Mystery Fish???

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RTCLover86

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 6, 2010
77
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Illinois
Ok so we bought this fish like 5 months ago because he was in a tank with some other fish at the lfs, and the boyfriend thought it looked like a baby wallaye, he was about 1/2 and inch when we got him and now he is around 3 1/2- 4 inches long...he wanted to see what he turned out to be, I think he looks like some sort of minnow or something. Can anyway tell me what they think this is?

mystery.jpg
 
http://www2.stetson.edu/biology/amb/finalfishpic/seminole.jpg
http://www2.stetson.edu/biology/amb/florida.htm

Seminole killifish I think.

Fish like walleye have two dorsal fins. Killifish have one.

Big killifish though. That site says they can get over 6 inches.

[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]"The Seminole Killifish is one of the largest killifish seen in the spring runs. They are not heavily pigmented and may appear pale metallic green or almost white with horizontal rows made of small black spots. Breeding coloration of females will often include vertical green bar. Seminole Killifish may grow to 16 cm (common size in Rock Springs). Seminole Killifish and Banded Topminnows look very similar. Seminole Killifish, however, have 16-17 dorsal fin rays, whereas Banded Topminnows have 6-8 dorsal fin rays."[/FONT]

I'm not seeing many pics of banded topminnows that look like yours....but if you'd like to count fin rays to determine for sure, lol.

Either way it's a killifish, so there you go :)
 
It is a native killifish. i used to have 3 of them that i got out of ghost shrimp tank. pretty intresting fish. they seem to like to be in groups.
 
Thanks Guys, well I haven't seen any more of them at the lfs, he gave him to us for like 30 cents because he didn't know what he was and someone just got into his shipment, he hadn't even noticed him in there until we said we wanted him...otherwise I would get him some friends, atm hes in with my 2in green spotted puffer and they seem to get alone rather well, I noticed he does kind of hang out and follow the puffer around. And he doesn't seem to mind him so maybe he can keep him company until I find another one for him ^_^
 
Well I looked at banded Killfish pictures and thats what he looked like a couple months ago but now his bands are getting really light colored and can barely see them
 
Pretty common for something like that to show up at LFS, due to the fact that the fish they get in are often farmed outside in places like Florida. So native fish do get mixed into the ponds and netted out periodically.

People pick up stuff like madtoms, killifish, sunfish, etc., at the fish store quite often due to that.
 
RTCLover86;4394714; said:
Well I looked at banded Killfish pictures and thats what he looked like a couple months ago but now his bands are getting really light colored and can barely see them
Click to expand...

Both banded and seminole killifish can change color and lose their bands. Depends on mood, water chemistry, temperature, etc.

And there are subspecies and regional variants of both those killifish that might not look exactly like the fish you see online. Plus killifish will hybridize. So identification can be a pain if you don't know where the fish was caught.
 
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