hybrid sunfishes

I am working with several hybrid sunfishes trying to make a sterile critter that will not hybridize further if it gets loose.

I have the following (Group 1) covered;
green x bluegill
green x redear
green x warmouth
green x redspotted
green x central longear.

I have generated the following (Group 2) but have very limited experience with;
redear x pumpkinseed
redear x green
redear x warmouth
pumpkinseed x green
pumpkinseed x warmouth
pumpkinseed x redear
pumpkinseed x bluegill
pumpkinseed x central longear
pumpkinseed x redspotted

Anyone played around with such hybrids (Group 2) purposely or otherwise? Folks playing around with small numbers of fishes in confinement often produce hybrids that do not normally occur. I am looking for images as well. I will have some soon but as you can see I do not have all directions for crosses covered.

So, are you just curious what will happen or are you trying to make a super hybrid that can't make babies? Also, about your fliers post a while ago, they are sort of like shadow bass in that they are sort of rare over much of their range, but like crappie in how they feed and spawn. I only know a little about each of your topics, but I figured no one else posted because they weren't sure of what you were asking and had no real fisrthand expierience with these topics, kind of like the trout posts I made. No offense to anybody, but it is reasonable: Native fish enthusiasts are rare already, and fliers and trout aren't very commonly kept fish.

So, are you just curious what will happen or are you trying to make a super hybrid that can't make babies? Also, about your fliers post a while ago, they are sort of like shadow bass in that they are sort of rare over much of their range, but like crappie in how they feed and spawn. I only know a little about each of your topics, but I figured no one else posted because they weren't sure of what you were asking and had no real fisrthand expierience with these topics, kind of like the trout posts I made. No offense to anybody, but it is reasonable: Native fish enthusiasts are rare already, and fliers and trout aren't very commonly kept fish.

Want a critter that is dead sterile. The end product is likely in fact to be a trihybrid. The F1 hybrid needs to be fertile and willing to cross with another to yeild the desired production population. Trying to replicate what occurs in several naturally occuring hybrids of some mole salamanders and some fishes of Asia.


I have observed flier nest earlier than with white / black crappie. Appearance of larvae in ponds supports. Once I found several nest under a bridge on gravel in less than 12 inches water. All areas I though contained nest appeared to be under structure. Ozark bass also nest under rocks sometimes. I can spot ripe adult fliers based on appearance and even had a pond reared male dig but to date I have not gotten them to spawn in tanks. Have done so with both crappies so flier appear to be a real challenge. Some fishes fobscure, like fliers but where they occur they appear to be dirt common, just hard to catch because they associate so strongly with structure.

Your best luck would be to get a green sunfish x warmouth females, then try and spawn those to northern longear x pumpkinseed males. I heard that these have been made in the lab. Good luck!

Your best luck would be to get a green sunfish x warmouth females, then try and spawn those to northern longear x pumpkinseed males. I heard that these have been made in the lab. Good luck!

I made green sunfish x warmouth females several years back. Sex ratio 1:1 with both sexes effectively sterile and do not get big enough. As literature suggest they do readily consume bullfrog tadpoles. I have northern longear but they plus pumpkinseed just means small pretty fish. Pumpkinseed x central longear I already have certain to get larger but they already falling behind all other pumpkinseed hybrids excepting pumpkinseed x redspotted I have now. All of same cohort under same conditions enables that comparison. Criiter must have redear, bluegill or rebreast (likely more than one) to get size desired.

If the sterile fish were injected with hormones they could breed. My friend got his blood parrot cichlids to spawn by buying a fertile male they 'make' now.

If the sterile fish were injected with hormones they could breed. My friend got his blood parrot cichlids to spawn by buying a fertile male they 'make' now.

Males:
We can get sterile males to invest in breeding (nest-court-even rear broods we put in his nest) with varied amounts of effort (depending on hybrid and individual). Semen volume low and sometimes appears bluish (lean). Males we consider sterile might get ten or so larvae to swimmup out of 20,000 eggs fertilized. Dead sterile means no hatch. Sometimes fun using males like bantam chicken hens to foster broods of others. That capacity is not compromised.

Females:
Hormone induction generally not neccessary if properly conditioned and fertile. Sterile females will not condition regardless and ovaries tend to appear irregular in shape.

Even in our "sterile" broods we have occasional fertile individuals and they are usually female.

Use of hormone induction in the end is not practical. We want to be able to take hybrid male or female and place in pond with bluegill or redear of opposite sex and get reliable / uniform fry production. My bets are on the hybrid needing to be female. They tend to be more consitently fertile than their brothers.