Also known as a "shellcracker" because of its tendency to eat snails, the redear sunfish is similar in shape to bluegill but lacks the distinguishing black dot on the dorsal fin. Redears have a characteristic red or orange margin around the "ear flap," and the mouth and snout protrudes more forward than other sunfish.  The body coloration is light olive-green to gold, with red and orange flecks in the breast.  The breast of a mature redear is typically yellow, and the pectoral fins are long and pointed.

The hybrid bream is a hatchery cross between a male bluegill and a female green sunfish. The offspring exhibits characteristics of both parents. It's not quite as deep in the body as the bluegill but is deeper bodied than the green sunfish. The mouth is larger than the bluegill but smaller than the green sunfish. The color markings have no distinct patterns as do the parents, and hybrids may appear speckled or mottled.

The black crappie is a silvery-green to yellowish fish with large dorsal and anal fins of almost identical shape and size.  The sides are marked with black blotches which become more intense towards the back.  The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are also marked with rows of dark spots.  Crappie have compressed bodies, small heads and arched backs.  They have a large mouth with an upper jaw extending under the eye.  Black crappie can be distinguished from white crappie, a similar species, by the number of dorsal spines.  Black crappie have 7-8 dorsal spines, while white crappie have 5-6 spines and usually exhibit light vertical bars on the sides of the body.

Green sunfish are not recommended for Arkansas ponds.  These fish are easily identified by their large mouth; white to orange margined fins, and large dark spot at base of second dorsal fin (similar to spot of bluegill, but bluegill have much smaller mouths).

Warmouth have a stout, deep body similar to that of a bluegill or redear sunfish, yet have a large, bass-like mouth.  They have a red eye and vary from brassy to dark-olive green and often have a purple tint overall.  Broad, irregular dark bars give it a mottled appearance.  The soft-rayed portions of the dorsal and anal fins are marked with rows of dark spots.  Three or four conspicuous dark stripes radiate back from the eye across to the cheek and gill cover.

Another sunfish species that is not recommended for recreational fishing ponds, the longear sunfish has a long ear flap, especially prevalent on the adult male.  Ear flap is horizontal on adults and slanted upward on young.  Wavy blue lines on cheek and gill.  Adult is dark red to bright orange and is marbled or spotted with blue.

The hybrid striped bass is a cross between striped bass and white bass.  Body coloration is often olive-green to blue-gray on the back with silvery to brassy sides and white on the belly.  It is easily recognized by the 7-8 prominent black stripes on the sides that are often broken.  Hybrid striped bass can not reproduce in ponds and therefore must be restocked periodically if desired.

White bass are very uncommon in farm ponds and will not reproduce in them.  The stripes of white bass are lighter than the other temperate bass, and usually there are 4-7 dark gray-brown stripes on a silver-white side.  Body deepest between dorsal fins.

Yellow bass are found in some ponds and can be confused with other temperate basses including white bass and hybrid striped bass.  This species has 5-7 thick black stripes on silver-yellow side broken and offset on lower side.  Usually, the presence of yellow bass suggests that fish are invading the pond from downstream.

Channel catfish have a deeply forked tail, a rounded anal fin with 24-29 fin rays, and juveniles have scattered black spots along their back and sides.  They have a small, narrow head, and the back is blue-gray with light blue to silvery gray sides and a white belly.  Males may become very dark during the spawning season and develop a thickened pad on their head.

Bullhead species can easily be differentiated from channel catfish by the absence of a deeply-forked tail.  The body is squat and the tail is round or square.  The chin barbels on brown bullheads are pigmented, not whitish as with yellow bullheads. The sides of brown bullheads have a distinct, irregular brownish mottling over a light background, while yellow bullhead are yellow-olive to slate-black above and lighter, often yellow to yellow-olive, on its sides with little to no mottling.

The common carp is a heavy bodied, laterally compressed minnow with a long dorsal fin and arched back. The first ray of the dorsal and anal fins is a stout, serrated spine. The small triangular head is scaleless and tapers to a blunt snout. The small, protrusible mouth contains no teeth and is located below the snout. There are two pair of barbels on the upper jaw. The body is scaled and color is brassy green on top grading to bronze or gold on sides. The belly is yellowish white. Fins typically are yellow, orange, golden, or light olive in color.

Grass carp are slender bodied with a large very broad head and a wide mouth.  Unlike common carp, the dorsal fin is short.  Coloration is dark greenish-brown on the back and the sides are pale golden.  This species is commonly introduced to control vegetation problems.

Young golden shiners are silvery with a dusky band along the side. This band fades with age as the fish takes on a golden color. Adults are usually less than 6 inches, although can grow to about 10 inches.  Golden shiners are usually introduced by anglers when they empty their bait buckets into the pond.

Gizzard shad are silvery with a single dark spot behind the operculum (gill cover).  They have a long, whip-like last dorsal ray, a blunt snout, and sub-terminal mouth.  Only threadfin shad share the threadlike dorsal ray, but threadfin shad are differentiated by their terminal mouth and much smaller maximum size.  Gizzard shad are not recommended for small ponds.

Mosquitofish are are dull gray or brown in color with a rounded tail.  Their mouths point upward for surface feeding.  Mosquitofish can persist in ponds with sufficient shallow vegetated areas where they can hide from predators.