Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Hybrid crappie

So I saw an ad for Fish Wagon pond stockers out of Arkansas.

They have hybrid crappie.

What do they mean by hybrid crappie and can these crappie reproduce if mated with a pure blood black or white crappie?

Thank you

They will reproduce but it is believed that their numbers will be less and their offspring inferior.

Thank you very much

Multiple test ponds in Illinois have had the Hybrid Crappie stocked...not one pond was ever overpopulated and many needed to be re-stocked after being fished out of originally stocked fish.

They are a cross betwenn the male Arkansas Black nosed Crappie and a female White Crappie. Offspring stunt at about 3 inches and are slower swimmers/poor feeders.

Easy Rex – one set of ponds may not make a universal truth.

Gam I suggest you look at this thread before you draw to many conclusions.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=151690&page=1

Additional thread on Black and White and B X W crappie as well diploid, triploid and hybrid research and success.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=13896&fpart=1

I agree ewest...there is a woeful lack of interst and rigid studies to have better information...but it's all there is that is published anyway. I aksed Bobby Glennon point blank if there had been a single reported problem since they are the only place crossing Crappie...He didn't hesitate to say "not a one!" Still it only one reputable person's word.

Unless there is some break through, Triploid BC ain't gonna happen...Average of 4 surviving fish out of evey 100,000 at present...aka about $500 per fish!

I can report my experience albeit limited...

I stocked 150 Hybrid crappie from Rex in a .15 acre experimental pond October 09 at 3-4". October of 10 they were 7-9" but low WR - probably a function of lack of forage on my part.

Overflow from my top reproduction ponds swept an untold qty into my main pond, which was definitely not part of my strategy - so now I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't experience an overpopulation of hybrid crappie.

I can state these fish can navigate over 500' in an inch of water...pretty unbelievable of what mother nature is capable when opportunities present themselves. I'll keep my research coming hoping to learn more this Spring and will provide length/weight stats.

From one study ... a valid assessment IMO

The reciprocal F1 hybrid crappies were capable of backcrossing with their parent species, and both reciprocal F1 hybrid male crappies had viabilities equal to those of their parent species. Egg viability for the F1 hybrid black crappie female × white crappie male appeared equal to that of the parent species and greater than that of its reciprocal hybrid. Recruitment in ponds was highest for the pure species, intermediate for the F1 hybrids, and lowest for the F2 hybrids.

We recommend that hybrid crappies be used only on an experimental basis pending a more thorough evaluation of the incidence and effects of ....

TJ, have you caught any of these "overflow" crappies out of your main pond yet? No clue on how many actually made the trip? Another few weeks and fishing should be prime for crappies in your neck of the woods, hopefully you can target them a bit and see where you stand... The fact that all you have is hybrids and no pure crappies of either species is a good thing from the stuff Eric has posted.

My son and I caught a couple last August from his pond. Maybe it was my fish goggles, but the blacknose I caught was pushing 15" and wasn't skinny to my untrained eye. Beautiful fish. Wish I had my camera phone on me, but I was a little wet by then.

Do the hybrids still show that classic line like pure blacknose black crappies do? I'd love to see a photo of a 15" hybrid like that... Sounds like once they got into the main pond with more forage they blew up!

I hope TJ doesn't mind me fielding questions about his pond. One of the crappie we caught, the larger one, had a very distinct black line down its nose. Very cool. I had never seen anything like it. The one my 11-year old caught looked like any other black crappie. But I'm told that doesn't necessarily mean it was a straight BC. That not all hybrids keep the black nose. I was thinking the same thing as you Travis. Once they found the main pond, the forage was there for them to grow quickly.

I stocked FHM and GSH regularly into my experimental pond with the hybrids, but they were all around 7-8" and pretty low WR from my GUESS [never did the actual weight/length conversion] which I couldn't understand as I thought I had ample forage. I always had FHM circling the pond edges, but I'm not experienced with raising BC and they may just always appear more on the light side. I caught a couple from the main pond thru the ice and both were around 9, and in a little better body condition. I'd say 75% have the black stripe, the others as Josh says looked like classic BC. I'm really disappointed they escaped my exp pond - total waste of my project and now I may be facing another species that requires intensive management along side my BG. I wanted to release these into the main pond EVENTUALLY, but only after verifying they posed no risk of overpopulation. I was careless I suppose, but honestly never thought a FHM could make that tiny stream let alone a 8" crappie. Honestly didn't believe it until I caught one myself...no offense Josh - just hard to conceive.

I have nothing useful to add to this discussion other than they grew from my experience about 100% in 12 mos. which may be a little quicker than the average BC, but not much more. If they don't pose an overpopulation risk they could be a great companion species for the pond owner looking to diversify their fishery. And if there really is a 15" fish in my pond...that would represent nearly 500% growth in 12 mos. That would be amazing.

None taken. I walked the trickle between the crappie pond and the main pond so I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it for myself. Pretty incredible little escape artists.

Never underestimate the will to survive (move to greener pastures). There is documented research/study verifying that small GSF jumped up to 15 feet in the air to reach an inflow pipe then swam upstream some distance to get to a new source of water (another pond). I wonder how they knew , if at all, that there was another pond upstream.

IMO any stocking of crappie (black , white , hybrid) in waters under 100 acres is experimental. I have seen lakes as big as 700 acres stocked with crappie end up badly as a result. That is why the state pond mgt books say don’t stock crappie in ponds. I have also seen a few ponds with a high mgt level do well with crappie. They are the exception however. If you understand the risks and want to try then that is great – go for it – it’s your pond. We will all try to help and support the effort. Share the results here and we will all learn from the experience. It is our job here however to be sure those who may not know the risk (that is how this thread started) are fully informed before they decide.

Whoa!

Superior intelligence, magnificent breeding, stronger will to live are all traits that the wonderful GSF have over their lowly sunfish cousins.

We will not stop until we occupy every pond in every state.

Resistance is futile.

I think it takes a few people out here to do this to get the results we need. Maybe positive or negative but at lease us as Pond Boss members can share the experience.

I do however believe that people need to look at it as an experiment and hope for the best and expect the worst. This is what works well for TJ as his pond is .15 acres if I read that right (would love to see a picture of this pond if you could send to me). That size would not be too bad to kill off and start over.

I do plan to add some to 1 if not 2 ponds I have, would prefer to add to the older pond since it needs fixed anyway but, I think the fish would do better in the newest pond due to the depth, clarity, structure, and forage. Then again I also plan to fish it heavily to keep and eat crappie so that may or may not make a difference. Just like I plan to add 50-100 large CNBG, in hopes for them to pull off a spawn and to not loose 100% of my fish do to the colder weather in NE Oklahoma. Once again am aware of the possibility of the high mortality rate, but would like to believe at least a small 5%-10% would make it through the winters here.

On a side note the GSF jumping 15 feet would be a neat site to see, but I due think they can swim at an extremely elevated level as the pond I have is full of them (mentioned before), and of course I did not but them in there and the pond was drained and dug out about 5 years ago. So who knows how or when they got in there but it is loaded, but I think the LMB have done a number on a few of them, as they have grown from 3-4 inches (DEC 2009) to 12-15 inches (Today).

GSF are very at home in small streams and I could seem them utilizing very shallow very fast moving water to colonized new homes. Others species, less likely... However, at Eric said the will to survive is amazing!

Not exactly pictures that show much of the .15 acre pond, but this was Hybrid Crappie stocking day at TJ's.

Experimental pond:

150 Hybrid Crappie [minus at least 3-4]
3 SMB - fun watching them hammer FHMs
10 HSB - doubtful they made it, never seen after stocking
1 M BG - tracking growth on AM diet
FHM
GSH
PK Shrimp

That lone male BG must be awful lonely... Are you pellet feeding the pond? If you are and you aren't seeing any HSB, it would seem they didn't make it.

I tossed in a runt BG just for experiment sake and he's grown from 4 to around 9" and very robust. He's hard to catch, though. The HSB were also the smaller, most inferior of all my 120+ stocked in the main pond and I didn't have much hope for them.

I'm trying to figure out a goal for this pond...I'm not sure what to do now that my Crappie experiment is over. I'm open to suggestions, though.