Sex This Green Sunfish

[divemaster99]

I've had it for almost two and a half weeks now. Definitely leaning towards female since I collected one about 1/3 this size the same day that was way more colorful that I put back. Whichever gender it is it has a TON of personality, greets me at the glass and got it to handfeed in less than two weeks! It's hard to tell by the pictures but it does have some nice blue mottling on its sides.

 

[divemaster99]

PS, it's about 2" now (maybe 2.25" at the most).

 

[divemaster99]

Any ideas?

 

[CHUFF]

From my experince with sunfish (12 years) the males are much more colored than the female.
Here is my male greensunfish at about 3 inches.

 

[divemaster99]

So probably a female then. Dang, I was hoping male since it'll have an entire 30 long to itself and I was going for something colorful and big. Oh well.

 

[CHUFF]

Female pumkinseed



Male pumkinseed

 

[CHUFF]

Ive had both greensunfish and redbreast sunfish spawn in my tanks and the female does show a good amount of color but no where near the color of a male. The males get even brighter with color when pissed off. Greensunfish males get very dark vertical lines acrossed its body when spawning and during feeding and when fighting. Males seem to grow much faster than females also.

 

[CHUFF]

So probably a female then. Dang, I was hoping male since it'll have an entire 30 long to itself and I was going for something colorful and big. Oh well.

Go back out fishing and catch a male. So you can have a pair... I seem to hook into males wayyy more often than a female,So you got the hard part over with.

 

[divemaster99]

Go back out fishing and catch a male. So you can have a pair... I seem to hook into males wayyy more often than a female,So you got the hard part over with.

Would I have room for a male and female in a 30 long? I was told a single green would be the sole fish in a tank that size, as well as just two sunfish would lead to the male killing the female.

 

[divemaster99]

Ok so I think I have a plan. I know a really good spot at my local lake with TONS if juvi green sunfish. I'm going to put on a tiny hook with a bent barb there and keep catching them until I can find one with distinct darker coloration and more vivid colors then I'll take it home in a minnow bucket and out it into my 30 long with the female green that's already in there and the darter pair I have in there now (darters will be moved by the time the sunfish put on some attitude). I'll see how the sunfish do together (peaceful or aggressive) and if they're peaceful towards each other I'll keep them both in there and just keep up on water changes. If I see any aggression issues I'll just put the female into my 75 gallon with a few other sunfish and a few tropicals. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the green I've got now, she has great personality. I'm just looking for something with lots of color and size (like I've already said) since it's going to be the (possible) solo fish in my 30.