Help Identifing sunfish
#1 Guest_TFD_*
Posted 08 January 2007 - 06:48 PM
100_2880.jpg 45.93KB 14 downloads
I am a new to this forum and antive fish. My son and I recently collected a few juvinile sunfish for our aquarium. We have had them for about 2 weeks and they are doing well on freeze dried blood worms. I think they are bluegills but would like some help identifing them. They where collected in a small private lake near Lubbock, TX. Also, what tempurate is best for them?
Thanks Don
#2 Guest_arnoldi_*
Posted 08 January 2007 - 09:17 PM
Looks like a juvenile warmouth to me.
#3 Guest_hmt321_*
Posted 08 January 2007 - 09:30 PM
Mouth looks to small to be a Warmouth or green, i think the mouth would go at least to the center of the eye, and no light border on the fin edges, and i do not see the lines comming from the eye, head does not look right to me
it's not a red spot sunnie, no bright cresent under the eye
if it is real small it could be a redear, the 2nd pict kinda looks like there may be a color patch on the ear flap
I do not think its a bluegill, no black spots above and below the tail, and no evident verticle stripes (though the pict is pretty washed out)
It may be a small pumpkin seed,
dredcon or smbass will probably nail it.
#4 Guest_Skipjack_*
Posted 08 January 2007 - 09:44 PM
#5 Guest_sandtiger_*
Posted 08 January 2007 - 09:57 PM
Looks to be a Redear. The headshape is dead on.
I thought that as well, the pectoral does not seem right though, granted the pectoral is extreamly difficult to see in those pictures. It looks more short and rounded IMO then long and pointed, but if that's the case then pumpkinseed can also be ruled out. I have no idea what it is, though I have a few ideas on what it is not.
#6 Guest_Skipjack_*
Posted 08 January 2007 - 10:09 PM
Attached Files
#7 Guest_smbass_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 01:30 AM
#8 Guest_teleost_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 02:18 AM
#9 Guest_choupique_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 04:12 AM
The spinous dorsal fin "humps" up a bit, doesn't look redear to me. Definatly not a pumpkinseed. Look at the pectoral fin, its short and roundish. Not pumpkinseed, redear, or bluegill like there.
Pumkinseeds, bluegills and warmouth are the sunfish that usually show that rise in the spines of the dorsal fin.
Next the ear, featurless with only a blackish color. The big eye. Big eyes are common on several smaller sunfish, mostly warmouth, bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and redears. But the last three in that list have long pointy pectoral fins. Even young of those species the pecs are showing the length and more pointed than round shape.
Speckly blotchy coloration. Pumpkinseed young, bluegill young, and many other show more of a banded pattern. Warmouth can be banded like when small, but the bands are usually a series of blotches.
Any pictures of this fish not in "action pose"? I suspect how its sitting is distorting what everyone is looking at.
Irate, for once I am not going to say this is a hybrid. It looks like a warmouth to me. Just one with a smaller than normal mouth.
What makes this a warmouth: short pectoral fins, big eye, blotchy color, featurless "ear", no distinguishable fin coloration, mouth in this picture even big, rounded tail. Warmouth are variable, even individuals. A better picture to see its mouth compared to the rest of its features would help. A picture right after it eats a big meal, or better yet during feeding of the meal! In most cases a warmouth will darken up when happy ( or mad). Happy is something going down the gulet.
Even though this a good picture, it is not working really well for ID purposes. I will stick with warmouth until I see a picture that shows the mouth looking even smaller, the pectoral fins pointed, and the dorsal fin spines after the first two looking all about the same length.
#10 Guest_nativecajun_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 07:28 AM
I correct myself. Young bluegill are heavily barred. And about the comment on the mouth being small well that mouth looks huge to me. And you can almost pick up the barring on the head that is indicative of warmouth. Young crappie are blue. No dark spot on dorsal that blue gill have. I go with warmouth.
#11 Guest_fisgokie_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 07:39 AM
#12 Guest_edbihary_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 09:31 AM
The anal fin is too short to be a crappie.my first thought was crappie... but dont know
We still don't know how big this fish is. It could be a baby. What does a baby orangespotted sunfish look like? I have not seen them under 1.5 inches. He caught it in o-spot territory. Could it be?
#13 Guest_TFD_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 10:04 AM
In the mean time here is another pic. this is a differnet fish but was caught at the same place/time thanks
Don
AAAfish.jpg 54.58KB 5 downloads
#14 Guest_hmt321_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 10:13 AM
The anal fin is too short to be a crappie.
We still don't know how big this fish is. It could be a baby. What does a baby orangespotted sunfish look like? I have not seen them under 1.5 inches. He caught it in o-spot territory. Could it be?
I am looking at some 2" to 3" O' spots as i write this, all of mine have a white border to the gill flap. Very evident. my o' spots came from South Carolina and i think that this guy said he was in Texas, could be a regional thing.
Also re-reading his original post he asked about care for this fish
temp should be room temp not over 78f for extended periods of time, and cold temps do not matter
try to switch it to floating pellets, usually with sunnies it is easy (they naturally eat insects off the top of the water) supplement their diet with fw shrimp, earth worms, crickets, blood worms about once a week or so.
(to get them switched to floating pellets I would feed it crickets or try cut up worms, the fish will soon associate anything you put in the tank with food, starve it for a few days and then try the pellets 2 times a day. You can wait it out; those fish can go 2 weeks w/o food so don’t give in.)
They will adjust to almost any water conditions
I think red ear sunnie
#15 Guest_fundulus_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 10:53 AM
I am looking at some 2" to 3" O' spots as i write this, all of mine have a white border to the gill flap. Very evident. my o' spots came from South Carolina and i think that this guy said he was in Texas, could be a regional thing.
I think red ear sunnie
Talk is cheap, I'll agree on redear as a best guess purely from mouth, head and body shape.
#16 Guest_dsmith73_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 12:42 PM
Talk is cheap, I'll agree on redear as a best guess purely from mouth, head and body shape.
I also am fairly certain this is a redear.
#17 Guest_teleost_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 01:05 PM
#18 Guest_Gambusia_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 03:18 PM
#19 Guest_drewish_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 03:35 PM
Shellcracker maybe?
shellcracker is another name used for redear sunfish
#20 Guest_Gambusia_*
Posted 09 January 2007 - 03:53 PM
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users