Conditioning/ Ripening Females

How would one go about getting a female sunfish ready for breeding? I've got some small (4") female warmouth that I want to condition and breed with my male (6"). What should I feed my females to ripen them up? Right now they eat rosy reds. They won't even look at pellets. They're in an outdoor pond, so they aren't use to seeing people come up to them a lot, which makes it hard to get them to realize I'm the one that brings them food.

Is the female fat? If warmouth (both male and female) in pond together and not spawned yet then will not likely do so until next breeding season. That is unless you intervene.

How would one go about getting a female sunfish ready for breeding? I've got some small (4") female warmouth that I want to condition and breed with my male (6"). What should I feed my females to ripen them up? Right now they eat rosy reds. They won't even look at pellets. They're in an outdoor pond, so they aren't use to seeing people come up to them a lot, which makes it hard to get them to realize I'm the one that brings them food.

None of them are ripe yet. They get fat from their food, but they get skinny again in a couple days. I was planning on taking them in and putting them in a tank to ripen them up. I just need to know what foods should be fed and how often.

None of them are ripe yet. They get fat from their food, but they get skinny again in a couple days. I was planning on taking them in and putting them in a tank to ripen them up. I just need to know what foods should be fed and how often.

Ideally the female will always have a belly full of food so feed more than daily. Getting the warmouth to feed from your hands would be a major help in conditioning. Such animals less stressed and therefore condition easier. Is she still putting on length. If no then conditions, possibly temperature getting too warm in the small pond. My warmouth shut breeding down and then growth down when temperature rise above 84 degress F.

Continue with fathead minnows although try feeding the minnows some fresh flake food before presenting them to warmouth. Improves vitamin content. When restricted to using live food I will often use healthy nightcrawlers and super mealworm and even crickets. Keep trying to introduce pellets. If a tank mate consumes, the warmouth likely to experiment with a fodd its sees, smells and hears another consume. Pellets, especially those formulated for predatory cichlids, are hard to beat as a conditioning food for warmouth but always provide variaty. Sometimes a warmouth with consume raw strips of tuna and mine will do so to the point have having trouble swimming. Are your fish wormy? My bluegill as of late have been difficult to condition unless I reduce some of their parasite burden.

The pond is in the shade, and some how stays 75 and below. I haven't seen any worms on them at all, except for an anchor worm. One of the redbreasts I have with him ate it.

The pond is in the shade, and some how stays 75 and below. I haven't seen any worms on them at all, except for an anchor worm. One of the redbreasts I have with him ate it.

The worms/parasites I would be concerned with would most likely be in the gut. They, like anchorworm, hinder appettite and decrease the efficiency of food assimulation. Try to keep live forage in front of the warmouth at all times. Make certain the female warmouths are not being picked on by larger fish. Low rank inhibits breeding.

The worms/parasites I would be concerned with would most likely be in the gut. They, like anchorworm, hinder appettite and decrease the efficiency of food assimulation. Try to keep live forage in front of the warmouth at all times. Make certain the female warmouths are not being picked on by larger fish. Low rank inhibits breeding.

How could I get rid of/ lower parasite loads in the fish if they do indeed have them?

How could I get rid of/ lower parasite loads in the fish if they do indeed have them?

fishlvr,

My male warmouths starting to dig like mad. Impending spawn I think. Got several (n ~ 7 inch males in shallow tank 2' x 8' x 1' with lots of obstructions to block view of each others nest. Will be first time I had multiple males fire up in single tank where I can actually see what is going on. They are very bass like in terms of how territorial disputes carried out. Mostly slow motion display. I must mention the only chicks present are pumpkinseed so they must be desperate.