Dollar Sunfish: Hope I Got A Girl This Time

This my male sunfish Jack he’s a little strange he hates my camera, and likes getting in the net if I put it in the tank. If I put my face up to the tank he flares his gills out at me and looks like he’s giving me kisses through the glass. I’ve had him about a year and he has such a wonderful personality I’ve decided to try and bread him, but I’m having a bit of trouble finding a girl for him. I think I may have found one but it may be another juvenile male. I keep catching what I think is a female then it colors up & it’s a male.*fingers crossed this time*I want to get another female but i have a hard time making a positive id on the females any one have some pics of a female dollar?

Jack

he's fat from eating too many minnows today


I think this one is a girl. hopfuly not a juvenile male again like the last 3 she/ he's about 2 - 2 1/2 inches long

i'm usualy prety good at taking fish pics but he won’t hold still. He sees the camera coming and he takes off to hide. I have never had so much troubble geting a good shot of one fish. He is a bit reder than shows in the pics and the shiny parts are powder blue.

I caught these in the pond behind my house. Not sure if they are the eastern or western variety.

Nice fish. In Lousiana you have the western variety.

The small one on the bottom, could be a female, but chances are its a juvenile male. Look for one atleast two and a half inches with no "ear" to speak of. Then you have a girl for sure. At this size, she should still not show much blue color in the fins. Also by comparison the blue spotting on the body should be a lot less evident in females than in males of the same size caught at the same time.

I am leaning away from it being a female for certain because at 2.5 inches the "ear" looks like it is getting pretty developed. Variation makes any of these things hard to pin down for certain though. And as you noticed, pictures never seem to do them justice [mentioning the blue color, I notice it doesn't show up well on my pictures either].

When you do get a female, you will want to watch closely he doesn't scale and de-fin her. You should be able to catch this behavior before it gets too far along. She will sit up in the corner or crammed into some cover, and anytime she shows a sign of coming out he will race over and nail her a good one, than commence chashing her all over. If he has a nest, he just wants to spawn and she is not ready. If there is no nest, he just doesn't want her around eating his food.

I’ve been watching that “ear” myself. It was hardly noticeable when I caught the fish. The “ear” just seems to have started growing over the past week or so. I guess I’ll have to try again for a girl -_-…any one got some pics of the female westerns?

I want to get a pic of the male in the net, I dropped it in the tank last night & he just swam in and wound not get out. I had to take him out of it. If I moved the net he just followed it.

I’ve decided to try and bread him...

Considering that today is Thanksgiving, wouldn't turkey be a better meal choice than breaded fish?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Considering that today is Thanksgiving, wouldn't turkey be a better meal choice than breaded fish?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

HaHaHaHaHa That was good!

Breaded fish isn't bad.