Spawning redbreasted sunfish

[BHARDON24]

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[TD="colspan: 2"]I have a 4" male red breasted sunfish. I just got 3 3" unknown sex red breasts in the mailmtoday, but at least 1 is bound to be female. I have some questions:

1. How do I tell male from female?
2. Can I put him with male sunfish if there are any?
3. How many females does he need to spawn?
4. Can I spawn him in a 37 gallon?
5. What steps do I need to take to breed them?


Thanks and sorry for all the questions.
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[warmouth]

1st of all a 37 gallon is too small for 4 Redbreasted sunfish, (unless your just going to use it just as a breeder with one male and one female and will pull the female out as soon as they get done mating), when fully grown theyre average sizes are 6-10 inches with some reaching lengths of 12 inches. I used to have a 37-38 gallon (depending on who you talked to) bowfront that I tried to keep Green sunfish in....it wasn't big enough. 2nd good choice on your fish.....I love Redbreasts, I think along with longears, orangespotted and western dollars they are one of the smartest,and prettiest of the Lepomis species, but IMHO to keep them healthy and happy you will need at least a 75g aquarium that has some sort of structure in it and good filtration. 3. you can keep males together as long as the aquarium is big enough, theres structure for the subordinate males to hide in and I would get dithers; 3 you will need to gradually increase temps, light duration and feeding to get them to spawn, the NANFA forum is a excellent resource for information on spawing sunfish....just text or chat with screenname "Centrarchid".

 

[BHARDON24]

ok thanks what about a 62 gallon same demsnsions as a 75 except 12'' wide

 

[warmouth]

ok thanks what about a 62 gallon same demsnsions as a 75 except 12'' wide

That depends on how many males you have and the amount of structure you have in the tank. In breeding season normally semi-aggressive male sunfish become aggressive if they see another male in their "breeding grounds"; u would need structure so they can set up territories and not see each other for that small of a tank, because Redbreast can get 12 inches long. I would strongly recommend at least a 75gallon if not a 90 for Redbreast sunfish.