Contents
President's Message
There are two articles in this issue. The first might be a little
weighty for people who are not interested in the Desert Pupfish, but
there are several members who are very interested, so here it is.
The second article is mostly photos, and many of you are in them!
The December meeting is Sunday December 10th. It is a potluck. If you
come alone, bring one hot dish. If there are two of you, one hot dish
and one cold item. This meeting is both our annual awards presentations
and elections.
Since our spring trip to view the endangered Desert Pupfish many
SDTFS members have been interested in these fish. In addition I have
been in contact with some other people who have the same interest and am
reproducing below some information I have received.
Charles Pratt
Charles,
A recent research paper suggests that some species of the
desert pupfish are morphologically plastic and may exist in several
forms depending on environmental factors such as temperature, water
conditions and food availability. I have attached a PDF copy of the
research paper “Lema and Nevitt, 2006.pdf” on the Devils Hole
Pupfish. Additional information can be found at the following pages:
"Testing an ecophysiological mechanism of morphological
plasticity in pupfish and its relevance to conservation efforts for
endangered Devils Hole pupfish" J. Exp. Biol. 2006 209: 3499-3509. http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/209/18/3499?
"Extreme environment changes fish appearance" http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-10/uoc--eec101206.php
"WHAT MAKES DEVILS HOLE PUPFISH SPECIAL?" http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/209/18/i
If environmental factors can cause the Amargosa River pupfish (Cyprinodon
nevadensis amargosae) to morph into a facsimile of the Devils Hole
pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) and visa versa, an obvious question is:
are the two species unique or are they two morphological manifestations
of the same species? Are there other species of fish which will do the
same thing?
This is almost quantum biology, where one species can
exist in two states!
Michael Ronayne
Editor's Note: The above email referred to
a paper by Lema and Nevitt which appeared in The Journal of Exprimental
Biology 209, 3499-3500, Published by The Company of Biologists. That
paper said that "the Devil's hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) are
endemic to a single desert pool and are characterized by a small body,
large head and eyes and lack of pelvic fins. To lessen the risk of
extinction, additional populations of C. diabolis were established in
artificial refuges. Yet, pupfish in these refuges rapidly shifted to a
larger body, smaller head and eyes and greater body depth. Here we
examined how food availability and temperature which differ between
these habitats, influence morphological development in closely related
Amargosa River pupfish (Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae)."
Shortly after I received this message from
Michael Ronayne I had a request from Randy Turner for information on
SDTFS members who might have some experience in breeding pupfish and I
sent him a note as follows:
Hello Randy,
I obtained a pair of albino pupfish from Ron Jackson,
over a year ago, and spawned them several times. It wasn't much of a
problem. They were young when I got them and I waited until they seemed
to be the size of adults I had seen. I fed them baby brine shrimp, dry
food, some brine shrimp pellets, probably some frozen foods. When adult,
in a bare bottom tank, I used a nylon spawning mop, and just took it out
every few days and put another one in. Temperature the whole time was
about 73 degrees. I had a couple of items in the tank that the female
could hide in.
The young did well, grew fast and I sold some of them. After 90 days or
so I suddenly had a big die off, reason unknown. I put some EM tablets
in and they recovered, but the same thing happened again a month later
and I lost the rest.
I think Ron Jackson had spawned them several times, so he probably would
have some advice. They are also spawned by members of the local Killi
club. John Pitcairn
is a contact for that group.
Let me know if I can be of more help. Our club made a trip to Devil's
Hole in the spring and a lot of us are interested in pupfish. If you
happen to write up anything interesting about the fish as you get into
them more, we would love to put it in our monthly eBulletin for SDTFS
members. In fact I have just received an article that you may already
have, but I am attaching it anyway in case you have not seen it. I will
probably condense it for our eBulletin, but you are getting the full
thing!
Charles,
Thank you so much for the
information. This is a paper that I did not see when
I was out in Las Vegas attempting to assist with the Devil's Hole
Pupfish effort. It addresses some issues that are very important
that had not been brought forward while I was there. There is a
fine line to be walked when attempting to raise fish in captivity.
Normally feeding them the best foods possible in large quantities is
critical to maintaining breeding condition. This was seen in my
experiences in Willow Beach as we were getting a large number of eggs
being produced outside of the time of year for peak egg production.
This high production was likely a direct result of a good varied diet
high in protein. Unfortunately, these eggs were not viable.
The repercussions of this improved diet are brought forward in this
paper and show how the needs of the recovery must take into account both
the genetic and phenetic traits in relation to husbandry.
If you have a chance, check out the
Dec. 2006 edition of Outside magazine. There is a brief article on the
Devil's Hole Pupfish.
Thanks again,
Randy Turner
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1655 Heindon Rd.
Arcata, CA 95521
Phone 707-825-5121
Fax 707-822-8411
Setting up the November show is a big job, but it is
also a lot of fun. Almost all the really active SDTFS members
participate in the show, and we visit a lot and learn a lot. Here are
some photos of our active members in the process of setting up some
really beautiful tanks, and at the Saturday night pizza dinner.
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Debbie Lara walks into the room early in the setup
process. |
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Norman Brown standing on a ladder working on one
of his tanks. |
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Norm is Chair of the November show, and stays at
the exhibit almost all weekend. We thank him for attending to
numerous details for everyone exhibiting. |
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Bill Cline joins Norm as he continues setting up a
tank. |
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But Bill Cline also had his own beautiful tank.
This tank is actually normally set up in his living room, but
for the show he broke it down entirely and brought it in. The
tank has a CO2 charger to aid in plant growth. |
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Of course when you go high tech there are
adjustments that have to be made. |
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Now here are the operators. These guys and others
do so much for the club that the President just stands back and
marvels. |
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Kirk Bean peers over his glasses at the friendly
photographer. He obviously has strong doubts about what will
happen to this photograph. |
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At the pizza party we celebrated Amy Huie's
birthday. I think Julie thought she should display her age as
part of the event. And of course that is entirely appropriate. |
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Ben Ivy on the left with Charles Pratt (that's
me). |
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Chris Jensen observing lizard activities. This was
not his tank, but it was an interesting one. |
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Steve Graen with help from his grandson, Jose
Gonsalez set up a beautiful tank that you will see below. |
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Our professional aquarist team, Mark and Arlene
Ferguson actually appeared with a systematic approach that set
up an incredible tank in a short period of time. |
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Even at the pizza dinner many of us looked at fish
while others ate. The two people up front here are Ben Ivy and
Dee Pratt. |
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Victor Tongo and Bill Cline dueling at taking
pictures of me as I photographed them. |
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Derek Price entered the lizards with his friend in
the picture below. It was good to have some young people
showing, even if their livestock was not fish. |
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Hey, a photo like this has to be shown! |
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There were many beautiful fish in the show. This big female
Pearl Gourami was an outstanding speciman. |
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Kirk Bean's Ctenopoma acutirostre, also known as a Climbing
Perch defied the reputation of the species as shy, and stayed
right out front where it could see us. Kirk and I had debated
for some time just what a Climbing Perch looked like and finally
found that more than one specie of Ctenopoma is known as a
Climbing Perch. I have to admit that Kirk's Climbing Perch is a
better looking fish than mine. |
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Here is a completed row of tanks, all set up for public
viewing. |
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Ben Ivy's display of about 30 incredible male show guppies was
first inside the door and set the high tone for the show. |
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Steve Graen's prizewinning tank was a beautiful example of
aquascaping. |
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Mark and Arlene Ferguson put together a beautifully planted
tank with several species of Rainbow fish. |
This seemed to me to be one of the best shows we have put together
for many years. Thanks to all the exhibitors, judges, participants and
viewers. Think about exhibiting some of your best fish next year!
Charles Pratt
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