13 replies to this topic

[FishingLucky]

I Would like some input. The picture I took shows him in his average color. He has really beautiful golden color to him. As you can see his tail fin has a blue tint which makes me think he's a grass pick. Sometimes his tail fin gets a lot more blue and his other fins turn slightly blue. Other times he gets darkish brown/red with a more pronounced black spike under his eyes, resembling more Redfin. Hes still quite young (close to 4 inches) so maybe ID at this time isn't possible. One would assume that having the blue tint in the fins should mean he's a grass but I'm not sure.

 

[gerald]

Where was it caught?  If NC, the options are redfin and chain, not grass.  Looks like redfin based on snout length, but small ones are tough to ID (except when the fins are bright red!).

[JasonL]

That fish looks identical to the grass pickerel we catch here in KY, but if caught in the Atlantic Coast drainages its a redfin for sure. 4 inches in length should be big enough to start ruling out chain pickerel based on other features.

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Sure is a cute little bugger. What do you feed him?

[FishingLucky]

Where was it caught?  If NC, the options are redfin and chain, not grass.  Looks like redfin based on snout length, but small ones are tough to ID (except when the fins are bright red!).

sorry should've mentioned he was caught in Florida. I didn't collect him myself so not sure of location.

[FishingLucky]

That fish looks identical to the grass pickerel we catch here in KY, but if caught in the Atlantic Coast drainages its a redfin for sure. 4 inches in length should be big enough to start ruling out chain pickerel based on other features.

He was caught in Florida.

[FishingLucky]

Sure is a cute little bugger. What do you feed him?

Thanks I got him in the summer so I was feeding him mosquito larva, minnows and tadpoles. Now hes eating live minnows, thawed frozen minnows injected with blood worms and occasionally takes cut pieces of talapia.

[Fleendar the Magnificent]

Must be fun to watch him take live minnows and such. I have 4 species of darters in my tank and the rainbows are predatory. I also have 2 green sunfish, a stonecat, some stonerollers and 4 shiners. Once in awhile the rainbows take a tiny minnow fry I put in the tank for my stonecat madtom and green sunfish and it's awesome to watch them stalk it and go for the kill. Just a little 2.5" rainbow darter kills and eats a 3/4" long minnow fry.

 

Keep feeding your pickerel well and he'll outgrow that tank quickly. How big is your tank?

[FishingLucky]

Must be fun to watch him take live minnows and such. I have 4 species of darters in my tank and the rainbows are predatory. I also have 2 green sunfish, a stonecat, some stonerollers and 4 shiners. Once in awhile the rainbows take a tiny minnow fry I put in the tank for my stonecat madtom and green sunfish and it's awesome to watch them stalk it and go for the kill. Just a little 2.5" rainbow darter kills and eats a 3/4" long minnow fry.

 

Keep feeding your pickerel well and he'll outgrow that tank quickly. How big is your tank?

 

Yea they're my favorite species to keep. Rite now I have him in a 40b. Depending on what species he is he will either end up in my 8ftx2ftx2ft tank or a 120g.

[FishingLucky]

Here's a pic that shows him at a darker green color. Ill try and get a pic that shows him when hes more brown/red

 

https://i.imgur.com/FMclFYI.jpg

Edited by FishingLucky, 01 January 2019 - 09:38 AM.

[Matt DeLaVega]

It's not a chain. Snout would be getting obviously longer at that size.  So grass or redfin. Believe Florida has both.

[FishingLucky]

It's not a chain. Snout would be getting obviously longer at that size.  So grass or redfin. Believe Florida has both.

 

Yea I was confident it wasn't a chain. Coming from FL its more likely to be redfin but I've never seen redfin with the blue tint.

[Dustin]

Agree with Matt, either redfin or grass and FL has both.  Need to know collecting site to be any more definitive.

[APondOfMyOwn]

Thanks I got him in the summer so I was feeding him mosquito larva, minnows and tadpoles. Now hes eating live minnows, thawed frozen minnows injected with blood worms and occasionally takes cut pieces of talapia.

I have one as well.  It's hilarious that when they are small that they eat mosquito larva.

 

Mine has grown enough that now I feed it worms.  They adore any kind of earthworm.  I collected a bunch in two 5-gallon buckets to feed to various fish over the winter indoors.