Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Magnolia Crappie -Hybrid Crappie

I haven't witnessed any reproduction, but I'm also not seining. I ran traps for a few weeks and found nothing, but wasn't expecting to trap any crappie in traps baited with AM pellets.

Since I have to live with them, it's nice to see they're apparently taking to my YOY BG and GSH fairly well. Also caught a WE [one of 3 14" fish stocked] earlier in the year at 19" and well over 100 WR. No clue I'd ever catch one of them ever again, or if they'd grow much. Seems they too have figured out a way to make a living on GSH and BG.

Man, it sounds like your pond is really taking off, TJ!

Just back from catching BG around the dock and hooked up with a 12 and 10.5 HBC - these are escapees from the experimental pond. I fished the experimental pond to compare sizes - average from exp pond were 7-8" and very low WR. I moved 10 to the main pond, on purpose, as I couldn't stand the sight of those pinch bellies heading into winter.

They must like golden shiners.

Have you found any GSH in your traps? Could move some to help out the micro?

My micro is full of GSH - and I believe they pulled a spawn, so I'm perplexed as they should have had plenty of YOY GSH to hammer. If that's the case, then why is the HBC growth so poor? I think it may be the YOY BG that's responsible for the significant growth in the main pond....or my newfound Bullhead population. Yes, I said Bullhead.

I don't know TJ....I have 1 of the 4 HBC left from the ones I delivered to you that I had put in an aquarium...it is 8", never eats pellets and gets to feast on feeder goldfish once every week or two. I'm guessing it is an available forsge issue in the experimental pond.

Bullheads?! Dammit! Where are you with the single sex LMB idea?

Male LMB stocking plan has to take effect this Spring, esp considering my new species. I know where they came from - Ark Pond Stockers Fish Truck FHM order three years ago. I hand sorted 10 lbs and found a half dozen bullheads and promptly dispatched them. Guess I missed two...you can imagine my reaction this Summer upon discovery. So, male LMB it is this Spring. I keep putting it off as I fear the impact they'll make on the entire fishery, but I think it's finally time to roll the dice.

We have bullheads in every pond here but CC and LMB seem to keep the bullhead numbers way down. That's a shame to ruin your pond ....

Thanks JL, I hope the fishery will manage to improve and not be in too bad of shape. It carries a very high predator load I doubt many YOY BH will survive and mature. My plan to stock M LMB this Spring will help, too as BH are high on their list of favorite forage items. Hope it's not just wishful thinking. Good news is I have yet to CATCH a BH, only found a few in my minnow traps...so they aren't too populated yet.

Great looking crappie TJ, I haven't caught crappie since I lived in Virginia years ago, great eating.

On the bright side bullheads are real tasty.

Thought you might be interested in seeing a HBC's defining characteristic. 75% of my HBC have this black stripe, the others look like either straight WC or BC. I sure hope I don't have either, as that would destroy my strategy to reach my goals. I don't think there's enough available research on these fish to safely ascertain what I really have swimming in my ponds. Hopefully they are all truly Hybrids and they won't pose an overpopulation/stunting problem.

That second pic is so cool, showing off that stripe.

Take a look at this info and let me know if you have real Magnolia Crappie and if so where did they come from.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/mar/06/pond-perfect-crappie/?partner=RSS

Eric/all;

This thread has been going on a couple years now...allow me to clarify. As stated in a few other posts while I WANTED true Triploid "Magnolia" crappie, I could not find any commercial sources. About that time Rex turned me onto another option, although he admittedly had no experience with them, nor did anyone else on the Forum, but I decided to experiment and keep them isolated in a mini pond where they could do little damage. These fish are merely a BC/WC hybrid - their supposed benefit is that the F2 generation are inferior and theorhetically would not mature into adults in the manner regular offspring from a WC or BC would; thus eliminating the threat of overpopulation. These have been swimming since October 09 stocked at 3-4", and the fish in the mini pond have not exhibited any signs of reproduction but their growth has been very limited, too - average size of 7-8" and very low WR. I have the pond stocked with PK Shrimp and GSH, but it's entirely possible the forage base is not sufficient to allow ideal growth conditions.

The escapees in the main pond, however, are averaging 10-12" and solid WR of 100 or a little better in my estimation. The BOW is 15x larger, and forage includes YOY YP, BG, RES, SMB and GSH. I'm guessing the increased growth is due to the improved forage base.

I realize this thread started with my intentions of sourcing true Triploid "Magnolia" crappie so sorry for any of you who haven't read from start to finish to read the chain of stocking events.

Will keep everyone clued into my experiences with these and hopefully will lend some research into whether these hybrid bc/wc fish can serve a purpose in a small bow fishery.

A panfish with a racing stripe. Gotta' love that. Now if they only had a "shaker" hood.....

Or a bumblebee stripe right in front of their tail!

Moved 46 HBC last week from the experimental pond over three days of fishing for 30 min or so each day with a 1/64 oz jighead and chartreuse GULP minnow head. The third day I only managed to catch 4 - so I'm thinking I've removed all but around 10-20%. I will head back with minnows and a slip bobber maybe this weekend. All fish were similar - 7-8" with very low WR. I don't know the total population in the main pond now as I'll never know how many made the migration last year, but I'd have to reckon around 75-100 by now. The abundant forage in the main lake should provide prime growing conditions - I'll keep my eyes peeled for evidence of a spawn and will keep you apprised of their growth rates as they are caught.

I sure wish I would have waited and added these to my pond. I am still trying to get my dad to add some to a pond we fish, I figure 50-100 of them would not hurt, and with all the LMB in the pond already I doubt much if any spawn would even make it.

My thought is if you remove the spawn areas for Crappie (any type), do you think they would still find a way to make it work, or would this fix the problem of over population.

I have been thinking of the fish we caught years ago and most were all the same size 11-13 inches and healthy, but one day we just could not catch them any more, and we never noticed any small ones, so either the LMB kept them in check, or maybe they never could really pull off a spawn.

I guess I will never really know, but sure makes one think.

I don't recommend anyone adding HBC to their fishery until more research has been performed. I think we're still years away from reliable information on their role in a fishery.

If you can get Magnolia crappie - triploids - that's a different story. I still haven't found these available to anyone but DNRs.

TJ,

Just to be clear I was not taking it as you recommending this to anyone I would be doing this on my own with the unknown risks of doing so.

I was just stating the facts that I wish I would have known about these and used them instead of BC, as if you are taking the risk anyway at least with the HBC they claim to have smaller spawns of inferior fish.

By the way the pics of the fish with the stripe are cool.

So please keep us posted on your experience and if I ever decide to put these in a different pond, I may post mine here as well.

Great, I just want to be clear I am not endorsing their role in a fishery. If you experiment with them the forum community would benefit from your results.

They must have use blacknose black crappies as the parental cross with the white crappies with some having the stripe.

Very expensive to do. They're a cross between a female white crappie and a male "blackstriped" black crappie. The blackstriped crappie, which is native to the White River basin in Arkansas, has a dark stripe from its dorsal fin all the way down the top of its head and mouth to its throat.


"The offspring -- the triploid crappie that won't reproduce -- retain that black stripe, and that's a good thing for us," Wilkens said. "It just makes it really easy for us to monitor their population after stocking. We can tell the difference really easily."

When female crappie begin forming eggs at the hatchery, officials harvest them into a small plastic bowl by gently squeezing the abdomen of the female. A substance called "milt" is then obtained from the male, activated with a small amount of water and quickly poured over the eggs.

Here is why this works:
Fertilized eggs are then pressure-shocked to induce a state known as "triploidy," which causes sterility. Triploid fish have three sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two sets possessed by fertile diploid fish. "You get a couple of great benefits from the triploid crappie," Wilkens said. "First, obviously, they won't overpopulate small fisheries. But also, because these magnolia crappie don't reproduce, they may put more energy into growth and may grow larger than a normal fish in a similar environment.