whats up with my green sunfish

[619aquaponics]

ok so i have 2 green sunfish in a 55 gallon tank. one of them hides behind a piece of driftwood all day (except during feeding) and the other swims around like normal. the one that hides i will refer to as fish B and the normal one is fish A. i dont get why fish B hides all the time. When fish B comes out all fish A does is follow him around slowly. Fish A does not fin nip, flare, or chase him around the tank. he only follows him at normal speed and occassionaly swims up next to fish B and tilts laterally. it doesnt seem aggressive at all. so whats up with fish B?

Also Fish A is a darker color and Fish B is greener. which are supposed to be males and which are females?

 

[just3542]

Fish B seems to be Female. Females are usually lighter in color than males.
As for the other problem, I don't know what to say.

 

[Racersk]

Hmmm, my female is doing the tilting thing too, but I took it as a scratching manuver as she got a small case of ick, just after bringing her home.

My male is a hider and follows the female around too, no aggression towards her, cause she has about a 2" size advantage to the male-but interest none the less... Both of mine are real similarly colored, I got my female id'd by a trusted pet shop employee.

These 2 are in a 55 with a big and little texas.

 

[dcorreia]

I had a bunch of greenies in a koi pond for a few years. The females grow much faster (like twice as fast if not faster) and are more agressive than males. Fish A is probably a female. Is there much of a size difference between the 2? I noticed in my pond that the females were very territorial while the smaller males let them be for the most part untill it was feeding time.

 

[star5328]

I had a bunch of greenies in a koi pond for a few years. The females grow much faster (like twice as fast if not faster) and are more agressive than males. Fish A is probably a female. Is there much of a size difference between the 2? I noticed in my pond that the females were very territorial while the smaller males let them be for the most part untill it was feeding time.

no.

 

[FLESHY]

There seems to be a lot of information on here that could go either way.

Females build nests...males defend them (in the wild). So think about that when talking about aggression.

Another thing that could be going on is that you have two of the same gender and one only comes out when it needs to because the other one is dominant.

Often fish tilting on their sides like that when another fish is near is a sign of submission to the other.

 

[critter_bob]

Male fish build nests. This is most defininitely true with sunfish, it is the male who builds, and protects the nest.