I agree that hybrids can cause a lot of problems. In certain situations, mainly very small ponds where catfish are also desired, they can be a good choice. But most of the time when I encounter a pond that's more than three or four years old and has hybrids, they're well into outbreeding depression, to the point that they average about two inches - not pretty.

The hand-painteds I'll be raising are pure-strain, just as coppernose (which we'll also have) from the best hatcheries are pure-strain. Priority one will be maintaining the genetic integrity of our fish - even the location of the individual ponds is being done with this in mind.