What Fish Is This?

[loraxchick]

THe first shot from the top and i thought some sort of ciclid too. but the second i saw the side shot i IMMEDIATELY said-hey, thats a sunfish! im a native New Yorker and have done LOADS of field research along various Hudson River tributaries and tidal marshes, pulling seines IDing fishes and collecting various other data. Juvie sunfish are hard to identify as their markings do not become clearly evident until around 3 inches but id say that it sure seems to be a green sunfish. very common here in my neck of the woods. count the dorsal rays. that is a very good indicator of which spp. you have..also, the black spot on the operculum (gill covering)...is it accompanied by ANY orange spot...it would be right beside the black spot...often hard to distinguish in juvies if you havent handled a lot of them but there should be some indication of differing color. i coldnt tell from your pictures as they were a bit too blurry. those blue irridecent spots also could be an indication of a pumpkin seed sunfish or blue gill sunfish. along the sides, does it look like there is vertical black banding (very subtle) or is the banding arranged in a "chain"?. those help distinguish between species, but since it is small, may not be overly apparent. if there is ANY orange or red spots on the operculum (even if tiny), it would indicate either of these two species (my guess would be bluegill as the trailing edge of the gill cover would be more elongated if it were a pumpkin seed sunfish).
just some things to look for...but i still think it's a green sunfish as someone else said, unless of course, i missed the orange on the operculum and just couldnt see it.
you could certainly keep this guy. fairly hardy little fsih...but as it grows, look out for smaller guys in the tank. they will eat them.

 

[drobbyb]

Hey! I can go the the lake here and catch those sunfish all day! They are beautiful fish.

 

[HooverOtoCat]

Here is a pic I found of a green Sunfish

I also found someone had a similer fish to that in this forum

Hybred?

 

[england]

yes thats a sunfish

 

[HooverOtoCat]

That poor fish is probably scared to death...

 

[rdd1952]

That poor fish is probably scared to death...

And that could well explain any lack of color.

 

[griddlebone]

we had him in a 60 gallon with some crayfish we acidentally got with him. he was there for 2 days, and he was still that white color. he MIGHT has some stripes... faint ones and now that i look at it more, it does have some faint orange on it. maybe it is less scared now, cause its definatly showing more color, but more in the pinkish orange tint on its under side of itsd body and fin tips... but not much. think it could be a female fish? i heard they genrally dont have as much color as the male fish. and it wont eat anything. =/

 

[rdd1952]

You probably need to try some type live foods such as bloodworms or even earthworms (prime bait for them in the wild).

 

[loraxchick]

the fish is too small/young to be showing sexual dimorphism (color variation between the sexes)...green sunfish do have a yellow orange "tint" to their bellies and particularly ventral fins. it is still very young but ID can be made...does it have an orange spot RIGHT NEXT to the black one on the gill cover toward the head? if no, it is a green sunfish. if yes, it is one of a couple of other species. the vertical stripes will be very apparent when settled in if it has them as they are more prevalent on larger juviniles and then fade with age. yours would be PRIME size to see them. if no vertlcal "chains" (literally looks like links chained together forming a vertical stripe), its a green sunfish...in any case, it certainly is a sunfish and all have the same requirements as found communally in local waters here.it NEEDS meaty foods like worms/larvae as someone had mentioned. also, may pick at algae and snails good luck!.
oh, you could try ghost shrimp for a live food. small crayfish too (if you have small ones that came in with the fish).

 

[griddlebone]

it does have vertical stripes on it. it kinda looks purple/ gold ish now that its been fed and is used to me walking past it every 5 seconds. i see no other spots other then the aqua ones on its body and the ear one.

 

[TheConstantGrower]

That poor fish is probably scared to death...

I Cringed when i saw the flakes floating hopelessly on top of the completely still singular gallon of water.

It needs a 400,000 gallon home, immediately.

 

[griddlebone]

That poor fish is probably scared to death...

I Cringed when i saw the flakes floating hopelessly on top of the completely still singular gallon of water.

It needs a 400,000 gallon home, immediately.

lol you do realize is was recieved by us in our petstore, and other fish stores sell sunfish and lake fish as pets dowm here, it is most likely pond/tank raised, liek the other fish they sell, so im not sure if i put it in the lake, that it would be ok =/ , i really want to find someone with a pond to give him to, cause i dont want thr gators in my lake to get him >:

 

[TheConstantGrower]

you never said anything about gators!

 

[Mikaila31]

you never said anything about gators!

at least he will have some friends......

 

[griddlebone]

you never said anything about gators!

yea, we got quite a few of them around here lol, and massive iguanas, though some are not so massive,but still enough to eat him D: the poor guy is probably used to his food being easy to obtain, but in my lake, its full or gators, turtles, iguanas and catfish the size of a 3 year old lol thats florida for ya.

you never said anything about gators!

at least he will have some friends......

friendless and safe vs friends and being eaten. id take friendless, plus arnt fish territorial? i think he would like my empty 40 gallon better.