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Spotted Bullhead


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#1 Guest_Bob_*

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Posted 24 October 2007 - 11:48 AM

A store owner gave me a spotted bullhead that game in with a shipment of grass shrimp. Anyone on list ever kept these before? It's a neat fish and doesn't seem too different than the garden variety yellow-brown-black bullheads I've kept before.

Bob

#2 Guest_hmt321_*

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Posted 24 October 2007 - 03:36 PM

I have one, it is about 4" now, it is very reclusive, it will cruse the tank at night, and in the early morning.

they supposedly only get about 10" - 11" which IMO make them more desirable for aquariums

#3 Guest_bullhead_*

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Posted 24 October 2007 - 07:48 PM

You are one luck individual! I have never kept one, but I hear that they are a bit more mild-mannered than black/brown/yellow. The big advantage is their smaller max size.

#4 Guest_hmt321_*

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Posted 24 October 2007 - 08:19 PM

my spotted also cam from a shipment of ghost shrimp from a LFS in Pensacola, FL. I have contacted the manager of the store and he is supposed to contact me if he gets anymore in. unfortunately the guy seemed less than reliable

#5 Guest_Mike_*

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Posted 25 October 2007 - 12:20 AM

I always wanted a spotted bullhead, you are lucky.
I wish I could find one, & I hope you enjoy him for many years.

#6 Guest_Bob_*

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Posted 25 October 2007 - 03:51 PM

I always wanted a spotted bullhead, you are lucky.
I wish I could find one, & I hope you enjoy him for many years.


Sounds like we should schedule a group outing to Orlando.

#7 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 07 November 2007 - 06:04 PM

I hate to break it too you guys but I think those are just Brown Bullheads. My wife has a pair of these very "spotted" brown bullheads that came in with some shrimp to a local pet shop also from Florida. I have caught actual spotted bullheads before as well in N. Florida and these feeder variety are not the same thing. The Florida Browns just seem to have a very very spotted patern to them. The actual spotted bullhead has a very dark base to the dorsal fin and very small spots like in the following pictures...
Spotted_bullhead2_from_the_Suwanee_River_in_Florida_by_JZ.jpg
Spotted_Bullhead_from_the_Suwanee_River_in_Florida_by_BZ.jpg

I know my wife took a couple of pictures of her little "spotted" browns, I'll see if I can get her to add them to this post.

#8 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 07 November 2007 - 08:00 PM

Here are the pictures of my catfish:
They are not the greatest pictures.. but you can see the marbled pattern they have.

spotted_brown_bullhead.jpg

spotted_brown_bullhead_2.jpg

Also.. I have this little guy.. :)
flathead_catfish.jpg

and... some Western Dollar Sunfish
western_dollars.jpg

Enjoy!

#9 Guest_rockbassbud5_*

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Posted 07 November 2007 - 08:34 PM

I've caught a ton of bullheads with a marbled pattern like that. Almost all of the specimens that I catch at a certain spot are marbled in color. I would really like to get a hold of a true spotted bullhead sometime though! Seems like they would be an awesome fish to keep!

#10 Guest_fishlvr_*

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Posted 07 November 2007 - 08:59 PM

Those mottled browns look like they could be called camo catfish. :-D

#11 Guest_bullhead_*

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 11:25 AM

Very interesting. I have never seen mottling like that in a bullhead. Maybe they are hybrids! (joke!) The first two seem to be all black/silvery gray and they have black barbels, maybe they are blacks? They yellowish one seems to be shaped differently, although it could be a juvy or the camera angle.

#12 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 03:21 PM

The very first two picture I posted are Spotted Bullheads and then in a follow up my wife (using my user name) posted 3 more pictures, the first two are very mottled brown bullheads and the third is a very small juvenile flathead catfish. Hope this clears things up for you.

#13 Guest_Histrix_*

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 03:25 PM

Nice pictures. The browns we get up here are nowhere near as attractive as yours :)

#14 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 08:41 PM

We saw a brown like that at the display tank in the nature center at the Mingo Swamp at the convention a couple of years ago... and it was nearly a foot long... so obviously this was not just a juv. coloration. That was southern Missouri... where did you say that these really come from?

The very first two picture I posted are Spotted Bullheads and then in a follow up my wife (using my user name) posted 3 more pictures, the first two are very mottled brown bullheads and the third is a very small juvenile flathead catfish. Hope this clears things up for you.


Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#15 Guest_hmt321_*

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 10:27 PM

I hate to break it too you guys but I think those are just Brown Bullheads. My wife has a pair of these very "spotted" brown bullheads that came in with some shrimp to a local pet shop also from Florida. I have caught actual spotted bullheads before as well in N. Florida and these feeder variety are not the same thing. The Florida Browns just seem to have a very very spotted patern to them. The actual spotted bullhead has a very dark base to the dorsal fin and very small spots like in the following pictures...
Spotted_bullhead2_from_the_Suwanee_River_in_Florida_by_JZ.jpg
Spotted_Bullhead_from_the_Suwanee_River_in_Florida_by_BZ.jpg

I know my wife took a couple of pictures of her little "spotted" browns, I'll see if I can get her to add them to this post.


my "spotted" looks exactly like those fish

perhaps i do have a brown

#16 Guest_natureman187_*

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 10:36 PM

smbass you have a little flathead! That's awesome.
I caught one about 8 inches once on hook...prettiest catfish I've ever seen.
Always wanted a short one after that.

#17 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 08 November 2007 - 11:37 PM

my "spotted" looks exactly like those fish

perhaps i do have a brown


The two pictures you quoted are spotted bullheads (Ameiurus serracanthus), the second set of pictures are the "mottled" or "spotted" brown bullheads (Ameiurus nebulosus). Which set does yours look like? Forgive me for not quite following which one you were refering too.

We saw a brown like that at the display tank in the nature center at the Mingo Swamp at the convention a couple of years ago


I too remember not only seeing the browns that had this sort of mottling in the tank at the nature center at Mingo but we also caught some young ones that looked like these when we sampled there.

The common thread with the two fish my wife has and the ones a couple of you said you had is that they were all found in with feeder shipments at pet shops (likely all from Florida), thats why I thought they might be browns like the two we currently have.

#18 Guest_Mike_*

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Posted 09 November 2007 - 01:21 AM

Some bioligests recognize two subspecies of Brown Bullhead:
Northern Brown Bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus nebulosus)
Southern Brown Bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus marmoratus)

The southern ones have mottling like the Brown Bullhead in your photos.
The northern ones can also have some mottling but not as much.
Mike

#19 Guest_natureman187_*

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Posted 09 November 2007 - 09:51 AM

the third picture in the second set isn't a little flathead?

#20 Guest_hmt321_*

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Posted 09 November 2007 - 09:58 AM

I'm gonna try to get a pict of my bullhead,

I had quite a few libations last evening and perhaps I did not read the post as carefully as i should have.

the cat is very reclusive, I sometimes see it moving about the tank in the early morning hours.

My 4 yr old is very enthusiastic about the fish tanks and kinda freaks them out, taping on the glass and what not.



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