12 replies to this topic

[Betta132]

Went fishing to take stock of the baby population (good time of year to find sunny babies) and found some nice little bluegills. Decided to take one home, grow him up, and try to add him to my sunny tank once he got some size to him. Thing is, I'm starting to wonder if this guy is full bluegill. When I found him, he looked just like a baby bluegill- bright blue/purple color and everything. The color's faded since I've had him, though. 

The first picture is my little baby. Sure looks like longear gill markings.

The second picture is a different fish, but that's what color he was when caught. I got a half-dozen babies, and all of them had about the same level of blue/purple, though a couple were a bit darker. 

Does he look like a hybrid? I've found bluegill/longear hybrids in that bit of river before, but they're bigger than this when I get them. I've never seen (or, actually, never recognized) one this small. He started out looking just like a bluegill and faded into longear-like coloration, and now that he's in my tank and semi-calm (though he's being hassled by a leaf-fish) he's lost the stripes and gone completely to longear colors- albeit dull longear colors.

Edited by Betta132, 08 November 2015 - 08:38 PM.

[gerald]

Agree the fish on the left is not a bluegill, or at least not pure bluegill, if he has any bluegill in his ancestry.  Maybe longear, redbreast, ...???  Fish on the right looks like a typical bluegill.

[Betta132]

See, that's what's confusing me. When I pulled him out of the water, he was blue. 

What do baby redbreast sunnies usually look like? Google has been unhelpful.

[Matt DeLaVega]

I think you can get "Fishes of Tennessee" on line. There are a couple of pages in it that are really helpful with juvenile Lepomis. I am sure the link has been posted on hear before. Search it and download it. Darn good book.

[Betta132]

I found the link that was stickied, but it just leads to an error page. Evidently the book is no longer available there. 

[Dustin]

Check out this post for some similar photos.  I think your's is redbreast if that's possible.

 

http://forum.nanfa.o...-sunfish/page-2

[Betta132]

Looks like it's a redbreast, then. Which presents me with a minor issue, because Google says they get pretty big. 

The ones I see around here are usually about 7", though, so is 16"+ just the absolute upper limit or have I only been seeing juveniles?

[Kanus]

I found the link that was stickied, but it just leads to an error page. Evidently the book is no longer available there. 

 

This may be helpful.

 

http://trace.tenness.../utk_utpress/2/

[Matt DeLaVega]

No you have been seeing normal fish. The upper end of the size range is like the record fish. They rarely achieve that size, and surely won't in captivity. You will likely end up with a 6 to 8 in fish. Limit feed. Don't feed it like it is in an aquaculture situation, and push it to grow. By all means keep it healthy, You can feed most fish a moderate diet and keep them fat and happy but not growing gangbusters. Esox cannot seem to take limit feeding. Gar and bowfin were born for it. Lepomis are about right in the middle.

[Betta132]

Ok, good to know. A 6-8" fish is much more reasonable. Plus, redbreasts are really pretty- the listed size was the only reason I didn't catch one right off the bat. Well, that and I couldn't find them small. 

I need him to grow to about 4" before he can go into the main tank. Is there any way I can get him to grow reasonably fast up to that size without compromising his health? The main tank is fed enough to keep the fish happy without stuffing them, as I don't particularly need my warmouth to grow huge.

Would it negatively affect the redbreast's health if I fed him a lot as a baby and then eased back once he got to approximately 4"? He's getting bloodworms right now (and eating them, somewhat to my surprise), and once he grows a bit I'll add krill in. That particular diet has put some nice red color on my longear, so I bet it'll give the redbreast a color boost as well. 

[gerald]

Blue, green, or violet iridescence is common in most if not all Lepomis juveniles - I think it helps them "disappear" in open water among the shimmering reflections.  Bluegill typically show it the most, probably because they spend more time in open-water than most others, but little  warmouth can have intense blue-violet iridescence too.  Small redbreast i see in NC are usually more blue-green, but all species can vary. 

[Betta132]

I've definitely seen blue/purple on a warmouth, mine was about 3" when I got him and he had lots of purple and blue around his gills. 

 

The little guy's definitely a redbreast. He's gone back to normal colors, and he came close enough to the glass for me to see a tiny pin-prick of red on his ear-flap. He's also eating really well. In fact, he seems to have adjusted perfectly to aquarium life in almost exactly 24 hours. Evidently this is a good size to obtain sunfish at... aside from the increased difficulty of trying to ID them. 

[Betta132]

Redbreast ID is confirmed. His fins are shaded with orange and edged with black. He's also grown slightly since then, and he's gotten pretty feisty. He tries to intimidate everything else in the tank. It doesn't work very well, though, most of his targets (albino cory cats) are armored and couldn't care less. He gets very upset about his magnolia-leaf cave being invaded.