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Here is a discussion about the use of RES to create RES X BG hybrids and a discussion of the update from PB Forum member and moderator 'Theo Gallus' about the progress of the RES x BG hybrids in his pond.

Quote from ‘japsdad’ - One of the more brilliant ways BG have been used in one of these fisheries is how Theo used them. He carefully stocked only adult males (with mixed RES). Aside from the benefit of having some really good fast growing BG in the early going ... he continues to enjoy their legacy. Thanks to the promiscuity of his RES girls, there have been numerous hybrids whose hybrid vigor and Theo's selection has propelled them to prominence in his fishery.


Theo Gallus- Slightly larger than desirable numbers of BGxRES are hatched each year - total hybrid numbers seem to stay about the same given SMB predation, (assumed) YP predation (they are supposed to consume small sunfish in cold water, eh?), and the fact that I remove about 400 BGxRES by angling every year (about 1/2 for eating).

Some of the YP eat pellets. I believe I get successful YP recruitment every year based on small YP being regularly caught. According to my records I have caught some 12" YP each of the last 8 years; the maximum length caught so far is 13" (so perhaps that is about the peak size being produced).

You may remember this was supposed to be a SMB/RES/LMB pond with a few trophy male-only BG. The sunfish had other plans, but having been given lemonade (lots of hybrids), I make a lot of lemonade (sunfish fillets) with it.

teehjaeh57 -- Please relate what you've learned from F2/F3/F4 BRES generations....I've always wondered how offspring fare - outbreeding depression? Hybrid vigor? Do they tend to revert to BG or RES genetics? We know HBG revert to GSF per Eric and Cody, but no one has intel on BRES.

Theo Gallus - Hybrid Fx's are a varied and interesting lot. Every year I catch sunfish in this pond which look just like RES (which they could potentially be) and ones that look just like BG (which there is no way they can be, since 1) they are usually smaller than any male BG I put in the pond and 2) those original BG went in over 10 years ago, at 8"+ in size - they should all be dead). Most are of course somewhere in between, with lots of different mixes of traits. The gene mixes with traits that work seem to do very well (I mostly see the ones that love eating pellets). The mixes that don't work well ... get et by predators or just die. The Fx population numbers have been plenty numerous now for (if the first F1s spawned at 2 years of age) 8 years.

Personally, I don't believe hybrids can revert to either parent species (given the nearly infinitesimal odds of the exact precise chromosome recombination that would be necessary), but they can certainly occur as virtually one of the original specie.

B.Cody - Great update about your BGXRES experiment. Thanks for those details!
There is a local pond near me that the same hybrid development occurred. A few large male BG were added to an existing RES-SMB-YP pond and those horny male BG could not resist those sexy RES females and they reproduced. So far the Fx generations have not over powered the SMB predation ability. I should get over there and catch some of those Fx hybrids to see what the variation of expressed features are showing.

Teehjaeh57 - So...you haven't noticed that BRES F1 etc. skew towards one parental genetics - it's a mixed bag, is that accurate?

B.Cody - Experience from GSFXBG Fx's strongly suggest that a body features expression towards one to the parents would occur. One of the parents should have dominant genetics similar to black hair in humans and strong features of GSF. Why would this tendency not also be present in RESxBG Fx+ hybrids? Theo how many generations of BGRES do you now have?

Theo -I'm guessing 4-5 generations now. Appearance is a mix of types. If there is a dominant form (at least among the pellet eaters I concentrate on 95% of the time), it has a body shape closer to BG, a mouth intermediate in size, a (smaller than BG) black area on the rear dorsal fin like BGs, and visible scales on the gill cover (which I have never seen on either BG or RES).