Top one as, 1/4ac says, is likely a mosquito fish or maybe one of the topminnows. Lower fish looks a lot like a small bluegill that has noticeably large eyes that strongly suggests it is stunted and not getting enough food for good growth.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/14/2110:19 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
My 2 cents.. Top looks like a Golden top minnow and the bottom is either a stunted BG as suggested above, or possibly a RES. I keep some of both in my aquarium over winter and it's obvious the RES have a bit larger eye than the BG do.. Absolutely no data to back that up, :-)) Just an observation on my part.
I've never heard of a mosquito fish, that's a good one to have down here in Louisiana...LOL. I thought it was a baby Bowfin, those are not good. All of these are going on a line with a bobber to catch some crappie and bass, they work good for that. Thanks!
I think Snipe is most correct,, the top fish is likely a topminnow or one of the killifishes rather than a mosquito fish. If the actual name is important and if you catch more put some in a small zip-loc bag with a little water and then take the close-up picture. We can then give a better assurance of the name. Golden Topminnow info https://www.lsuagcenter.com/profiles/rbogren/articles/page1497296030080
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/15/2108:20 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Am I the only one that thinks the lower one has the characteristics of a white crappie? asking for a friend.
I thought the same thing, but I'd probably still vote for BG. I know I've caught some tiny BG (or so I thought) in my cast net before, only to finally realize it was a juvenile Crappie. At that age, they're somewhat hard to discern from one another.
Pic of a baby Crappie for comparison:
"In the age of information, ignorance is a choice." - Donny Miller
Every fall when we do net samples we end up with both Black and white in several impoundments and after sorting many 1000's of both, it's easiest to say you just get an eye for it. Most of what we sort are 100mm class and slightly larger and once in awhile we end up mixing a few blacks and whites but when sampling it's not a huge deal versus stocking them, but there is a distinct difference in crappie vs sunfish in body thickness. Directly behind the eye, the crappie are very thin compared to (other) sunfish.
If the top photo was in better focus and taken closer to the fish you could see the mouth of the sunfish was noticeably smaller than the mouth of a crappie of the same size. The mouth mandible of crappie reaches the middle of the fish's eye as shown in the pic by Snipe. A BG mouth mandible ends before the front of the eye. Also the vertical bands on the body are correct features of a BG that size.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management