Warmouth

I have noticed that on some warmouth there is a red spot on the rear base of the dorsal fin. Is this any indication of sex? Farmertodd has some pics in the NANFA gallery that display this red spot.

red spot usually indicates male

Will warmouth eat snails? I was going to start this in a new thread, but I already had this thread up.

Will warmouth eat snails? I was going to start this in a new thread, but I already had this thread up.

Yes, although irregularly. I am working on a project with redear and its hybrids as snail consumers. Some of the hybrids involve warmouth and one of our controls is the warmouth. Some individual warmouth do, but such animals don't compare favorably with anything with redear or pumpkinseed in the ancestry. Warmouth swallow snails whole and shell comes out back intact. Redear / pumpkinseed pure and hybrids crush shells.

... Warmouth swallow snails whole and shell comes out back intact. ...

Sounds painful!

Do females sometimes have the red spot at the base of the dorsal fin?

Do females sometimes have the red spot at the base of the dorsal fin?

Among the warmouths I am familiar with you occasionally find a female with orangish spot but I have never sen one with red. Squeeze it for gametes to confirm sex.

Thanks. Do you, or anyone else for that matter, know how intelligent these fish are? I was just wondering if they were naturally smart or if this guy is just the Einstein of the fish world. I got one from BZ(smbass) and it came in Wednesday. The day after, I stated feeding him baby gambusia, and ever since I gave him the second one, he comes to the top of the tank every time I lift my hand up above it. He started eating flake food the same day I got him! I had 9 baby severum cichlids in there with him, which eat like horses, so that probably helped him. The day after, I started feeding him baby gambusia, and ever since I gave him the second one, he comes to the top of the tank every time I lift my hand up above it. I guess he figured out what gives him food.

Thanks. Do you, or anyone else for that matter, know how intelligent these fish are? I was just wondering if they were naturally smart or if this guy is just the Einstein of the fish world. I got one from BZ(smbass) and it came in Wednesday. The day after, I stated feeding him baby gambusia, and ever since I gave him the second one, he comes to the top of the tank every time I lift my hand up above it. He started eating flake food the same day I got him! I had 9 baby severum cichlids in there with him, which eat like horses, so that probably helped him. The day after, I started feeding him baby gambusia, and ever since I gave him the second one, he comes to the top of the tank every time I lift my hand up above it. I guess he figured out what gives him food.

Measures of intelligence of any kind is subjective. As for the sunfishes which I consider to include crappies, black basses and the rock bass group their smarts seem to be concentrated around two areas; food and predator avoidance. The basses, especially the largemouth seems quite adaptable in foragging technique and will even do so cooperatively. I even had largemouth bass that would charge up on the bank to grab transforming bullfrogs and flop in mud back into the water with prey in mouth. Looked like killer whale eating seal pups. They learn real quick about herons but seem to have a lot of trouble figuring problems with fishing lures. Some sunfishes seem to be like trout and get a search image going for one type of prey and tend to ignore other potentially more rewarding options.

The Lepomis sunfishes seem to be the most flexible in terms of what they will consume and learn to expand faster than other sunnies. Warmouth score middle of road on this.

Some of my female redear and green sunfishes, when ripe can jump into tanks with a male conspecific more frequently than expected for random chance. 4 options; one on floor, 2 with water and maybe other sunfishes, and one being their honey.


Larvae of all are pretty darn stupid and seem hardwired in everythin they do.

Ya, this guy is pretty smart for a fish IMO.

Do all male warmouth get the red spot on the dorsal? I caught what I think to be a female, and no red spot was present. It also seemed a little paler than my other 5 adult warmouth and it didn't have the blue/green/yellowish spangles on it's sides. The five I have are definate males, and they've already started making pits in the gravel I provided for them, so I'm hoping this is a female...

Ok, last question. I promise. Do all male warmouth get the red spot on the dorsal? I caught what I think to be a female, and no red spot was present. It also seemed a little paler than my other 5 adult warmouth and it didn't have the blue/green/yellowish spangles on it's sides. The five I have are definate males, and they've already started making pits in the gravel I provided for them, so I'm hoping this is a female...

Sickly, low ranking males often do not have red spot.

Ok. I believe this is a female. I'm going to take out all of the males except for one, and hopefully they'll breed. Should I take out the largest or the smallest?

Ok. I believe this is a female. I'm going to take out all of the males except for one, and hopefully they'll breed. Should I take out the largest or the smallest?

Remove all but the plumpest, most colorful, most vigerous male. If keeping female in tank with male, yes give her lots of cover.