PLEASE Help ID This Guy - Bluegil or Rockbass, or What?

[Chiselchst]

I have searched the web trying to ID this fish, and thought I was decent at getting info, but this guy I can not ID. Please help me.

I live in Northern California, and took this guy from a wild pond. I started out with 3 of them in a 100 gallon aquarium, but the larger one basically killed the smallest one - so I relocated the big one, and wound up keeping the middle size one - he's about 5-inches long. He's furocuios. He eats crickets, smaller fish (won't mess with the cats or minnow though), and eats a LARGE nightcrawler everyday. He is not getting fat. He hides out 98% of the time in the rock cover I have provided. He is VERY quick.

My friends say he is NOT a bluegill, due to the larger mouth and hinged jaw. He looks like a Bluegil to me?

Does anybody know what he is?

I don't know what species he is, but I really like him - he's a Great pet!

Thanks,
Mitch

 

[dud]

Looks like a rockbass to me. Caught one myself last weekend. Good fighter!

 

[bear78]

Lepomis cyanellus-green sunfish also known as the rockbass. very nice fish.

 

[ploughking]

Nice fish! I would love a bigger tank, I would do all sorts with it!

 

[Chiselchst]

Wow - Thanks for The Replies!

Cool - Thanks for the feedback...

ROCKBASS it is!

He is a very cool aquarium fish, but very territorial. Maybe in a pond (which I am considering), more than one can exist. But in 100 gallons, this tank is HIS. He eats first, and makes no bones about it. But yet, he doesn't even seem to notice the smaller cats, and the larger minnow. The catfish graze under/near and around him without any fear - and he doesn't mind at all.

He is so quick, and learned to eat from my hand rather quickly (I hold a large night crawler in to the water, and be dashes from behind the rocks to snatch it - it almost startles you he's so quick!)

The picture doesn't do all his colors justice...

Thanks,
Mitch

 

[kenor33]

very sharp fish Chiselchst, brought back memories of catching Rockbass around my dads house in Michigan. They looked just like that but alot darker, almost black in color. pretty neat to say the least

 

[dud]

Since Rockbass is not actually a bass, but a kind of sunfish, I heard they taste a lot better too!

Hehe, just kidding.

 

[bear78]

yes it is known as the green sunfish-Lepomis cyanellus. as stated in earlier post.

 

[Chiselchst]

bear78 - Yep!

That's him...

http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/s...upID=3&shapeID=990&curPageNum=6&recnum=FI0030

 

[dud]

It's a beauty...

 

[hisc1ay]

I never knew sunfish were also called rockbass. On my grandparents' lake I used to catch sunnies all the time (bluegills are much more colorful and have a yellow/orange belly, IIRC), and I also cought what I thought was a rock bass. They were more bass looking but were either a gray or silver, and usually were caught in the rocky areas of the lake.

It would be really cool to have a tank big enough for a few crappies.

-j

 

[Guest]

Late to the party here.
I agree/disagree!
Green Sunfish, Yes! Lepomis cyanellus
Rock Bass, No! Ambloplites rupestris

This pic isn't that great on 1 feature, the eye is blood red. (they are also called Red Eye Bass)

Pic from http://www.nativefish.org

I will easily consent that we have different regional names for various game fish, that could be where the confusion comes in.

 

[hisc1ay]

Now *that's* what I used to catch.

-j

 

[Medusa Head]

I did a little retouching to hisc1ay's original image:

Is that a little more accurate to his colors hisc1ay?

 

[bear78]

i agree the regional names for wild fish is to blame for the mass confusion. in okla thats a sunfish but ive heard it called a type of rock bass. thanks for clearing up my error on the species name corvuscorax.