# Sunfish Breeding



## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Here are some pics of my sunfish gettings ready to breed. The males are fighting anything that gets close to their nest areas including My 8 inch oscar its really funny to see a 4 inch sunfish face off with an 8 inch oscar. Ive also noticed that the males dont seem to dig the nests in the normal way moving the gravel with their face they back up till their tail is in the gravel and then shake it around to move the rocks. Its very interesting but im having trouble catching a pic of it.


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## badforthesport (Jan 8, 2004)

those are nice looking fish!


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Fighting with the oscar


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

another oscar fight


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Breeding colors


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Full tank shot you can see that both males have taken up oposite ends. Im not done decorating it yet It had just finished cycling when i got these guys Hence the 2 colors of gravel since i didnt have enough of either to completely cover the bottom.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

umm you have all males in that tank..

get some females dude.


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Protecting the nest


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

well wait. that little one could be a female.. or a sub adult male who is to much of a p*ssy to show off his colors..


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

nah i think its a male.. check out the large black "Ear"


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Bothe little ones are females by my reconing they are getting quite pot bellied. Im pretty sure they are carrying eggs. Both males are getting much brighter colored and they have what appear to be slightly darker tiger stripes coming out on them.


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Ok peacock how do i tell between males and females From what ive read the females are less brightly colored a greenish brown color with a smaller "ear" the 2 i believe are females are in the top and middle of this pic . Here is a pic i found of a breeding pair where the female looks like mine http://www.tmm.utexas.edu/tnhc/fish/na/cen...ot/lmegalo2.jpg


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

both those larger fish in that pic are males..

get me a pic of that small one.. that could be a female.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

also, remove that uneaten food!!!

wtf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why do you let that sh*t sit there and rott? come on bro! get it out of there.


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

I had just finished feeding em I wait for the filter to catch all the bits before i get it out like sweeping all the dirt into a pile before you use a dustpan


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Here is a pic of the small one


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## StuartDanger (Aug 7, 2003)

looks female to me, the body and colour are more of a females colour.
the 'ear' looks smaller too.
i love the colours of trhe sunfish!


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## lemmywinks (Jan 25, 2004)

ya, that smaller one looks like a female to me too


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## Kory (Jun 5, 2003)

Smaller one looks like a female to me.


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## elduro (Apr 9, 2004)

Wow great colors on those fish!


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## Lonald (Jan 10, 2004)

those breeding colors are great, does the sunfish beet the oscar?? or vise versa


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

you have 4 males..

sorry


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

where are you catching them?

are these fish spread out throughout the sand bar? can you see them when you catch them?


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Nah cant really see em the stream has alot of riffles and its a rocky bottom so they all blend in. The oscar whoops their asses i think they learned their lesson they just leave him alone mostly now. they beat the crap out of my pleco he just hides in the castle all day now


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

so your fishing in a "faster" area of the river?

you wont fine females there.. females will be in the calm shallows feeding on insects at the surface... you should see a/couple large school of females..


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## bulldog0404 (Mar 28, 2004)

those are long ear sunfish right?


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

bulldog0404 said:


> those are long ear sunfish right?


 yep


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Sorry Peacock but you were wrong about the smaller ones being males. Just before i left for work i saw the larger of the females breeding with one of the males. I thought they were fighting at first they kept swimming tight little circles side by side and every once in a while the female would go sideways and shoot out about a dozen eggs. Im pretty sure they are fertilized because they started out a milky white and now they are orangeish. I cant tell if all of them changed color because most uf them settled down into the gravel. Ill Keep ya guys updated on what happens.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

the only one out of the 4 you have that could have been a female would have been that small one..

im sorry but you are mistaken those 3 larger sunnies are 100% male.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

the only one out of the 4 you have that could have been a female would have been that small one..

im sorry but you are mistaken those 3 larger sunnies are 100% male.


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Unless it had small round white poop its definitely a female. If i can figure out where to post it i have a really short vid of them spawning. Its crappy quality since i recorded it with my digicam but it shows them doin the deed. In the pic i have on here it looks alot more colorful that it does in person im lookin at it right now and its mostly brown with a tiny bit of blue/green around its mouth.


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

I was doing some reading and it says geography has alot to do with their color patterns and such. Im guessing that the colors of the females around here are different from the coloring of the females in your area.


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## Peacock (Feb 23, 2004)

v4p0r said:


> I was doing some reading and it says geography has alot to do with their color patterns and such. Im guessing that the colors of the females around here are different from the coloring of the females in your area.


 thats between species, not sex.

that pic is a male.. post up a pic of it. and the small one next to it.


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## con man (Mar 7, 2004)

females r dll lookin (watch out so r sub-adult males) and males r brightly patterned its the same with all species of johnny roachs...


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Update about 40 or so of the eggs that i can see have tails. Ill post some pics tonight when i get home from work.


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

Here is a pic of the female


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## v4p0r (Aug 14, 2003)

and here is a pic of the babies. They sprouted eyes. Hard to carch pics of em cause they are still hiding in the gravel


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## Dovii Kid (Mar 25, 2004)

nice fish v4p0r, i catch them all the time in our creek. I really like the looks of them, so next 1 i catch will be taken and put in my 125gal. I usually catch males. ill have pics of my catch soon.


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## Polypterus (May 4, 2003)

Peacock said:


> v4p0r said:
> 
> 
> > I was doing some reading and it says geography has alot to do with their color patterns and such. Im guessing that the colors of the females around here are different from the coloring of the females in your area.
> ...


 Coloration is highly variable depending on geographic location,
I have seen over 50 populations of this fish across Michigan and 
no two populations like alike.

Females are just as variable as males.

v4p0r is dead on in saying "the colors of the females around here 
are different from the coloring of the females in your area."


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