ID this native please.

[warmouth]

appreciate all the id help on these little guys, now just dont know if i want to keep them or give to someonewho keeps natives

In your area there maybe the subspecies Bluegill called coppernose.....if they are you should keep them because they have very pretty markings when they are bigger in breeding season, and do well with Oscars and catfish. In one of the Carolinas you guys also have handpaint Bluegill which has spots like a PBass.

 

[bigcatfan]

hmm maybe i will hang on to them or awhile to see how they turn out, how can you tell a coppernose and handpaint when they are this young?

 

[warmouth]

hmm maybe i will hang on to them or awhile to see how they turn out, how can you tell a coppernose and handpaint when they are this young?

Honestly I cant, I only know what the young Northern Bluegill look like.....but you might PM Noto on this forum or Centrarchid (screennames) on the NANFA forum who is an expert on Lepomis and could probably tell you (verry young sunfish have always been harder for me to identify anyways).

 

[bigcatfan]

i appreciate the info, im not good at identifing young sunfish they all lokk alike to me when they are that young. i like them though the loner i have them the more interesting they are to watch.

 

[warmouth]

i appreciate the info, im not good at identifing young sunfish they all lokk alike to me when they are that young. i like them though the loner i have them the more interesting they are to watch.

I look at the ear lobes when theyre really young.

 

[apennell07]

deff not green sunfish. they look much different. id say im 99% sure its a bluegill. (off chance it could be a similar sub-sp. but i doubt it. greens have a robust more torpedo shape body w/ blue and yellow markings and body color is darker. dont think u can sex them at that size but if u look at a female bluegill its identical to yours

 

[apennell07]

just read yur not sure if u want to keep them, they make great RTC food lol

 

[warmouth]

just read yur not sure if u want to keep them, they make great RTC food lol

Anything small enough is RTC food!

 

[apennell07]

lol true but for $2 worth of worms you could easily catch 30 bluegill "feeders"

 

[warmouth]

lol true but for $2 worth of worms you could easily catch 30 bluegill "feeders"

Nope, to risky in terms of parasites. Out here our Flathead cats are just like RTCs and love sunfish also, a guy I know put a 18 inch Flathead in with a 10 inch RTC (I told him not to) ...well you can guess what happened.......no more RTC, LOL!