Jump to content


Bluegill Color


  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Feylan_*

Guest_Feylan_*
  • Guests

Posted 01 September 2010 - 09:59 PM

I have some young bluegill in a 75 gallon community. They seem to change color a lot, and it's a pretty big color change. Sometimes they are a really dark purple color, sometimes they are kind of green with stripes and sometimes they go pale yellow. Is this normal? They don't act odd or anything. They beg for food every time I go anywhere near the tank, and will eat anything that hits the water. The pH is usually between 6.8 and 7.0 in that tank. Room temperature. I will add a couple of pictures. The fish originate from a stock tank in Wills Point, Texas.

Attached Files



#2 Guest_gzeiger_*

Guest_gzeiger_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 September 2010 - 05:25 AM

Yes, that's normal. Changing light levels in the tank especially will cause them to do that, so they'll look different in the morning when the lights first come on.

#3 Guest_centrarchid_*

Guest_centrarchid_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 September 2010 - 08:42 AM

I have some young bluegill in a 75 gallon community. They seem to change color a lot, and it's a pretty big color change. Sometimes they are a really dark purple color, sometimes they are kind of green with stripes and sometimes they go pale yellow. Is this normal? They don't act odd or anything. They beg for food every time I go anywhere near the tank, and will eat anything that hits the water. The pH is usually between 6.8 and 7.0 in that tank. Room temperature. I will add a couple of pictures. The fish originate from a stock tank in Wills Point, Texas.


Feylan,

A bluegill farmer made a similar observation regarding coloration that he attributed to individual variation. I then took him to one of our indoor tanks that had a couple thousand 2" bluegill and placed two sheets of plastic side by side on bottom. One sheet was black, other was white. As fish swam over the sheets, the fish rapidly changed shade to nearly match the sheet they were over. Change took just a couple of seconds.

They also go through specific color changes associated with breeding that are fairly predictable. Some really cool differences exist between the subspecies. You likely have northern and coppernose bluegill close to where you live, courtesy of willy nilly stocking efforts of everyone and their brother.

Some really cool changes are evident when feeding sites are being defended.

#4 Guest_Feylan_*

Guest_Feylan_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 September 2010 - 03:42 PM

Feylan,

A bluegill farmer made a similar observation regarding coloration that he attributed to individual variation. I then took him to one of our indoor tanks that had a couple thousand 2" bluegill and placed two sheets of plastic side by side on bottom. One sheet was black, other was white. As fish swam over the sheets, the fish rapidly changed shade to nearly match the sheet they were over. Change took just a couple of seconds.

They also go through specific color changes associated with breeding that are fairly predictable. Some really cool differences exist between the subspecies. You likely have northern and coppernose bluegill close to where you live, courtesy of willy nilly stocking efforts of everyone and their brother.

Some really cool changes are evident when feeding sites are being defended.


Maybe they should be renamed chameleon sunfish :P
I have no idea what variety my uncle has in the stock tank, since I didn't catch any adults while there. I may go back and try to catch some adults to see what those look like from the pond. I don't think they are the coppernose variety. Some I've caught from other stock tanks in the area are very different... some are silvery with green stripes.. some are a very pretty yellow on the sides with green and blue on the edges. I suppose I should start taking my camera on my fishing trips more often, so I can take pictures of any adults I capture while trying to collect young sunfish.

#5 Guest_centrarchid_*

Guest_centrarchid_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 September 2010 - 06:41 PM

Feylan,

You may well be seeing sunfishes other than bluegill as well, especially when they have yellows or green / bluee on them.

Your local warmouth with can change colors much better than bluegill, so former more aptly called chameleon sunfish.

Yes, for camera!

#6 Guest_Feylan_*

Guest_Feylan_*
  • Guests

Posted 02 September 2010 - 11:28 PM

Feylan,

You may well be seeing sunfishes other than bluegill as well, especially when they have yellows or green / bluee on them.

Your local warmouth with can change colors much better than bluegill, so former more aptly called chameleon sunfish.

Yes, for camera!

So far I've only caught one warmouth that I know of. Lots of Greens and Bluegill, and a few longears and redears. I caught something the other day that looked like a cross between a green and a longear... It was blue, orange and yellow like the local longears, but it was the shape of a green. Really pretty fish, but I didn't have my camera with me, and since I wasn't positive as to what it was it went back into the creek.

#7 Guest_wilded_*

Guest_wilded_*
  • Guests

Posted 30 September 2010 - 08:44 PM

So far I've only caught one warmouth that I know of. Lots of Greens and Bluegill, and a few longears and redears. I caught something the other day that looked like a cross between a green and a longear... It was blue, orange and yellow like the local longears, but it was the shape of a green. Really pretty fish, but I didn't have my camera with me, and since I wasn't positive as to what it was it went back into the creek.


In our stock pond in Lampasas county the green sunfish seem to cross with the the others so we get some strange looking hybrids. I have just bought an aquarium and plan to bring some of them home next month to keep in my office.
http://wildedtx.blog...nfish-pond.html




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users