It seems like someone should be breeding them to make them available without taxing wild stocks. Of course that would require that someone first collect them from wild stocks. It just seems weird that it wouldn’t have been done already…
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This quote from the article you linked really makes me think they’d be ideal for these contained systems that aren’t ideal for most native fish:
Further, many mudminnow habitats are mis-mapped or misclassified as “non-fish bearing” waters on the Washington State Department of Natural Resources regulatory water type maps
Here’s a fact sheet on the species from fish & wildlife:
olympic_mudminnow.pdf (672.4 KB)
They are listed as a Sensitive species due to habitat loss but I’m not clear as to whether there is any restriction on collecting them.
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Looks like there’s a small group of people who’ve taken an interest in breeding these. Olympic Mudminnow - a cool Washington Native - Introductions & Greetings - C.A.R.E.
Someone mentioned there that a collection permit would be required to source them. They shared this link: Scientific Collection Permits | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
It doesn’t look like any of them have actually gotten started yet, but the forum discussion was a few years ago so maybe if anyone is a member of that forum they could get the conversation going again and see if anyone has made progress yet.
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Specific collection sites of Olympic mudminnows here:
You will have a hard time finding Gambusa mosiquito fish thru fish shops around Wa. They are banned and on the invasive list. Any shop that gets them as by catch with feeder goldfish feeds them to the big cichlids to prevent getting in trouble.
The white clouds mountain minnows are a good choice. They do not need much care and can survive all but the coldest of days. The feeder goldfish work well too. Except do not stay small.
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@Noddykitty do you know of anywhere that specializes in native species like the Olympic mudminnow? Seems like there would be demand for local native species to stock ponds and stuff, but maybe not.
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they can get to 6’’ and make excellent hardy bait for sports fish like salmon and trout.
II may well be that they are protected in the state. It’s very hit or miss from state to state, but often even minnow species may be protected if they are scarce. Another restriction might be against the commercial sale of any native fish. Here is a link to an organization that focuses on native fish, and members sometimes offer some. You could find a local member. https://www.nanfa.org/
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They appear to have a forum on their website that is pretty dead, but maybe someone could be found based on posts on there.
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Yeah, they have come and gone with membership and activity, but just by pure chance I found a post that linked to some sort of regulatory meeting discussing the Olympic Mudminnow, dated 1999 ! Of course the link was long dead, but it would suggest that this is a species that has been getting attention for a long time. Probably the state would have more info about threatened species on some official website.
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I work for fish and wildlife in California.
I will ask your questions and get back to you.
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Honestly, if access to farm raised Olympic Mudminnows was made possible, a huge amount of PNW people would likely want to stock their small ponds with them instead of using the potentially invasive non-native species which are much easier to source at this time.
If you think about it, it’s kind of crazy that we have such great access to non-native species while having such limited access to native species.
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The fact sheet that I posted earlier said they are categorized as “Sensitive” and they have a healthy population, but they require the kind of shallow wetlands that often get destroyed by development, so it’s something that gets included in environmental impact statements for developments. That fact sheet came from the WA Fish & Wildlife website here:
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And here’s the 1999 report that was referenced earlier:
An excerpt:
Nearly 90 percent of the mudminnow populations monitored in this study seem to be stable. However, mudminnows are completely dependent on healthy wetland habitat for their survival. Because of this, and the Olympic mudminnow’s very restricted range and the continuing loss of wetlands, we believe they are vulnerable and likely to become threatened or endangered in a significant portion of its range without cooperative management. The Department of Fish and Wildlife recommends that the Olympic mudminnow be designated as a sensitive species in Washington
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From what I read, the biggest threat they were facing was that some of their habitat wasn’t recognized as “fish bearing” water and therefore was not having adequate protection. That’s what triggered the big study to survey where all they live.
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This behavior might make them poorly suited to small ponds:
Male Novumbra hubbsi are highly aggressive during reproduction when they hold very large territories over long periods of time. A description of aggressive displays, territoriality, and courtship is given from a sample of 29 males in the laboratory and 26 in the field . . . .
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I read about that. There’s a flow to it though. New males challenge the male guarding the egg site leading to periodic changeover of males during the course of the very long breeding season (they breed more months out of the year than not). I don’t think that would make them less suitable to keeping in ponds. It’s a heck of a lot better than goldfish which immediately start eating their own babies after spawning.
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" Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) is found in the Mississippi drainage from Kansas to southern Illinois, and in Gulf of Mexico drainages from Mobile Bay to San Antonio Bay, and in inland portions of the drainages south to the Rio Grande."
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Sorry in the delay getting back to you and I have not read the whole thread so forgive me if you have this information already, but here is what I was told by an environmental scientist:
“I believe the local mosquito control district gives out mosquito fish”