9 replies to this topic

[AvicLitee]

I've reared this guy (gal?) for almost 11 years. I'm curious if it is a brown or black bullhead and how to tell male vs. female. Also, lately I've notice him/her developing an odd underbite. I have a second bully also that is more shy and even harder to photograph. It may or may not be the same species, but came from the same store and has a worse underbite/slanted head. I'm wondering if this is some deformity from being captive, though both fish seem to feed and do just fine.

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[AvicLitee]

Here's a pic of the 2nd bullhead, from about 5 years ago.

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[littlen]

I'll let others chime in on species, and to a lesser extent, sex.  (My guess fwiw, is Brown).

It's really hard to say what happened to the fish in regards to their deformity.  Especially without knowing the background of the fish---

If I had to guess, I would say some sort of nutritional deficiency early on in life.  You're fish look healthy, albeit on the lean side for catfish.  Usually they are more portly.  Low quality food especially in conjunction with poor water quality can result in deformities in young fish.  I saw it a lot when raising FW anglefish in my youth.

I am not suggesting you are at fault for anything.  It sounds like they came this way from the store where you acquired them. My guess is they had very little food and lived in tight quarters early in life.

[butch]

Looks like a black bullheads based on "C" mark on caudal region.

[Sean Phillips]

I'd say it's a Black. The mandibular barbels have a white base whereas Browns have entirely dark barbels and Yellows have all white ones. You've had that fish for 11 years? That's very impressive, I've never known any to live that long, even in the wild.

[fishforfree]

The only real ways I know of to tell are browns tend to have more anal fin rays than blacks, and differences in pelvic fin spine serrations. Browns have generally (19) 20-24 (25) while blacks have generally 15-21. Browns have uniformly serrated pelvic (not pectoral) fin spine. Blacks have either smooth or non-uniform serrations.

Edited by fishforfree, 24 February 2016 - 01:20 PM.

[smbass]

Look like blacks to me as well based off the lighter void of pigmentation at the caudal base. This is not present in browns. These two do hybridize at times but these look like blacks to me.

[butch]

Look like blacks to me as well based off the lighter void of pigmentation at the caudal base. This is not present in browns. These two do hybridize at times but these look like blacks to me.

I never seen a "C" on brown bullheads either. I felt that this one is easy way to identify black bullheads from brown bullheads.

[butch]

We have caught bullheads with slanted heads/underbite occasionally so this deformity do exist in the wild.

[littlen]

I'll let others chime in on species, and to a lesser extent, sex.  (My guess fwiw, is Brown Black).

It's really hard to say what happened to the fish in regards to their deformity.  Especially without knowing the background of the fish---

If I had to guess, I would say some sort of nutritional deficiency early on in life.  You're fish look healthy, albeit on the lean side for catfish.  Usually they are more portly.  Low quality food especially in conjunction with poor water quality can result in deformities in young fish.  I saw it a lot when raising FW anglefish in my youth.

I am not suggesting you are at fault for anything.  It sounds like they came this way from the store where you acquired them. My guess is they had very little food and lived in tight quarters early in life.