]

these have fascinated me for ages, but the videos are new to me. Thanks for posting them!

[Diztrbd1]

Your very welcome....I was very intrigued with these myself when I seen them on that show. Never even heard of them till I watched it. Wish I could upload the whole DVD. It was very cool. These would look really good with some dario dario's, too bad there is so few.

[jobber604]

Amazing how the US would go through to protect these species. Can't say the same about the salmon and Atlantic cod fisheries. Glad to see these pupfish population still healthy.

[Ursus sapien]

The few of these that have been moved to institutional aquariums over the years have been lost, as far as I know. Hard to keep in captivity. Beautiful killi, though.

[jobber604]

I'm sure they can find a way to captive breed them eventually. But look at the tanks they set up for them. Super bright, ADA style, with florabase and plants....i don't think that's their natural environment

[Diztrbd1]

You would think they could already. I have to agree, it doesn't seem they are replicating their natural environment at all. Judging from the vid they are in very dark conditions. I found it odd the set-ups they had for them too

[jobber604]

I would put them in bigger tanks. 125 gallon at least and bring the same substrate and furnishings to replicate their environment. Feed live food. Their killifish, so their lifespan isn't all that long, so they need to understand their breeding cycle and get them breeding FAST! They should just give some to killifish breeders to try sustaining the population. IF the breeders have an opportunity to make money, THEY'LL find a way.

[Diztrbd1]

sounds like you know better than them Ming..... they should give you some lol you have great luck with breeding fish from what I have seen anyway Turns out that video was a species from Mexico lol oops my bad

[Nanokid]

Amazing how the US would go through to protect these species. Can't say the same about the salmon and Atlantic cod fisheries. Glad to see these pupfish population still healthy.

having family deep in pacific fisheries, i can safely say that Americans are doing a much better job at the moment of sustaining there salmon fisherie then we are.

beautiful fish, but i couldnt see it lasting in the trade - it thrives at 93 degrees! thats higher then discus!! no plants would survive with at!