Mean, green, breeding machines

Octavio sent me one female and two male green sunfish that arrived on Monday. The males both built nests on Wednesday, and the female spawned with the larger male today! Not even a week! It took my convicts longer than that to spawn when they were first introduced.

Pics coming soon! My grandmother has the camera right now.

Here are a couple pics. Two are of the male and one of the spent female. He's taken up half of the 55 gallon tank. I'm not sure if this batch is gonna survive though, as I have nowhere to raise the fry outdoors(where they could get small live food items) and I don't think my family would like little bottles of brine shrimp in the house. But I'm going to give some of that "first bites" stuff a try and see if it works.

Anyways, here are the pictures.

Female

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Male (you can see some of the eggs under him if you look hard enough)

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His half of the tank

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Edited by fishlvr, 15 June 2008 - 12:57 AM.

So, will you be doing that experiment discussed with the pro-larvae?

Good luck with the fry. When I spawned my longears the fry wouldn't touch any kind of dry foods. I suspect you'll have to use live.

So, will you be doing that experiment discussed with the pro-larvae?

I just went down to get some of the eggs out, and apparently they've hatched (I saw one on a piece of gravel; I couldn't see the others. I'm guessing they fell down in the gravel until swimup?). I guess I just didn't notice the eggs until a couple days after being laid. How long should I wait to breed the female again? She's fattening back up surprisingly fast on Hikari cichlid pellets and I'm going to go get some earthworms for her in a little while.

Good luck with the fry. When I spawned my longears the fry wouldn't touch any kind of dry foods. I suspect you'll have to use live.

I guess I can try raising a few of the fry instead of a lot of them and try to raise them on microinverts from outside.

Nice pictures and good luck with the fry.

If you can get some pond or crick water it might have small organisms for the fry to eat.

I'm guessing they fell down in the gravel until swimup?

That's the whole point, they may be more than falling down.

If she is feeding well, then could go again at two week intervals. Make certain feeds got good vitamins otherwise hatchability will decline and cretinism of larvae will increase after repeated spawning bouts.

Are you going to feed them baby brine shrimp?

Edited by centrarchid, 15 June 2008 - 08:35 PM.

That's the whole point, they may be more than falling down.

If she is feeding well, then could go again at two week intervals. Make certain feeds got good vitamins otherwise hatchability will decline and cretinism of larvae will increase after repeated spawning bouts.

Are you going to feed them baby brine shrimp?

Like I said my parents don't want me having bottles of brine shrimp in the house, so that's not an option for me.
Is there an alternative that can be raised outdoors (daphnia, cyclops, etc)?

Like I said my parents don't want me having bottles of brine shrimp in the house, so that's not an option for me.
Is there an alternative that can be raised outdoors (daphnia, cyclops, etc)?

A mixed culture including cladocerans / water fleas (examples are Daphnia spp. but other smaller species likley better) and copepods / cyclops will work although harvested food will vary greatly in terms of quantity and quality. Best to go with more than one culture in parallel. Brine shimp could be reared outdoors during summer if you keep out of direct sun. Shrimp farmers do it all the time.

A mixed culture including cladocerans / water fleas (examples are Daphnia spp. but other smaller species likley better) and copepods / cyclops will work although harvested food will vary greatly in terms of quantity and quality. Best to go with more than one culture in parallel. Brine shimp could be reared outdoors during summer if you keep out of direct sun. Shrimp farmers do it all the time.

Ok.
For the brine shrimp, do you mean like having a breeding culture, or just hatching them outdoors?

-Steve

Ok.
For the brine shrimp, do you mean like having a breeding culture, or just hatching them outdoors?

-Steve

Just hatching.

A week on baby brine shrimp and your sunfish larvae / fry will be able to handle the larger zooplankton you can culture in your greenwater tanks.

Just hatching.

A week on baby brine shrimp and your sunfish larvae / fry will be able to handle the larger zooplankton you can culture in your greenwater tanks.

Thanks. Hopefully a few will survive out of this batch. Not sure how this one will turn out though, since I have nowhere to move the babies or other fish in the tank. I really wasn't prepared for them to breed so quickly.

Thanks. Hopefully a few will survive out of this batch. Not sure how this one will turn out though, since I have nowhere to move the babies or other fish in the tank. I really wasn't prepared for them to breed so quickly.

I advise you attempt to rear only a hundred or so. Get rid of the rest before they swimmup. Will improve food availability for those to be grown out.