Winter Cooling

I know that summer is just getting started so this may seem like an ill-timed question...but I was curious whether anyone manipulates the water temperature in winter to improve the development of color in their captive natives. I have only varied the photo periods and that has worked fine for my shiners, but I recently acquired a beautiful male Longear sunfish and would like to look as spectacular next spring as he did when I caught him. I've also had three Orangespotted sunfish for two years and they haven't developed much color. Of course, there is a 1 in 8 chance that I caught three female YOY that would also explain their lack of color!

My male longear seems to stay colored up fairly well most of the time. The water temperature in his tank ranges from the mid 60^o's F to the mid 70^o's F. Longer photo periods make him start feeling in a family way so I limit his lighting to about 10 hours per day to keep him from building nests and creating a mess of the tank. Poor guy just wants to start a family, but I just don't have the space or set up for that right now.