Barney warm springs fish

Livebearer

Member
Anybody heard of this, there are fish in this desert springs near Ellis, ID. African riff lake cichlids, wild-type guppies, platties, wildtype swordtails. Rumor has is that fish were randomly dumped here back in the seventies and eighties. It has sustained a thriving population all of this time since then. Water is around 82F ansd maybe sulferic as well. The nearest town is 40+ miles away! HMMMMMM. Go campin' next summer...:punk: 
 

Anthraxx

New Member
naw just dont bring your kids, says he only eats smaller swimmers. reminds me of that nuclear power plant waste water pond in australia.
 

Livebearer

Member
Chiclid-gal,
Where did U get this article? I love it, 8) it makes me want to go swimming with the fishes NOW! Good score! I might be able to get some of those fishes from there through a private party....
 

cichlid-gal

New Member
Anthraxx said:
naw just dont bring your kids, says he only eats smaller swimmers. reminds me of that nuclear power plant waste water pond in australia.
:laughhard: :laughhard: :laughhard: 
 

cichlid-gal

New Member
Livebearer said:
Chiclid-gal,
Where did U get this article? I love it, 8) it makes me want to go swimming with the fishes NOW! Good score! I might be able to get some of those fishes from there through a private party....
Google is an amazing thing...simply amazing
 

Livebearer

Member
Common guys,,, I think this is truely amazing as these fishes have manage to co-exist with one another in the middle of nowhere and have evolved over time. I'm sure there was nothing but suds and larve living in this spring before some crazy hippies decided to bring some fish to throw in the there. Hey that would have taken some planning ya think?
 

cichlid-gal

New Member
Fish are incredible...truly and their adaptations are amazing also. I too find this very interesting and would look forward to updates if anyone actually visits this place and sees the fish.
 

Livebearer

Member
Hey if they have been in there since' the 70's they have evolved into there own strain and reverted from whatever type they were when dumped there. If I remeber right there was not alot of choices in the fish hobby back then, most were as they were, a wild type.
 

LuminousAphid

New Member
That's awesome, it is sort of like a manmade version of the Devil's Hole ecosystem.... except somehow the manmade version is doing much better than the natural one

http://fins.actwin.com/nanf/month.200002/msg00044.html

If I am ever out in central Idaho, i will have to check that out. I have never been out there though, and don't really foresee a reason for me to go other than this... if anyone plants a road trip, let me know! It would be awesome to go collecting for weird captive/wild-hybrid things that have developed in there.

I wonder if the hybrid mixes have been there long enough to start breeding true at all, or if it's just a grab-bag of random mixed species?
 

Livebearer

Member
LuminousAphid,
According to information I read posted, this fish guy who did go collection this summer says they are really NICE lookin' fish! He showed shoreside photo's of what he and his buddy caught pond side; male wild type blue guppy's with some females, in the outlet stream, some X. helleri green spotted swords (same place) and some colbalt blue malawi cichilds Main pond area (sorry I'm not up on these varieties).
He also mentioned seeing yellowish fishes and convict cichilds, and gold fish too! I'm sure natural selection is in order here as well. Plus a few Blue heron's having a feast
Yes, If I go out next summer I'll be sure to get ahold of you. My cousin's lives in Boise so I'll make a point to go see her. Livebearer
 
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