Hi,
Does anyone know what I can do to trigger sunfish to breed? I have had some bluespotted sunfish for awhile. But I think they were too small to breed. Now they are about breeding size. I read something once that it might be helpful to reduce time period of your lights. The reason for this is that it might make the fish think it is fall with reduced daylight. And later if you increase the hours the fish may believe it is Spring and breed. I used to have my lights run for 9 hours now I have it on 7 hours. These fish are more active in the dark. During the day they usually hide behind plants/rocks/driftwood and are pretty skittish when I am around. I have observed for weeks a male in the tank doing the "fish dance". I see him wiggling his tail and slapping other fish. I think there may be 1 male and 3 females, or perhaps 2 males 2 females but the other male is less dominant. The male is more colorful and dark, while the smaller fish are more drab in color. Aside from the tail wiggling I see the male doing these sort of love bites. He nips at the other fish but not in an attacking manner. It almost seems like he is being playful and trying to coax the fish to breed with him. I keep checking every morning thinking one of these days I am going to see eggs. But like I say I have been seeing this for weeks and nothing. I wonder if the females are even ready to breed yet. The male is about 2.5-3 inches while the females are about 2 inch. I have been trying to feed them scuds, daphnia, and live blackworms to induce a spawn and still nothing. Any tips? Comments? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Does anyone know what I can do to trigger sunfish to breed? I have had some bluespotted sunfish for awhile. But I think they were too small to breed. Now they are about breeding size. I read something once that it might be helpful to reduce time period of your lights. The reason for this is that it might make the fish think it is fall with reduced daylight. And later if you increase the hours the fish may believe it is Spring and breed. I used to have my lights run for 9 hours now I have it on 7 hours. These fish are more active in the dark. During the day they usually hide behind plants/rocks/driftwood and are pretty skittish when I am around. I have observed for weeks a male in the tank doing the "fish dance". I see him wiggling his tail and slapping other fish. I think there may be 1 male and 3 females, or perhaps 2 males 2 females but the other male is less dominant. The male is more colorful and dark, while the smaller fish are more drab in color. Aside from the tail wiggling I see the male doing these sort of love bites. He nips at the other fish but not in an attacking manner. It almost seems like he is being playful and trying to coax the fish to breed with him. I keep checking every morning thinking one of these days I am going to see eggs. But like I say I have been seeing this for weeks and nothing. I wonder if the females are even ready to breed yet. The male is about 2.5-3 inches while the females are about 2 inch. I have been trying to feed them scuds, daphnia, and live blackworms to induce a spawn and still nothing. Any tips? Comments? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.
