Green ear building nest??

[Conner]

Hey all, I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that my more dominant green ear sunfish, has been using his/her tail to clear a patch of rocks on the bottom of the tank. He'll clear it all the way down to the glass, and then will aggressively guard that spot for a day or two. Then he seems to lose interest, and starts acting more "normally", as in not so aggressive, no hole digging, etc.

Is he/she trying to build a nest and waiting for a member of the opposite sex to come visit?

I'll try to get some pics or a video of it the next time he/she does it...

 

[WattaMelon]

Hey all, I've noticed over the last couple of weeks that my more dominant green ear sunfish, has been using his/her tail to clear a patch of rocks on the bottom of the tank. He'll clear it all the way down to the glass, and then will aggressively guard that spot for a day or two. Then he seems to lose interest, and starts acting more "normally", as in not so aggressive, no hole digging, etc.

Is he/she trying to build a nest and waiting for a member of the opposite sex to come visit?

I'll try to get some pics or a video of it the next time he/she does it...

Yep, that's what he's doing.

 

[nubz]

yep thats how i catch them wen i fish. over nests of rocks and shells...only there is other sunfish to visit.

 

[Bassinkorea]

First off, that fish is a "he".
He is building a nest for his potential "girl" to lay her eggs, but she is obviously not coming or intersted and he loses interest.
My male bass does this at certain times of the year and when the tanks temps are at a certain temperature.

 

[Noddy]

Aggreed!
Mine used to make a crater with slow but very firm wags of it's tail.
That's when the aggression started in my tank, because he though the whole 180Gl was his!!!!

 

[oscarcrazy]

My longear tries again and again to entice my midas to breed with it.

 

[Conner]

Well I guess that I have 2 male green ears then, because he tries to beat the living tar out of the other one, rather than doing anything I'd think would be "wooing", other than building the nest.

I'm kinda surprised he hasn't done serious damage to someone else in the tank, considering its only a 55g.

Thanks everyone. Maybe I can find him a nice girlfriend soon... how does one go about sexing green ear sunfish?

 

[WattaMelon]

In my opinion, the best way to tell is to look at the vent. There are two holes. In males, these two holes are going to be the same size, or close to the same size. In females, one hole will be significantly larger than the other hole. This applies to mature fish.

You sure you want tons of green sunfish by the way? Lol...I had to ask.

 

[Conner]

You sure you want tons of green sunfish by the way? Lol...I had to ask.

They'd make great feeders, so heck yah!

 

[sandtiger]

Well I guess that I have 2 male green ears then, because he tries to beat the living tar out of the other one, rather than doing anything I'd think would be "wooing", other than building the nest.

I'm kinda surprised he hasn't done serious damage to someone else in the tank, considering its only a 55g.

Thanks everyone. Maybe I can find him a nice girlfriend soon... how does one go about sexing green ear sunfish?

If a female isn't ready to breed males will harass them constantly, you may still have a female, just not one thats ready to spawn.