This starts a thread that discusses the sunfish hybrid called southern specklebelly sunfish aka specklebelly or SSS. Is there anyone on the forum that is growing these hybrids? The link provides a little background information.
http://www.jmmaloneandson.com/specklebelly-sunfish.html To purchase:
http://www.shop.jmmaloneandson.com/Hybrid-Bream_c19.htmI suspect the SSS is a hybrid of RES X BG. It would be good to get some information about SSS growth rates, normal maximum size, pictures, and other interesting features.
I have made these and grown them alongside half-sibling pure BG's. Parents were female BG and male RE which normally for us does not go easily. Reciprocal cross RE(female) x BG(male) goes much easier and males exceed 90% of brood surviving to point easily sexed. latter cross not setup for proper comparisons. Growth rate of hybrid very good even when controlling for sex once they get past the point where the green hybrid starts to slow down.
Jim - How long did you grow this hybrid and how big did they get before discontinuing them for your study / project?
Fish grown till about 2 years post-hatch. Trials ran only about 14 to 18 months. Repeated and will start another likely next fall.
They get up to about 1.75 lbs relatively easily when fed a 35% crude protein catfish feed. The catfish feed started when fish in the 3 to 4" range. The hybrids do great indoors. I am skeptical about how they do in ponds with feeding regimen we used. I think the hybrid may be impacted by RE side where they do not like coming to surface when light intense.
Anyone else have experience with them in their pond? They seem to be available commercially only in one place. The Malone's 'coined' their name. Is their a process of copyrighting a made up name so it sticks or so others do not use it?
It sounds like they have found a way to make them reproduce in numbers sufficient to sell in large volumes.
I'd love to hear from more who have put them in their pond or who might be willing to to give them a trial.
They are very easy to produce in mass. Next spring we can make a few thousand. We tried to late in season last summer where Grass Carp messed everything up.
Fancy names help with the selling. No patents to my knowledge on them.
The picture of the SSS he is holding in his hand sure look a lot like my RES fingerlings. A little taller profile.
RES fingerlings
what makes the hybrid throw mostly male? me and others here seem to think our cnbg are producing more males than females, contrary to what they should naturally.
I have made these and grown them alongside half-sibling pure BG's. Parents were female BG and male RE which normally for us does not go easily. Reciprocal cross RE(female) x BG(male) goes much easier and males exceed 90% of brood surviving to point easily sexed. latter cross not setup for proper comparisons. Growth rate of hybrid very good even when controlling for sex once they get past the point where the green hybrid starts to slow down.
I'm presently attempting the female BG x male RES cross. It appears at this time its going to be a failure. But I've had a bloom so I can no longer see the beds. My fingers are crossed. Either way, I will likely attempt the reciprocal cross next year. Jim, any pointers on how to make this work in a 600 sq ft pond?
Trim off the red ear tab on the male RES.
Bruce and I had discussed this. It’s an option we may try.
Good news.... I’d been ignoring this pond for weeks now as several of the female BG died on me and the male res hadn’t been surfacing for feed. Tonight I threw a bit of feed in and happened to notice THOUSANDS of small fry (of what should hopefully be res x BG hybrids) all over the pond. The spawn couldn’t have taken place long ago as these fry are very small. So unless something went wrong or goes wrong I should have several hundred, or possibly thousands of these for pond boss folk to play with. I’m hoping to get some to snrub, shorty, tj, Bruce and whoever else may be interested in raising and observing them. I’ll try to update this thread with progress unless Bill or others want me to start a new thread with a different title for searching purposes.
Also I’m open to advice on feed training them and willing to help with any types of observations people would like me to make with regard to these fish.
Very cool!
You will not believe this, but I just linked this old thread to my RES/SMB thread, read down to my post and realized I had probably linked to this thread previously, then read your brand new post to this old thread. Small world. We both must have looked up this old thread about the same time.
Do I need to figure out some tote or way to bring some fish home from HHD???
The fact that they are from such a late spawn creates a couple problems...... 1) They may be difficult to catch or trap. I'll attempt a minnow trap and see how that works. And I wanna positively ID them anyway. So I'll try that in the next few days. 2) They're so small that if you don't have a cage or empty pond I'm afraid they become a meal. Maybe you'll want to build a cage between now and then to throw off a dock?
So my thinking is I could grow a few out for you til next years HHD and you could pick some up then. I'm planning on growing out as many as I possibly can anyway, so its really not a big deal at all. By next year I may be accumulating enough biomass I'll be looking to move some anyway. Let me know your thoughts. I'm good either way.
I'll just wait till next year. I've got my plate pretty full with new stuff going on this year anyway. We usually drive up Monday and attend the show Tuesday and Wednesday. I was thinking of maybe driving up Sunday instead. Any chance meeting up with you Monday after work? Or anytime Monday really.
You can PM me if you want.
I'll plan on that Monday. I get done with work around 5 pm. Did you say you stay in Aurora when you come up for HHD?
I'm hoping the hybrids will be 2-4" long by then.
Just made reservations at Kens Motel Aurora starting Sunday night. Been staying there for years. I'll PM you with my cell phone number.
I'm about 20 miles south of Aurora. That'll be an easy trip.
If there are any other Nebraskans in that general area that would like to meet up while I am in the area let me know or PM me. We will be up there for about 3 days during Husker Harvest Days.
Now my grow pond is full of these little guys. I spent about 10 minutes with a fine mesh landing net and hauled in over 300. Now they’re in a tank and hopefully have them indoors in a week or two for grow out. I’ll get some pictures and keep everyone updated. I’m excited about these guys.
Be interesting to see if they end up looking like the SSS on JM Malone's site.
I could add a single male BG to my forage pond with the RES in there. Problem is there are also some GSF so the cross might go that way.