Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources State DNR said....

I shouldn't get fish from a place that I know a few people in my region have gotten fish from. They claim that they don't test their fish for diseases and recommended not buying from them. Short question here is - is this the state trying to sell me to a specific vendor or are there real concerns with this?

I was trying to source HSB and I'm not going to toss out any vendor names because I dont know if it's against the forum rules. But I was ready to order some from a vendor plain out right. I then decided to call the DNR to see if I could find some a little closer so I could drive and pick them up. They told me in MD you need a permit in order to stock a private pond with them (other vendor didn't even mention that). And it's not just any permit, but they have to come and inspect the pond to make sure they can't escape to public water ways.

I should mention that I'm perfectly fine doing all of this if it's legally required. I just don't know if I should be concerned with my sources now is all.

It's because you are stocking HSB. They don't want them escaping into a Chesapeake Bay tributary and possibly back crossing with wild striped bass.

But, but, I thought hybrid striped bass could not reproduce?

Guys HSB reproduction is well covered and explained here.

HSB reproduction in ponds


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=23258&Number=292348#Post292348 HSB spawning text and vid from Stacy last year


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=272163&page=1 another report


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...=true#Post84636 another one


http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=177718&page=1 and here

Willis " ...I've always believed that HSB simply have a functional sterility (eggs are too heavy to act like striped bass egss, and too light and not sufficiently sticky to act like white bass eggs). However, they can backcross with the parent species. Again, I wonder if we know if that is true for both "directions" of crosses."

HSB are not sterile but reproduction is highly unlikely in ponds. Dave Willis explained this on a thread :

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post15285


Dave Willis
Lunker


Registered: September 09, 2002
Posts: 1494
Loc: South Dakota State University
(12.218.163.246) Actually masterbasser, it's even worse than the state biologist told you. Hybrid striped bass are "functionally" sterile. The 1:200,000 probably applies to hybrids spawning with hybrids. However, the males of both species commonly run with either striped bass or white bass, and they certainly can produce a back-crossed generation with either. For example, hybrid males running with striped bass females will produce offspring that are 3/4 striper and 1/4 white bass genes.

The "functional" sterility comes from the difference in egg types for the two parentals. Striped bass have eggs that are nearly neutral buoyancy, and along the east coast they spawn in rivers that carry the eggs while they develop and hatch. If the eggs settle to the bottom, they typically smother and die in the organic/silt layer on the river bottom. Eggs need some oxygen, which crosses the membrane. White bass have heavy, sticky eggs. In rivers, they spawn on gravel riffles. The sticky, heavy eggs attach to the bottom and the current keeps them clean and oxygenated. Hybrid striped bass eggs are halfway in-between. They are too heavy to float with the striped bass eggs, settle to the bottom, and generally die. They are too light and not sticky enough to stay on the gravel if spawned in a riffle. They wash off, into a pool below, settle on the organic mud that usually has low or no dissolved oxygen, and die.