Good hatcheries (that first produced F-1s) are run by fisheries biologists and they through years of selection for good traits in both Flas and Northerns have accounted for this issue. They are well aware of the issue and constantly select from their stock to produce the best product. That is why your source for fish is important.

I would be interested in any info from someone who has experienced outbreeding depression in a pond stocked only with quality F-1s. There have been many thousands of such stockings and no suggestion of a problem to my knowledge. There is significant selection inside the pond and millions of different possible genetic combinations upon which evolution works.

Bob Lusk
Editor, Pond Boss Magazine
Lunker

Joined: Apr 2002
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Whitesboro, Texas
F1 bass cannot have true F1 offspring. They can have F2 offspring or Fx (unknown) offspring. They cannot breed back to the genetics of the original parents, either. They can only provide the genetics they have, which is a mix of both parents.

Fish genetics is much more complicated than others, for several reasons. With deer, you have a known buck, known doe, one to three offspring...and they don't eat each other. You can provide the best habitat, great food, etc, and see the results in a couple of years.

With bass, a female may have 30,000 eggs, which might hatch, some might not. Then, of those which hatch, only a percentage has the right genetic mix of good growth, aggressive nature...whatever they need. If some percentage of those fish survive long enough, you can grow big fish. But, under water, it's a 'fish eat fish' world. We can't control survival rates or judge the fish as they grow so we can protect the best of the best youngsters before they get eaten. So, it becomes an environmental situation with luck.

Last edited by ewest; 01/13/21 02:21 PM.