Cody Note: Yes Cecil your paragraph above summed it up. Hormonal increases will stimulate feeding to prepare for spawning. I think many of your RAS female YP will develop eggs and lay them this spring.
Bill,
From my experience and the literature, they will develop eggs but not fully or anthing like their pond counterparts that have gone through the required chill period. I opened one up this time of year a couple of years ago and there were eggs inside, but externally the fish could pass have passed as a large male.
So perhaps the increase in hormones only goes so far without the chill period? Could not being quite one year old also be a factor? Most literature says in the wild a male can mature at one year but it usually takes two for a female to mature.
