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Bluegills with red fins?

Started by Guest_Leo1234_* , Dec 05 2013 12:43 AM

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16 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Leo1234_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 12:43 AM

I was wondering why my 3 bluegills i have red fins. I is a darker red. They had these once they started getting their sunfish shape. I just never have seen a picture on the internet of one with red fins.

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#2 Guest_Dustin_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 08:06 AM

I've seen bluegills with red fins from water that was darkly tannin stained. The red was more of a rust or brick red but it was very intense in some fish.

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#3 Guest_daveneely_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 09:13 AM

...is it possible they're originally from peninsular Florida?

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#4 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 11:39 AM

I've seen those rusty-finned bluegills in FL too, but not in NC. Also, captivity can do funny things to fish pigment. A friend in had some wild-caught sandbar shiners in a tank with spottail shiners and creek chubs. Sandbars are normally plain silver, with no obvious stripe except in small juveniles. After several months of tank life his sandbars developed a lateral stripe and dark-edged scales on the upper part of the body, obscuring the normal silvery iridescence. If I had caught them like this wild I would be hard pressed to ID them as sandbars. Maybe all bluegills have some genetic potential to make red pigment, but it's only expressed under certain conditions (water quality, water color, diet, social interactions, etc).

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#5 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 12:12 PM

Most of the Coppernose Bluegill clan has reddish fins. Especially the Suwannee River system and St. Johns river system populations. Those further south and along eastern seaboard starting with Georgia have a dusky to grayish color but not the greenish typical of the Northern Bluegill populations. If a proper bluegill with reddish fins, you also see a creamy trim. Other sunfishes I have seen with reddish fins lack the trim.

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#6 Guest_Leo1234_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 06:19 PM

They are from Florida, And they do have vertical bands, and the red is copper like or brick red. I guess they are coppernose bluegills. I know they are bluegills, I just didn't know if they are a hybrid. They are healthy and show no signs of disease.

also, i have no good cameras. My only digital one broke somehow. It didn't crack, just will not open the lens anymore.

Edited by Leo1234, 05 December 2013 - 06:22 PM.

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#7 Isaac Szabo

NANFA Member

Marble Falls, AR

Posted 05 December 2013 - 08:31 PM

Florida has some nice-looking bluegill. Here's one from the Suwannee drainage:

Posted Image

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#8 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 08:45 PM

Isaac, you are straight up awesome. I don't know how you pull these photos off, but whatever it is, keep it up.

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#9 Guest_Leo1234_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 09:26 PM

That looks pretty much like mine. How big of a tank do they need? Also what is their total/max size?

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#10 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 09:43 PM

Might see 8-10 inches in a tank. Bigger if you feed heavily, do frequent water changes, and have a large tank. A 75 would be fairly comfortable for a trio in my opinion.

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#11 Guest_Orangespotted_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 09:48 PM

Is it strange that I want to reach out and pet the Bluegill? Terribly jealous of your skills Isaac!

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#12 Isaac Szabo

NANFA Member

Marble Falls, AR

Posted 05 December 2013 - 09:51 PM

Thanks Matt and Orangespotted!

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#13 Guest_Leo1234_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 10:03 PM

The reason I was asking about tank size is i might get a 120-180 gallon aquarium soon, or at least a 4-6ft length, 2ft wide tank.

Edited by Leo1234, 05 December 2013 - 10:03 PM.

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#14 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 05 December 2013 - 10:12 PM

That'll do it.

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#15 Guest_FirstChAoS_*

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Posted 06 December 2013 - 12:14 PM

I've seen those rusty-finned bluegills in FL too, but not in NC. Also, captivity can do funny things to fish pigment. A friend in had some wild-caught sandbar shiners in a tank with spottail shiners and creek chubs. Sandbars are normally plain silver, with no obvious stripe except in small juveniles. After several months of tank life his sandbars developed a lateral stripe and dark-edged scales on the upper part of the body, obscuring the normal silvery iridescence. If I had caught them like this wild I would be hard pressed to ID them as sandbars. Maybe all bluegills have some genetic potential to make red pigment, but it's only expressed under certain conditions (water quality, water color, diet, social interactions, etc).

I remember you mentioning this. I consider it one of the great unsolved mysteries of native fishes that needs investigation. (the other one is active vs passive winter bullheads, is their torpor influenced by size like stripers?)

It got me thinking. Do the shiners in question regularly spawn on the nests of other species? If so do they hatch at the same time as others? If so it may be an advantage to shift their color to match other similar sized minnows so as not to stand out in the school think this definately needs study. I have observed smaller/younger minnows look more similar to each other than adults and have wondered if their was a reason for this.

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#16 Guest_centrarchid_*

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Posted 06 December 2013 - 01:26 PM

With respect to the pigmentation of the vertical fins in bluegill, the red versus greenish versus dusky is dominated by genetics with little environmental. We no longer have wild bred bluegill yet we can distinguish source based on fin coloration. This holds even for F2's that have never seen the sun.