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Today I found a small sunfish/perch-type fish in a shipment of small goldfish, and I can't find what it is (no access to good books right now). At first I thought it was some kind of pygmy sunfish, but then once I did some online research I realized it looks nothing like one of those. One of the problems in identifying it is that I am not sure where the goldfish are originally from (most likely either Florida or California).

I also looked up the banded sunfishes (Enneacanthus), and I don't think that's it either (those guys aren't transparent).

Here's a quick drawing I did of it, and a list of its characteristics:



EDIT: I'll post some poor-quality photos of it either tonight or tomorrow.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I know we have sunfish down here in S. Florida, and i have often caught them ni my lake near my dad's house. I have never seen a 2cm clear fish though......

I just did some research online, and could have found what you may have been looking at....

White Crappie

Black Crappie

Maybe Rock bass?

All these are in the Centrarchidae family, and i presume they share the same characteristics....

Hope i could help!

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It has the same body shape as the White Crappie, but I'm fairly certain that isn't it - the fish I found looks almost like a glassfish with vertical bands. The dorsal fin is also a lot longer... This fish almost looks like it has two dorsal fins.

Also, the banding is more numerous than I stated before... I would actually say it has like 8 - 10 bands on its body.

Here are the poor-quality photos I promised (not much help).

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

The fact that is'a a juvenile makes it very very difficult to ID. Body shape and coloration will probably change as it matures. It also looks rather washed-out (probably stressed), which doesn't help either.

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Hi Natalie

Glass Fish and their look-alike friends originate from Asia, if they are wild. You have Chanda ranga or a close relative species.

Since this was shipped with goldfish - most likely raised on the same fishfarm - my money's on Florida - you could ask your supplier.

http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Chanda_ranga.html for additional info on those fish.. May be a bit harder to nail the exact species.

These look nothing like sunfish, perch, bass, or crappies. At first glance has 'tropical' written all over it. That should narrow it down, good luck

The Amazon Nut...

But how would a tropical southeast Asian fish get mixed in with Florida-raised goldfish and actually survive that ordeal? This fish was sitting in about two gallons of 55-60 degree water with 500+ goldfish larger than itself for several hours (that's how they are shipped). I briefly considered the possibility of it being some sort of Parambassid yesterday due to its appearance, but I eventually rejected it because it seemed like the possibility of one getting mixed in with Floridan goldfish and surviving that "adventure" was nonexistant. That sort of hardiness was something I could only see in some sort of US-native Percoid (sunfish, perch, temperate bass, etc).

Well crap, what do I do with the fish now (if it's still alive even, I'm going to check on it today)? Figuring it was some sort of small sunfish, I placed it in a planted tank with a pH of like 6.8. I don't have immediate access to any brackish tanks either... But how do I even know if it was a brackish fish if it was living with those goldfish? I actually got it to eat some bloodworm pieces yesterday, but honestly I wouldn't be suprised if it ended up dying during the night.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

An ambassid would be my guess as well based on appearances. Perhaps look through the Ambassid pictures on Fishbase and see if any of those are your guy; but of course, clear fish turn white after death so the pics of preserved fish might not be any help. On the other hand, if it isn't Parambassis ranga, the only common ambassid in the hobby, then IMO the chances of it being there are almost nil.

After taking a glance around Fishbase's galleries of pics for each family my guess is it doesn't appear to be a percid, percichthyid, centrarchid, moronid, or elassomatid. I could be wrong and Fishbase isn't complete, so the species you have might have its pic missing from Fishbase.

Maybe try to get a better pic, I'm itching to find out what this guys is!

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

After your explanation of it's travels to you I'd say that is one tough little fish. I hope it makes it okay after all that.

Maybe this guy (or gal) seen it's chance to escape when it seen them packing boxes of goldfish near it's tank and jumped for it !

It was meant for you to have it, so keep and enjoy it



The Amazon Nut...

Well, the little guy is still alive and seems to be doing better. He ate some bloodworm/brine shrimp pieces I put in the tank (he won't touch them if they are whole). Parambassis ranga is the most common species in the hobby, but I don't think it's the fish that came in with the goldfish. It's kind of hard to explain in detail, but there are some Indian Glassfish also at the store that are just slightly larger than the fish that came in with the goldfish, and they actually don't look too similar at all (aside from being small and transparent).

Due to some recent unfortunate events I no longer have a digital camera, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get some halfway decent photos of the fish.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Ok, now I'm thinking it's not actually an Ambassid and is some sort of North American native. It's settled into the tank nicely and its coloration is becoming more noticeable (the vertical bands). I examined it for some time today, and there's no way it's a glassfish, despite its remarkable transparency.

Here are some slightly better photos of it, the last one actually with a real glassfish for comparison.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Hmmm, it seems a little longer and pointier than it did in your previous pics, lol. It is looking more perch-ish now that I see these pics. On the other hand, I still don't know what it is. I can't think of any juveniles that are transparent like that, though I'm not exactly big into natives. I've only seen white perch and striped bass juvies to compare to, and neither have transparent juveniles.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I'm not sure what it is either... In terms of Centrarchids, it has the same body shape as a bass or Green Sunfish, but it also has a very small mouth and will only eat tiny pieces of live/frozen foods (no bigger than about 1/4 the diameter of its eye, and it has small eyes too). I've been unable to find good pictures of one-or-two-centimeter juvenile Centrarchid fish, so I don't know how transparent they are (this fish is slightly more transparent than even the glassfish).

EDIT: I think I may go to the NANFA boards and make a post there about it.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

The banding makes it look very very similar to fish I'd frequently see on dives in lake Rawlings VA. Being a groundwater filled quarry the temps get quite chilly, which would explain its ability to survive the shipment.

If it is a native, chances are it'll be larger than most people keep

^_^

Yeah, some of the members of the North American Native Fish forum said it's most likely a young Bluegill. I don't have the space to keep a 12 - 16" sunfish, but I guess I can find a home for it when it gets too big. It's not in my possession right now, but if it gets to be a few inches in length soon I may try putting it with my 3" Green Sunfish (he has a 35 gallon hex to himself, mainly because one day he decided to kill his tankmates).

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

A bluegill?! My gosh, you should just get it so you can document its metamorphosis. It doesn't look anything like a bluegill! I was thinking more along the lines of perhaps a yellow perch.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I agree with you Shinigami, tho I haven't visited the NANFA forum here for the past few days to see the thread there, even the first few pics that Natalie posted, including the sketch here on FP, I was thinking then that this is a young yellow perch. Also maybe check out Jonahsaquarium.com, you just may see one there if fishbase is unproductive.

J.

Don't Yellow Perch have two separate dorsal fins? This fish only has one long dorsal fin (I think, I'll have to look closely at that next time), which is why I was leaning towards Centrarchidae. I can't find any photos of very small Yellow Perch, though, so I guess I shouldn't rule it out.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

I can't say I'm an expert. Yeah, the Yellow Perch does have two separate dorsal fins; I was simply thinking that because of its body shape. I guess I'm not used to such a great difference between juvenile and adult fish.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I'm assuming it was bluegill I was diving with, since that's what was said to be in the quarry.

Looked very very similar to the photo/drawing. Granted it's been a few years, but when you've dove the same quarry half a dozen times that's about all there is to do, hang with the fishies.

I'll have to see if I can find any images one of my dive buddies gave me.

^_^