Stephen A. Flickinger

New information concerning spawning and reproduction of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas Rafinesque) from observations in Colorado, and a review of important findings of previous works is presented in this paper. Potential for egg production by mature. Age I females is between 1,000 and 10,000 eggs per breeding season. On the basis of this information and the known polygynous mating behavior, we estimate that 19,200 adult fathead minnows in a ratio of five females per male should be stocked per surface acre to yield a theoretical maximum production of 1.5 million fingerlings per...

For transfer of fingerling fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) from spawning ponds to growing ponds, the optimum combination of brood-fish population density and sex ratio in the spawning pond was 19,200 fish per surface acre and five females to one male. Fingerling production from this combination amounted to 1,524,500 fish. Fathead minnows utilized spawning boards placed up to 5 ft deep, and they also utilized boards placed without reference to the substrate. Larger nest sites encouraged larger egg deposits. Nests were crowded together as effectively by restricting available nest sites...