Lets play name that native fry picture

[hybridtheoryd16]

OK I went netting a couple weeks ago and came home with a gaggle of 1" or less sunfish and gambusia or so i thought.

These 2 fish were in with all of the above mention fish. And I immediately noticed that these guys are different from the sun fish I have.

The sun fish are egg shaped like usual and at about 1" in length they are around 1/8-5/16" thick. And these guys are longer and skinnier. Sort of tear drop shaped and they are as thin as 10-15 sheets of paper. The dorsal fin appears to start at or past the midway point in length and the anal fin is place in the same exact spot on the bottom and as large or large than the dorsal.

I hope the pics show what I see.

These guys have no problem eating convict cichlid fry that are 1/3 there size. While the sunfish have trouble eating the convict fry.

i won't say my guess as not to sway the guess from others. But my guess is fairly odd for this late in the year. I guess who knows.

The netting took place in a drainage ditch that is around 1/4 mile from the Ohio river. And in the last week of august.

On with the best pics I can get of 1" OR Less fry. Sorry for the quality

 

[WattaMelon]

Hmm, my best guess is within the Micropterus...maybe. Noto probably has a better guess.

 

[VNCNT]

crappie?

 

[MinnowMagnet]

bluegills, i have one tiny one in my breeding tank, they look different when they are small. thats how mine that is now 5" looked when i got him

 

[MultispeciesTamer]

crappie?

thats what I was thinking but the strips make me think else

 

[sbuse]

i would say bluegill also they don't start to "disc out" till later in life...

 

[WahooWillie]

Agreed. Bluegill is most likely.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

Hmm i was thinking crappie myself.

For the first few days I had them i thought they were just sunfish. But when i introduced the week old convict fry and i watched these 2 inhale them it got me thinking.

I will see if I can get some clear pictures of the confirmed sunfish they were netted with that are the same size.

All the 1" or less sunfish I have ever seen were allready egg or disc shaped by 1".

I have netted and raised hundreds of bluegill's up to a good feeder size and these look different to me. If they turn out to be bluegill oh well. But if they are 3/4" white crappie that would be a first for me. And they would make a good meaningful addition to my native tank.

I guess only time will tell. We may learn something new with these little guys.

Does anyone have pics of crappie 1" or under? I can't seem to find any.

 

[MinnowMagnet]

its possible that they arew green sunfish fry, green sunfish sometims have bars like that. mine does.

 

[Bassinkorea]

The bottom photo sure looks like a baby bluegill. I'm used to seeing baby bluegill in the shallows in the fall when I'm bass fishing and the are suprisingly silver colored and very much unlike bluegill.