Kidder's livebearer

Carlhubbsia kidderi

Also known as Champoton livebearer

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 7.0–8.2
Adult size: 2 in (5 cm)
Minimum tank: 14 gal (54 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Easy
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Champotón basin, Mexico and Guatemala
Family: Poeciliidae

Overview

Keep Kidder's livebearer as a peaceful colony with a surplus of females over males, the usual way to keep livebearer courtship from wearing individual females down. It spends its time in the middle of the tank among plants and open water. It is gentle and easily overshadowed, so it does best in a quiet community of small, calm fish or in a planted species tank where the fry have cover. Feed small omnivore foods: fine flake, micro pellets, frozen daphnia and bloodworm, and a little green matter. A tank of around 54 liters gives a colony space to grow.

In the wild

In the wild this species lives in weedy lowland waters of the Champotón basin on the Yucatán side of southern Mexico, extending toward Guatemala, in warm, hard, plant-filled habitats. Set it up with neutral to alkaline water, pH about 7.0 to 8.2 at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius, dense planting, and a soft substrate. Gentle flow and plenty of cover mimic the sheltered, vegetated margins it prefers.

Good to know

Carlhubbsia kidderi is a livebearer in the family Poeciliidae; males reach about 5 centimeters and females are a little larger. It is a true livebearer, with females carrying young for roughly 24 to 28 days before giving birth to broods of 10 to 30, and it breeds readily in a settled tank. The genus name is built from the first and last names of the American ichthyologist Carl Hubbs.

Did you know

Hubbs first placed this fish in a genus he called Allophallus, but that name was already taken by a group of flies, so it was replaced with Carlhubbsia, which honors Hubbs himself using both his given and family names.