Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Sea of Red(s)

As promised, here are some stocking photos from this morning. It looks warm out, but it was 40 something degrees, typical April cold snap. 10 lbs of Rosy Reds and 300 RES. The two pics of the crawdads are different ones, there were several in the mix. Black eye for the stock company I guess. Yes, I threw them in also. The RES were much bigger than the BG I got from the state last fall of the same supposed size (they, the BG, must have been close to fry size!). There was a mixture of sizes as well.
http://picasaweb.google.com/saroberts02/STOCKING41109?authkey=Gv1sRgCLC-gYvInMKSZA#

I almost forgot! The first two pics are of the "fry flowers" I put together a few days ago. 1/4" tubing, a coffee can (or 8)from work, and some quickcrete, cost me roughlt $42.00 for the whole shebang, think it will work? Probably need some more tubing, huh?

Nice pictures

What kind of tubing? Where did you get it? Looks like they are easy to make and easy to place in an existing pond. Especially in shallower water.

Hey Rob! It is commonly used to hook up ice makers from the back of the fridge to the water source.We use some at work for low psi actuated valves. I got it at LOWE'S, the whole roll (400' was $36) it is $0.09 per foot. I set them in clumps of four close to the base of a couple of logs set on the edge of a gravel bed I hope will be used for spawning. Water is now about knee deep, should be 4-5' or so one of these days.

Looks like you got some mosquitofish(gambusia) mixed into your rosy reds as well... I am curious what the other larger fish you mentioned in your other post were? I like the "fry flowers" also...

Strizzo

I like your fry flowers - a lot! I have never seen that many rosies...very cool!

So how are your fish populations looking now? What species and qty?

PS: Pond looks great!

Strizzo, those fry flowers are a great idea, I wish they grew up here,

Strizzo, great idea on the fry flowers.

Thanks guys, simple idea really, if you try to make some, it works better if all the hoses are tied together at the base. If you try individually sticking them in, they tend to float back out before the concrete cures. One and two foot lenghts if you care. Hindsight says I should have made and umbrella type thing (securing several different lenghts in one trunk, to give it some heighth).

TJ, I now have: 1200 initially stocked BG, 300 RES, 150 initially stocked CC, 50 lbs initially stocked FHM, and the 10 lbs RRM, soon to be 360 LMB, 4 know crawfish. That is if there weren't some oddball undesirables in the mix. What do you think?

Sounds great...I would not worry about the crayfish and if a carp or goldfish was included your LMB or CC could take care of it.

I know the Forum might react in an extreme manner when they hear of stray fish when in the long haul might not make any impact whatsoever - but it's because we've all either had it happen to us or seen fisheries altered/harmed/destroyed by intentional or inadvertant stocking of invasive/undesirable fish - and we care about everyone else's watersheds as though they're our own [at least I do].

I like Greg Grimes statement he has NEVER put ONE fish into a watershed what was not intended. Then you look at my experience and yours where there were some issues. I have to be honest I don't know what a realistic standard is for a hatchery - especially when you are talking high qtys of small fish...it's very easy to miss something at that size and that dense qty.

Bottom line for me is - you and I probably deserved better service for the money we paid - ie: only the fish we ordered.

However, we are probably both fine in the long run...it's just the principle.

TJ, couldn't have said it better...

That is well stated TJ. I'm not sure how you came to choose the people you delt with, but for me, I went with the area availability. I don't know if hatcheries have territories our specific routes or districts, but these people service this area and unless you want to deal with shipping (and that, I believe would be a whole new factor of worries and issues), or drive to a specific place, everywhere I checked used the same people(fish days at four different local, within 50 miles, feed stores all had deliveries from these folks). Maybe my expectations should be a little higher. I hope, that in the long run, things will work out, but it may be years before I know for sure. Thanks.

Just to let you know it is difficult for me to make it profitable and convenient to customers far away BUT I have land in Princeton in Western Ky and have on many occasions detoured off I 24 in TN and KY and brought clients fish or fertilizer or whatever. If this interest you let me know. I will do what I can to helpout. You are probably just fine btw with your experience. Many worse on dealing with fish trucks than yours.

Strizzo - given the opportunity I would encourage you to try and work with Greg in the future. I checked his pricing on his website [which is very well done] and the pricing beat the dang fish trucks pricing! You're far closer than I am at least...good luck. His standards are also pretty high...from what I understand he not only never stocks a fish that's not ordered, but also gives every fish a thorough physical and psychological exam!

Depending on the situation it is better to stock correctly the first time rather than to try later to fix the mistake. It pays to learn about the hatcheries and choices. Check out their reputation and go look at some of their fish.

While not applicable every time ,one approach I sometimes use is to have a Fisheries Scientist like Greg , Todd , Bob or Shawn find the fish . Just tell them well in advance what you are trying to accomplish. They have lots of sources and can find what you need. They can team-up and work together to find just the right fish.

So if you get 150 lbs. of Golden Shiners, or 150 lbs. of fatheads, do you hand sort that? I think not.

Dealing with the supply of live things has to have flexibility.

If you are buying a few pounds or gallons, then I think you can hand sort if you like.

But as far as the expectation that you didn't get your money's worth if you ordered a few thousand fatheads and got a rogue sunfish in there, I can't buy into that. Actually, nobody 'bought' into it. Not enough money was paid to have the kind of guarantee, in my opinion.

I do understand the desire to do everything you can to get exactly what you want. I also understand the importance of this when running very, very goal-specific projects such as maximizing bluegill or YP growth as members do. But I also think those are done in smaller ponds where you might only order a few pounds of a species. Then you can hand-sort. But for a fish vendor to have to certify that his fish are 100% what you bought for say $10 a pound, I don't see the validity of assumption.

I agree with what you say Sunil. Most pond owner's goals are not so specific and if a rogue bluegill or green sunfish is part of the mix with some fatheads, the world will not come to an end. In the case of your pond where it is very diverse, there wouldn't be any issue at all. A large pond with many species already isn't going to affected by 1 or 10 extra bluegill being added.

Some fish guys maybe that strict and strive to only deliver what is ordered, but at $8.00 per pound or even $10.00 per pound, I don't think you can honestly expect no mistakes. Contamination is going to occur. You have to know that going into it. If you have specific goals, you have to know this and be willing to take the extra step of hand sorting. Otherwise, a few strays isn't a deal breaker particularly if they are not carp! HAHA I think that is why if you have very specific goals for your pond, being able to identify different fish is important. Otherwise, dump em in, and enjoy...

Greg, NOW YOU TELL ME! I have checked out your site, very nice. I do believe you can take pride in knowing that you are upholding a quality of business that may be unmatched, congrats, you are the upper crust.

As for the rest of the comments, as long as there are no invasive species, I can (and will now have to), deal with an oddball fish. Lesson learned, There is no telling what got dumped in there with the first 50 lbs FHM order from these folks. Thanks for the comments, I wish I had found this site earlier!