Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Golden shiners

A year ago I had young shiners about 2" long stocked in my pond. They had the classic slightly golden color. My boy took a few of them to school and they stayed in a small aquarium the last year. He also put some bullfrog tadpoles in there earlier this spring and the class loved watching them.

I went to his 6th grade graduation today and he proudly showed me the shiners. He told me that all winter they went through several color changes, had black spots, orange colors, more golden colors etc. Now they are surprisingly orange and their fins and tails have become different than the forked tails of the ones in my pond. There is a single greyish/white koi in the aquarium with them but no other fish.

Is this common for shiners kept in an aquarium to turn more like a goldfish in coloration and fins?

I'll try to post several pictures. It was hard to shoot shots through the glass with a cell phone and the fish moving all the time.







Marked forked tail, more thin, broad, feathery fins




This is the remaining shiner that retained his/her original color




two side by side


Bullfrog just sprouting the 2nd set of legs

those ARE goldfish ...

perhaps they died and the teacher "replaced" them...

or you stocked goldfish instead of or mixed in with your GSH.

Is the one grey colored one the only shiner in the pictures then?

So now, did I stock goldfish, doubtful... Did the bucket stocking not-so-helpful-neighbor deliver some goldfish into the pond?

I did note the original large goldfish that we found in the pond last year (12" long or greater) must have had offspring as this spring we see lots of orange colored fish mixed in and feeding on the pellets at the surface with the GSH.

Perhaps when my son trapped some fish in the minnow trap and brought them to school some were goldfish from the pond but very small?

Does that grey colored fish (presumed GSH) have less 'fork' in his tail than the 'goldfish' do?

None of the pictures really show the lateral line to any clear detail.

Here is one more blurry close up of the presumed 'GSH'

no GSH in those pictures they are all goldfish.

even the silver one...goldfish are silver when born then turn black then orange or white, some never turn and stay a natural gray/silver color....

all those are goldfish.

Correct, all goldfish (except for the tadpole). GHS are fragile, my bet is that they died and the teacher replaced them with goldfish.

I was sure those were goldfish but I didn't have the heart to say anything! Disappointment in a child's eyes just kills me!

OMG we have child fraud in the school system

Shiners are fragile? Does this mean that the original stockers in my pond may not have made it through the first winter? I think many have mentioned here that they don't see their GSH after they are stocked?

Do GSH take readily to pellets? I feed for fun by hand once in a while and I see more goldfish than anything else but once in a while see a blackish streak come up to get the pellet and head back down.

They have wisened up to my minnow trap. I need to get a new non-coated one or next time we have a bonfire I'm going to burn off the coating on my current one. Maybe I can do some more sampling.

We trapped small fish that looked like shiners last year and put them in the aquarium at school. Must be we trapped small gold fish, or as mentioned above the teacher was trying to help out and replace 'floaters' with goldfish.

As GSH get bigger can you readily catch them with worm/hook or maybe artificial floating pellet?

I want to be sure my GSH population is good before stocking predators. I might have to source another gallon or so for restocking.

I see schools of minnows but as of yet too small to tell what they are from shore.

Canyon, Golden shiners are not very golden at all. They have very small, silvery scales. By esshup saying they are fragile, it is in the handling when stocked because those tiny scale come off VERY easily when netted.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....................

Looks gold in color to me. Rex, I think you need to visit the eye doctor again!



As shown in the picture, they can be caught on a Stubby Steves, which is the same size as an AM600 pellet.

I'm with you Rex, not much gold here. Gee whiz ESSHUP is that a 4 lb'er. Even your bait fish are big. On top of everything else, now I have shiner envy

Agreed on the adult coloration, yet it's still more of an iridescence. Juveniles, 2" long as in the post, are no where near that golden yet.

Yeah, I was giving you a hard time. They are only golden in color like that during spawning.

mnfish, I spent a lot of time in Texas this year. Don't ya know, everything is bigger in Texas. I guess some of that rubbed off on me!

I've found this place to be a useful guide on Goldens.
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/home/Default.aspx?tabid=605&FishID=58

Compared to other shiners, I find them relatively tall and larger rounded scales. Gill rakers are something to look for. The common shiner has more discussion on tubercles. Ran across a shiner in the creek that had tubercles on the nose and was definitely a breeding male based on milt, but it had a more descending lateral line. Definitely seeing some of the more yellow fins this time of year. Golden shiner with 11-15 anal fin rays, no spines while common shiner is 9 rays.

I think I need to start thinning my large GSH down a tad.

well now I have to show my shiner too...

It's official....I truly suck at raising fish!

Guys,

Is this a GSH?

baby GSH

Thanks Bobby,

What's yer opinion? Same? The eye on mine seems much smaller and more orange so I really don't know.

Im not the forum expert on Baitfish ID, but IMHO it sure looks like one to me. If not a "Golden" shiner it is a shiner of another species.

Maybe CJ will see this ............

Thanks for all the pictures folks, it makes it easy to see now that there are no shiners in that aquarium

Now to find them in the pond and restock if they are gone. I really want to have a good base of shiners for forage.

stock some more if you can. it would not hurt regarless if you still have a few , just to be safe....

Unless having to many shiners is a risk , which I do not think it is.....

Mine are not as big as yours Shorty, but they are getting there.

Now the question is, are those big shiners actually reproducing. The ovarian parasite seems to be a wide spread issue with GSH when they get big. Especially when coming from hatchery source it seems. Sure is kind of a shame to think those big GSH females should be egg factories and they might not actually be.