Fish ID

[Synirr]

These two little fish were in with the goldfish at Walmart today... one with the fancy goldies, and one with the feeders. Since there was already an employee helping someone else in the fish department and he told me he'd let me have the fish for 28 cents each (the price of feeder goldies,) I decided to save them. I'll be taking them to the LFS, since I have no room to keep them myself. My LFS takes excellent care of their fish, so these guys are definitely better off there (plus I'll be making money on them, lol!) The look like they're a pair, maybe...

I need an ID, though. What are they?
Gosh I wish I could keep them... they really are lovely. Maybe if they don't get too big I could squeeze in another tank somewhere... *plots*

Hiding

Getting a little more bold

What are you looking at?!

The other one

Together

 

[BichirKeeper]

The top one looks alot like a hybrid sunfish of some kind, either that or some wierd cichlid I've never seen before. Not sure about the other one, my guess is that it too is a sunfish.

 

[Synirr]

The pictures are a little misleading, I think... to me, they look like they have the same basic body shape, just different colouration, which is why I was guessing they're a pair. I really have no idea, though

 

[DannyBoy17]

Dont give em away! They are beauties Look like..hmm, tough one actually. NW Cichlids, I thought Jack Dempsey for some reason when I first saw it I think it looks more like an Acara though.

DB

 

[dbollack]

I don't think it's a jack dempsey as the pictures ive seen of them don't have the dark spot on their opercular flap like these specimens. I personally agree with bichirkeeper that it could be a sunfish.

You can start by looking at the fish's lateral line. Centrarchids such as sunfish have complete lateral lines while a Cichlid has a broken lateral line. The broken lateral line will go from the gill flap in an upward arc away from the gill, and then stops, at the point of stopping or further back the lateral line will continue in a near parallel fashion with the body of the fish.

some possibilities are orangespotted sunfish - Lepomis humilis
and pumpkinseed - Lepomis gibbosus
the orangespotted sunfish has a very long opercular flab with a light colored margin around it, also it has short rounded pectoral fins.
the pumpkinseed has a margin of scarlet color on the opercle, it also has pointed pectoral fins.
these are only a couple of the common sunfish we run into in colorado and there are many more, so before you continue your search look at the lateral line and decide whether it is a Centrarchidae or a Cichlidae

also look into the legality of keeping native species in a tank, its possible walmart should not have been selling the fish in the first place, but I do not know the laws about wild caught fish in your area. If the source of the fish was from a private breeder then there is nothing to worry about. have a good day
-dustin

 

[Synirr]

also look into the legality of keeping native species in a tank, its possible walmart should not have been selling the fish in the first place, but I do not know the laws about wild caught fish in your area. If the source of the fish was from a private breeder then there is nothing to worry about. have a good day
-dustin

The lateral line appears complete... these little guys tried their best to keep me from getting a look at it

As for the law, I would be extremely shocked if Texas, of all states, had any laws against keeping native fish in home aquariums. Walmart doesn't normally carry these fish anyway; they just happened to stow away with the feeder goldies.

 

[Nospherith]

Looks like the bluegill sunfish I used to gaff with a fishook w/ no bait on it at Lake Mead when I was a kid. Eh, maybe not. Nice fish, though.

 

[Synirr]

Arg, this is thoroughly frustrating.
So far the bluegill is the closest match... according to pictures found on Google, anyway.
These guys are only about three inches long and not very colourful; just grey-blue. The real defining feature is the white lines one of them has around the edges of its fins. I'm clueless.
Hmmm... green sunfish, maybe?
Yes, I think we just might have a winner

 

[dbollack]

I don't think it is the green sunfish because they have a more elongated body than other sunfish, and I don't think it is the bluegill because bluegill do not have a light colored margin around their opercle (they also supposedly have a dark spot present at the base of their soft dorsal fin) I say supposed because the specimens I had to look at for ichthyology class had been in jars for a few years and lost most of their color.

Are the fins rounded or pointed? It also may not be purebred as bichirkeeper stated earlier so searching for something more than just a Lepomis will be very difficult because the normal characteristics used to distinguish them will not be the same even in the same offspring of two species interbred. In either case of knowing the species or not the Lepomis genus have similar niches in an ecosystem so that might be enough for any fish keeper wanting to keep them.

 

[Synirr]

Both of them have rounded fins... but their bodies DO look elongated to me, compared to other sunfish I've seen, which is one reason I thought they might be green sunfish

 

[dbollack]

hmm... you might be right about the one with white edges on the fins, sometimes on characteristics where you have to compare the two I don't do well if I don't have them both together. the other I don't think is also a green sunfish because it would also have the white edgings. I only learned four species of Lepomis and the only other one that I learned that has rounded pectoral fins is the orangespotted (again the main characterstic of orangespotted is the long opercle gill flap, maybe the one in question might be longer than the other fish in the tank). good luck

 

[Synirr]

Maybe the females wouldn't have white edges on their fins, though? The opercle gill flap is the same size, and it has the same body shape/length as the other fish

 

[ryan]

They look like young green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus. A coldwater North American fish which can have a nasty temper.

 

[black angel]

dont know about the top one but the bottom one looks like a male orange-spotted sunfish to me.

 

[lucky62]

That looks like a Sunfish to me also , what kind , a few LFS near have had them show up with feeders and claim they aren't for sale , just last week I saw about 15 in a tank , no ID or price on the tank , the guy said he,s not supposed to be selling them .