We study the arithmeticity of $\mathbb {C}$-Fuchsian subgroups of some nonarithmetic lattices constructed by Deraux et al. [‘New non-arithmetic complex hyperbolic lattices’, Invent. Math. 203 (2016), 681–771]. Our results give an answer to a question raised by Wells [Hybrid Subgroups of Complex Hyperbolic Isometries, Doctoral thesis, Arizona State University, 2019].