Has anyone heard of these or stocked them?

What is used to make this cross?

it all depends on what species of fish that is?

Maybe Spotted Sunfish (Lepomis punctatus)?

Malone hybrid what ??????. I read the write up and have questions.

Same here. Malone is the only folks selling them that I could find and they are very careful not to say what the hybrid is.

Here is a link to the description, the producer - supplier.
http://www.jmmaloneandson.com/specklebelly-sunfish.html

A high percentage up to 100% are said to be males. It sounds like more of a bonus or speciality panfish to me. They say nothing about how big they get and how fast they grow. They reportedly readily eat pellets. I suspect it could be a hybrid cross between RES and BG. A regular stocking may have to be done to maintain a good size distribution as the original stockers age and are harvested or experience natural mortality.

This thread was added to the Archives - Sunfish Primer.

If you look at the picture of the fish being held in the hand, the red dot on the opercular tab yet relatively small mouth and BG shape of the fish would support the BG/RES hybrid idea.

hybrid fish picture

My guess on the text and poor pic is a PS cross. The article says you can put RES in with them which would make me think it is not a RES cross as that would lead to backcross problems. But this is a big WAG.

Edit - that is a much better pic and not the one I saw. It may well be a 3 way cross. I have only seen that lateral line configuration on well conditioned BG and CNBG. ear flap does not look BG or RES.

I'm thinking some PS somewhere also, Ewest. I struggle with the "why"??

There is very little that I have seen on PS crosses. The Childers old data did not include PS.

I just don't see what benefit PS would bring into the equation. Must be a positive attribute that I'm not seeing, somewhere.

I was thinking BG x RES cross or maybe a longear x RES cross.

In my first post I made a guess of a CNBG x RES but deleted it as I realized Malone's claim is they have a "new hybrid" and I didn't consider CNBG x RES as new. FWIW I think ewest may be on to the answer with a 3 way cross, especially since they also claim SSB are even more predominately male (up to 99%) than HBG. Shorty may have provided the missing link? CNBG x RES x LES? How does hybrid vigor play into a 3 way cross?

Same question: what possible benefit do you think they achieve by adding LES into the mix?

It's something unique, it fills a marketing niche by having something that no one else currently offers. Hybrids with no green sunfish in the mix.

Zimmerman's fish has this description of the Ozark/MO LES.

"Very colorful sunfish but are rather aggressive so best kept in groups of 6 or more or as a single fish with a group of smaller active fish."

Is there a benefit to breeding some aggressive traits into RES? Redears do have the potential to get bigger than all other sunfish.

After looking at the other types of fish that they offer I am pretty sure these are likely BG x RES hybrids.

I know BG x PS (Pumpkingill) do not exhibit the PS red/orange spot on the flap. Do BG x RES exhibit the RES red spot on the flap?

Most of ours do, but some are easier to discern than others.

au contraire. I have a picture on my phone of a BGxPS caught in Lake Minocqua that has the red dot and no RES live in or anywhere near that BOW.

I am editing my post to not let the cat out of the bag for any proprietary information.

But, here is a thought. Think about what species of Sunfish are readily available in the South, and can be sold over most of the USA, or areas that Malone services.

Esshup,

Good catch. There I go making another absolute statement when it comes to fish. I should have said, "I know BG x PS (Pumpkingill) do not TYPICALLY exhibit the PS red/orange spot on the flap."

I have also seen pics of pumpkingills with a small orange spot or white edge on the on the flap.

esshup, do we know for sure that Malone's fish are a "X"/BG cross? You would think they would be willing to state that straight up on their web page or if one asked they would be willing to reply by private email to give that info out.

is it particularly hard to create BG/"X" hybrids? Why would they need to protect this 'trade secret' so vigorously?

CC, I will send you an answer on the first question.

You have to either physically "milk" males of one species and females of the other species, or be 110% sure of male/female of each species as you stock them into a pond.....

You know how hard it is to positively, 110% identify Male vs. Female Bluegills, so if I were to want to create a strain of fish to sell I would physically milk them to be 110% positive.

Whether a LES/RES hybrid has an advantage or not is an interesting question. I have only RES and LES in my pond and see some fish that appear to be hybrids (at least the few I have been able to catch last fall). I'll observe observe this year but I can't really say much to competitive spawning differences, aggressive nest guarding, eating habits etc as I can't really watch them. I never have seen either in the pond EVER by just walking the banks.

Imagine my surprise to know they are in my pond only when one shows up on a hook

The most aggressive lepomis hybrid that I am aware of is the HBG (BG x GSF). PS are aggressive but I have very little info on PS crosses. They do easily hybridize with other lepomis.Of the lepomis the only ones I know of with geographic limitations are RES and CNBG.