Hey Waterrancher,

Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t saying that I agreed with the drug induced hybridnization of Tilapia, only that it was going on and did present some interesting strains which were able to produce more weight in less time. I’m talking about cross breeding not drugs. If it were not for cross breeding, we would not have the large selection of live stock and poultry that we have today, but I draw the line at drugs.

Yellow Perch may be able to produce 25 to 35,000 eggs per year, but do you have the facilities to breed them and even if only half of them hatch, do you have the facilities to house 12,500 to 17,500 YP? The advantage of the Tilapia, though the egg production depends on the size of the female, it can actually be anywhere from 100 to 1,500 per spawning. See this link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=E_eu9E ... _JKKjSGxGA

This can allow a person to breed and cross breed their own stock without having to buy the fingerlings from anyone and if controlled properly, he can produce the fry when needed so as to have a continual flow of fingerlings when needed to be able to restock as many tank/ponds as desired.

Nothing says that a persons has to induce spawning of a single pair of Tilapia to 10 times per year, however the fact that spawning can be induced more or less at will, then with the right number of trios (one male, two females) a person could insure they have the fry they need when they want them.

Just another point of view.