Is this some type of sunfish?

I will be taking bets for the next month and once this betting period is over I will determine the payout for the winner. The house (me) however will take a percentage of the cash.

Ha. How about winner gets the fish? jk

Ha. How about winner gets the fish? jk

Well how am I supposed to get rich off that haha

I could do that though. Get 2 more of these and the winner gets one and I keep 2 lol

I will be taking bets for the next month and once this betting period is over I will determine the payout for the winner. The house (me) however will take a percentage of the cash.

I also think I will try to go back and catch a couple more of these sunnies in the next couple of days. So far it doesn't seem to be eating either flake food or freeze dried bloodworms that I put in the tank. I know that some of the tropical fish I have had in the past don't eat right after I get them so I figure thats the same deal with this fish.

If obtained directly from cold winter water, then they will be a bit slow to come on feed. Can you get some small earthworms? Another great starter when warming up fast is squished cricket. Take a large cricket like used at pet store to feed reptiles and amphians, then squash it between your fingers and put the stuff in the tank. Female crickets best with all those perfectly sized nutrient dense eggs.

I don't not want the fish. They are in the middle of the VHS plague zone. Its all about the money.

My vote/bet is pumpkinseed 110%.

I don't not want the fish. They are in the middle of the VHS plague zone. Its all about the money.

These are actually taken from the upper Allegheny watershed which luckily hasn't been hit my the VHS disease. I wouldn't ship any of these fish out though just to be on the safe side since this is somewhat close to the Lake Erie watershed that has been hit. I believe from what I have read on a few sites and in the VHS sticky, Pennsylvania has changed its ruling on the ban of shipping fish out of state and instead has only banned fish from the Erie watershed from being shipped. I may be wrong with this, but I believe from what I have read so far that I would be allowed to ship them.

These are actually taken from the upper Allegheny watershed which luckily hasn't been hit my the VHS disease. I wouldn't ship any of these fish out though just to be on the safe side since this is somewhat close to the Lake Erie watershed that has been hit. I believe from what I have read on a few sites and in the VHS sticky, Pennsylvania has changed its ruling on the ban of shipping fish out of state and instead has only banned fish from the Erie watershed from being shipped. I may be wrong with this, but I believe from what I have read so far that I would be allowed to ship them.

This probably should be in a different thread but.... Much of the restrictions concerning VHS are legal mumbo jumbo that in the end will only slow the spread of VHS which likely will not respect state boundaries or even know they exist. Also the breadth of the species known to be affected. It should be stressed known. It concerns me that only some species within several families have been affected and those same species are under greatest scruteny by government and public. I bet virtually all species within those families can be affected if more species scrutenized. I bet even ornamentals derived from the tropics are vulnerable.

My logic for saying do not move them is purely selfish. If I get a species known to be susceptible to VHS, but certified clean from the quarantine zone; then a disease outbreak of any kind in my stocks occurs, a fish pathologist charged with monitoring my stocks will be obligated to check for VHS. If VHS found, then all my stocks would be destroyed by law. VHS will likely if not already spread beyond the zone of known occurence. I just do not want to be the first with it in my fish. I am also afraid no mechanisms are justifiable to control VHS. Maybe we should let it run its course and take the losses as part of the business of life. It is also interesting our awareness of such a disease occurs at about the time the technology became practical for its detection. How many such epidemics went through undetected in the past and simply attributed to natural mortality.

i am confused

Here are some new pictures. Hopefully these can help some

Pumpkinseeds at this age would usually have a red operculum tab which I don't see in any of the pictures. I could believe longear but I'll be a dope and stick with bluegill.

They look like little p-seeds to me. Sorry I have been busy this weekend and haven't seen this till now... Some where not that long ago I posted pictures of a small jv p-seed and bluegill of about this size, I'd post them again but would rather see people use the search feature because I know they are already on here. The pictures I am refering too are of captive raised fish so I am 100% sure of their ID.

I'm betting on Pumpkinseed. At this size the red is often if not usually not visable. I don't see the dorsal spot clearly, last photo looks like some darkness but ?

They look like little p-seeds to me. Sorry I have been busy this weekend and haven't seen this till now... Some where not that long ago I posted pictures of a small jv p-seed and bluegill of about this size, I'd post them again but would rather see people use the search feature because I know they are already on here. The pictures I am refering too are of captive raised fish so I am 100% sure of their ID.

Maybe it is time we effort to produce photographs of known taxon juvenile sunfishes (for starters) with a standardized background with size posted. From what I have seen mutliple source populations of some "species" may also need to be repressented. I now have a camera to task but still lerarning how to use it. Such an effort may enable more rapid determinations for situations such as this.

I just did this a week ago with all of my known species captive raised fish and I am sorting through the 50-100 pictures I took of each species for the best one. Hopefully I will be able to post some sort of standardized set of photos soon.

I just did this a week ago with all of my known species captive raised fish and I am sorting through the 50-100 pictures I took of each species for the best one. Hopefully I will be able to post some sort of standardized set of photos soon.

Can the background and lighting be readily replicated?

I looked at your pics smbass and I think that I agree that they appear to look more like your pumpkinseed. I will update with pictures when they start looking more like the adults do.

I looked at your pics smbass and I think that I agree that they appear to look more like your pumpkinseed. I will update with pictures when they start looking more like the adults do.

Well im going to stick with my original statment that its a bluegill though I can see the possibility of it being a pseed. I often go to a pond that has no outlets or inlets. It was manmade and pretty much the olny fish in the thing are bluegills. And I know that they are bluegills because of the adults. I cannot pick out one difference between the fish that alter40 has and the young bluegills I catch at this pond! I've also grown them out and after a few months they develop more bluegill characteristics. Haha I'm definatly no expert but I think my money is going to be on bluegill!!!!

Edited by rockbassbud5, 21 April 2008 - 06:08 PM.

The bluegill look pretty much the same to me as well. There were slight subtle differences in smbass' pictures and I think of the two it looked more like a pseed. I am sometimes able to see what I believe to be the start of the black spot on the dorsal fin that the bluegill would have so I'm not entirely sure which it is at this time.

It may be possible that you have both bluegill and p-seeds, they do often occur together...

Can the background and lighting be readily replicated?

Yes, although I could use a little better camera.

The bluegill look pretty much the same to me as well. There were slight subtle differences in smbass' pictures and I think of the two it looked more like a pseed. I am sometimes able to see what I believe to be the start of the black spot on the dorsal fin that the bluegill would have so I'm not entirely sure which it is at this time.

In my experience, bluegill don't develop the basidorsal spot until they're about 2" long. Some other sunnies have a little dark pigment there at a small size, that doesn't ever develop into a distinct spot.