General centrarchid management should be sufficient to maintain a healthy population of spotted sunfish. Bream anglers have caught spotted sunfish using crickets or worms. Conflicts between these invasive species and the spotted sunfish should be closely monitored. For example, spotted sunfish and bluegill feed on similar prey items. Spotted sunfish prefer heavily vegetated lake bottoms. Acidification of their habitat could have negative impacts on the spotted sunfish. Spotted sunfish capture individual prey by suction feeding. Intense management for more desirable sport fish could cause a decline in spotted sunfish. This suggests that spotted sunfish could also be cannibalistic in similar situations. Spotted sunfish cuckolders are visibly different from other males. Spotted sunfish exhibit similar breeding behavior to other sunfishes. Spotted sunfish select habitats with high complexity and depth. Spotted sunfish have been known to hybridize with bluegill. Spotted sunfish are not expected to live longer than five years. The spotted sunfish is a habitat generalist, but prefers complex habitats.