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ID Help for baby fish

Started by Guest_ZooKeeper_* , Aug 11 2010 11:29 AM

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9 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_ZooKeeper_*

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 11:29 AM

I work in a petstore and our order of feeder comet goldfish came in one day and to my surprise, I found this little guy swimming around in the tank. He was obviously not a goldfish so I scooped him out and took him home. Now, don't yell at me, but he is currently in a 2.5g tank until I get the 10g tank set up and cycled (it was in storage. I'm setting it up today). I've had him for a few weeks now.

He is an inch long and I was told he was a bluegill sunfish. I just want to make sure that is correct.

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And yes, I am well aware he will outgrow a 10g tank.

I also have a 20g long he can go in when he gets bigger and I will eventually move him up to a 55g. I don't have a 55g yet and since he is only an inch long I saw no point in going out and spending money on a 55g that he doesn't need right now.

I will be posting in the captive care section with questions on his care.

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#2 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 11:31 AM

No, doesn't look like a bluegill. Green sunfish is a good possibility.

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#3 Guest_bumpylemon_*

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 11:36 AM

You can use the search button on this forum. Plenty of info for care. I can't really tell by the pic if its a bluegill. That could be cuz I'm looking through my phone. Could be a green sunfish.

Edited by bumpylemon, 11 August 2010 - 11:38 AM.

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#4 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 11 August 2010 - 01:40 PM

Elongated body, large mouth, and margins showing up on it's fins, might help ID this specimen.

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#5 Guest_star5328_*

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Posted 12 August 2010 - 07:25 AM

A green sunfish really looks that different at an inch than it does at 2? Looks like a bluegill to me with the oversized dorsal fin, shows how much I know as someone very new at this.

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#6 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 12 August 2010 - 07:37 AM

Juvenile sunfish can be tricky to ID. Get to know the "field marks", like the ones Skipjack mentioned, that allow you to successfully ID them. Overall appearance can help, but it can also fool you if you're looking at shared or variable characters.

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#7 Guest_MWBradshaw_*

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Posted 12 August 2010 - 07:47 AM

I seined some bluegills and pumpkinseeds of that size about a month ago, and your specimen looks significantly more elongated than the juvenile bluegill's I've seen.

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#8 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 01:16 PM

As others have been suggesting I would lean toward green sunfish as the most likely candidate but a clearer photo is needed to be sure. I also would not count out a blackspotted sunfish Lepomis punctatus because they also have a very distinctive outline and do show up in feeder goldfish from time to time from Florida. However, blackspotted have smaller mouths and are not as elongate as greens so green does make the most sense from what we can see.

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#9 Guest_FirstChAoS_*

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Posted 13 August 2010 - 10:01 PM

Juvenile sunfish can be tricky to ID. Get to know the "field marks", like the ones Skipjack mentioned, that allow you to successfully ID them. Overall appearance can help, but it can also fool you if you're looking at shared or variable characters.

Adults mostly avoid this, MOSTLY. I swear though some of the different pics of adult redbreasts I seen though I'd think were different fish if not identified as such in the images. I seen blue, green, and whitish ones posted here, those with short opercular tabs and really long ones, yellow, orange, and dark red breasts, etc.