Hybrid Catfish Discussion thread.

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necrocanis said:
They reach market size of 18-22" in just a year. That's rtc growth lol. Blue catfish actually grow very slow in comparison to channel catfish. Same with flatheads. They get larger but grow slower. they have raised some to over 3' in just two years. They bred a strain of channel catfish for exceptional growth and illness resistance, and the same with the strain of blue catfish over a 20 year period. Those strains were then slectively bred for 6 generations to bring out desired traits for harvesting. Then they made the hybrid that is in production now. The strain of channel catfish they produced is also the most common one used, and is likely what is in the hobby mostly also. Hence the fast growth. My channel hit 18" in the first year. It is hard to tell how big one could get. Definitely weight wise would be safe to say over 100 lbs in rare instances. Blue catfish have been caught over 120 lbs, and channels have been caught over 50 lbs. If you go between you could safely say it might get to 80 lbs. The high growth rate doesn't mean it will eventually be larger than either adult. It just means superior growth to market size which is all they are worried about. :)
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How hard is it to get one of those hybrids?



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necrocanis said:
They reach market size of 18-22" in just a year. ................................... My channel hit 18" in the first year. .........................
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So did mine and I was very far from chasing a champion growth - they had to compete for their food and far from always had their fill, esp. from 4"-10" size.

Kind of makes it hard to understand what strain of channel catfish stock they used then:

necrocanis said:
Some notes on this hybrid is that it grows at a rate 2x faster than the strain of channel catfish stock used, and a rate of 3x faster than the blue catfish stock used. :) Grows to market size in less than a year......
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This means their channel stock grew to only ~10" the first year? Something may or may not be missing.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
So did mine and I was very far from chasing a champion growth - they had to compete for their food and far from always had their fill, esp. from 4"-10" size.

Kind of makes it hard to understand what strain of channel catfish stock they used then:



This means their channel stock grew to only ~10" the first year? Something may or may not be missing.
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Perhaps temperature should be taken into account. I'm assuming that yours were kept at warmer temps year round. Ones raised under aquaculture settings would likely be reared in outdoors ponds which would have a shorter growth season. That could explain the different growths rates.
 
ColeFishing said:
How hard is it to get one of those hybrids?



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You would have to know someone who produces the hybrids. I have contacted every hatchery in the USA that makes these hybrids and have never recieved an answer back from them. Maybe I should have told them that I wanted to stock a pond and sold what I didn't want on MFK lol. So unless you know someone who works at a catfish hatchery that produces this hybrid I am gonna say your chances of getting one is pretty much not gonna happen at all. I have yet to see any in the hobby in the USA or in other countries, and I do monitor hybrid catfish in various countries.

thebiggerthebetter said:
So did mine and I was very far from chasing a champion growth - they had to compete for their food and far from always had their fill, esp. from 4"-10" size.

Kind of makes it hard to understand what strain of channel catfish stock they used then:



This means their channel stock grew to only ~10" the first year? Something may or may not be missing.
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As stated below where I am typing the answer is definitely we were keeping ours at higher temps, thus creating a faster metabolism, or enhanced and prolonged growth season for our catfish. I kept mine at 82 F right along with all my large pims. He was crazy active and would spin around the top scooping up whatever food I threw in. He(she actually) had lots of competition for food, but was the most aggressive feeder in the tank. They used the same strain that is in our hobby. I can't remember right off hand........gonna go dig through my files on my computer!!!! I don't remember which document listed the strain, but one does out of the maybe 25 really long docs I have on this hybrid lol. Most well documented and studied hybrid of anything in the world probably. lol. Some studies suggest only a 20% increase over parental channels, while others as much as 2x parental growth. Blues grow so slow that it's not too amazing they outgrow them. Was interesting that some interspecies hybrids of the channel catfish performed almost as well as this hybrid, but were infertile. This hybrid is actually fertile.

pharmaecopia said:
Perhaps temperature should be taken into account. I'm assuming that yours were kept at warmer temps year round. Ones raised under aquaculture settings would likely be reared in outdoors ponds which would have a shorter growth season. That could explain the different growths rates.
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You hit the nail on the head. We can't really compare aquarium growth rates to aquaculture pond growth. Blues in ponds typically grow to less than 12" their first season, and may take 3 years to reach market size of 18-22". Channel catfish usually take 18-24 months to grow past 18"-22" in these ponds. While the hybrid is consistent with 18"+ within 260-340 days in most studies. Kind of makes me wonder what kind of growth that hybrid would have in an aquarium lol. Might stomp rtc, tsn, channels, rtc x tsn, ect. Seems crazy. This hybrid is nearly 40 years in the making and they are continually improving parental stock to make it grow faster and faster while getting increased resistance to illnesses. Has some big implications in other fields as well.
 
necrocanis said:
Blues in ponds typically grow to less than 12" their first season, and may take 3 years to reach market size of 18-22". Channel catfish usually take 18-24 months to grow past 18"-22" in these ponds.
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Thanks. Good to know factual material. I guess my prior impressions were wrong - I thought the channels reach the marketable size in 1 year in the southern states, where the vast majority of them is farmed. I'd say the temp of the ponds mine were kept in (mid-70-ies average year-round) is probably not too different from the average temp in the farm ponds.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
Thanks. Good to know factual material. I guess my prior impressions were wrong - I thought the channels reach the marketable size in 1 year in the southern states, where the vast majority of them is farmed. I'd say the temp of the ponds mine were kept in (mid-70-ies average year-round) is probably not too different from the average temp in the farm ponds.
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Could be. I'm assuming that based on the charts provided in the material it shows channels, hybrids, and blues grown in the same ponds. The hybrids reached market size in about 244 days, channels took over a year, and blues took nearly 2-3 years and had varying growth rates that make them unsuitable for marketability. they hybrid pretty much streamlines everything. With increased growth rate, and resistance to illness it's more cost effective also to raise the hybrids instead of channels which have numerous illnesses that only occur in channel catfish. The hybrid is pretty much immune to these illenesses. I am of course qouting most of this from memory from what I read the other day. I cannot find the website that listed the strains used in the most recent hybrid. It was a university that had signed on to supply 3 southern states. Hmmmm. I can send you what info I have if you pm me your email. Not sure how much you want to get into this lol. I guess I should cite the information and give excerpts instead of my interpretations.
 
Oh and if any of you hadn't guessed it the two hybrids that were chosen for production in South America is RTC Phractocephalus hemoliopeterus x Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum, and Leiarius marmoratus x psuedoplatystoma fasciatum. The Marble x TSN hybrid seems a strange choice given it's low dress out compared to other hybrids eg. (phractocephalus x Leiarius), but I think the key issue with RTC x marble is it's hardiness. I'd love to see what a RTC x Perruno would come out like, given that Perruno is more stocky than marmoratus, and has a more robust skeleton as well. I fear that well will never see perruno hybrids or perrunos in the hobby again. The last ones in the hobby were decades ago, and with the export ban it would be near impossible to get one.
 
Not now, but many thanks, Cliff. Good to know it is available when/if I am ready.

My knowledge is little. IDK any deseases that occur only in channels.

necrocanis said:
Oh and if any of you hadn't guessed it the two hybrids that were chosen for production in South America is RTC Phractocephalus hemoliopeterus x Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum, and Leiarius marmoratus x psuedoplatystoma fasciatum.
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It is nice to have one's thoughts confirmed.

necrocanis said:
The Marble x TSN hybrid seems a strange choice given it's low dress out compared to other hybrids eg. (phractocephalus x Leiarius), but I think the key issue with RTC x marble is it's hardiness.
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I don't understand what you say here. What's a low dress out? Also, is there a typo?

Do you know if taste is ever a significant factor?? Maybe Marble x TSN won based on taste?
 
necrocanis said:
Oh and if any of you hadn't guessed it the two hybrids that were chosen for production in South America is RTC Phractocephalus hemoliopeterus x Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum, and Leiarius marmoratus x psuedoplatystoma fasciatum. The Marble x TSN hybrid seems a strange choice given it's low dress out compared to other hybrids eg. (phractocephalus x Leiarius), but I think the key issue with RTC x marble is it's hardiness. I'd love to see what a RTC x Perruno would come out like, given that Perruno is more stocky than marmoratus, and has a more robust skeleton as well. I fear that well will never see perruno hybrids or perrunos in the hobby again. The last ones in the hobby were decades ago, and with the export ban it would be near impossible to get one.
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Mark at discus origins has perrunos for sale


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