Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Arkansas Pondstocker genetics

Hello all,

I am trying to get my food chain set up, and I have placed 30 lbs of fatheads over the past month. Next week Arkansas pondstockers and/or Farleys Pondstockers will be at my local pickup spot.

My question is has anyone bought copper-nose bluegill from them?

Bob told me to be careful when choosing bluegill as the genetics are very important. any ideas?

thanks

Dustin

Personally, I didn't get what I ordered (quantity wise) when I bought fish from the AP fish truck.

My advice, based on personal experience with Ye Olde Fish Truck, is to avoid it. Call Bob Lusk, since you're in Texas, or Todd Overton. I STRONGLY recommend reconsidering...your dream fishery is not worth the convenience of the fish truck and risking introduction of unwanted species. In my FHM order from APS I found at least a dozen BG and plenty of BH, too. At least two BH made it into my pond, and I'll never forgive them, or myself, for missing them.

Take the very wise advice of teejah!
I made the mistake of buying from a fish day sale. All I can say is don't take a shortcut at this point. Buy from someone HIGHLY recommended in your area by the folks on this forum. I have white crappie that have now shown up. Also HBG, and green sunfish. NOT what I ordered.

If you want quality fish, know your supplier or trust the advice of PB forum members that know their suppliers.

I am a strong believer of good genetics and know of only two Texas hatcheries that provide pure Florida CNBG and LMB genetics - others purchase fish from hatcheries they trust to supply their customeres.
I would never buy fish from a fish truck.

Dustin...where will they be next week?

I have bought CNBG from APS and they all seemed ok. You can look them over fairly good before putting them in your pond. Now with that being said I have never bought 10 pounds of FHM's from them which would be a LOT harder to see what you have and don't have. It is a bit more of a chance you may get a few unwanted fish so take extra care in looking them over before you put them in your pond. Of course if you can the best way to to go to a good fishery and get your fish. I know some folks are limtied as to what they can and cannot do though. I have used them twice for CNBG and RES and I had no problems with those particular fish.

Good Luck,

More than half of the RES I picked up from Arkansas Pondstockers a few weeks ago were actually GSF or HBG. So it's buyer beware, I would take a hard look at each fish before putting them into your pond if you go that route, I'm glad I did.

Well see there you have it. I had no problems but the next guy did. That's what you get from a truck?? So like shorty and I already talked about beware of the fish your getting and check them over if you have to go that route.

Not only is this a grand example of what can happen when sourcing fish from a less than reputable source, but to top it off those fish don't look as though they've eaten in 6 months [pinch belly - bulging eyes]. Didn't the top two fish end up as morts shortly thereafter, too? Talk about salt in the wound...

I want to say it's hard to go wrong with FHM sourcing, but I tried hand sorting 10# of them from APS, was extremely careful, and STILL ended up stocking enough BH to establish a population of them in my pond - and they'll never be extirpated.

I now source all my forage from a hatchery that completely drains his reproduction cells every winter and there has been, to date, 0% contamination of other species. When it comes to stocking, one must insist on 100% every time. I learned that lesson early on...still too late, though.

Call Bob. Call Todd. Call George - call any Texas pond management company in the resource guide...anything but the dreaded trip to Ye Olde Fish Truck unless you don't mind having some hitchhikers in your order.

After my exchange and resorting of fish, the 22 RES I weren't sure were BG or RES stayed put in my small aquaculture tank, all but two them have went belly up. I only ordered 50 RES.

When did you get the fish, you may be entitled to some more. Assuming you even want them. I had some of my fish die from the truck I got them from and later was given more fish. Plus on top of it I could have got any fish I wanted as they just had the number that died but not the type. I think I just got all RES for my replacements.

I want to get some larger RES to stock, but then I will not be able to determine if the ones I stocked have grown that much or if it is one I just stock.

To me it's kind of like 7/11. It's all about convenience. Sure you may not get the best quality milk, the best priced milk, the most selection of milk at 7/11. But in some circumstances the convenience just makes it too easy.

It does make sense to do you annual or bi-annual stockings from the big established well respected hatcheries, but for me if a fish truck is at the feed store 10 minutes from my front gate it's not some major, major risk to add a few fish to your existing ponds from the fish truck.

zep,

Dunns says they will be here SPUR/roaring springs, Paducah and childress on May 5th


I dont know arkansas stop schedule, but they will be in childress May 2.



I appreciate all the comments. I have talked with Bob, and he will help me get pure genetics for my CNBG and bass. It is convenient, but i will wait.

I did buy 20 lbs of fathead minnows and placed them last month. I looked at them, but didnt hand pick through them. I might already have some hitch-hikers.


Thanks for the help

Dustin

It's simply not worth it, it won't be worth the time to hassle with it. I already went back the same morning before the truck left and took all of the GSF back and exchanged them for RES. I have a local fish guy just 8 miles from house, TJ is good friends with him so I will go that route and get larger fish that I can tell are actually what I want.

Zep, you have a point - it's all about what's important to the consumer. Obviously APS would not be in business if there weren't pond managers who valued convenience. If one understands the risk of introducing unwanted species and is ok with it, why not?

Dustin I think you'll be much happier down the road working with Bob. He will stick behind his word and your fishery will be better with his involvement.

Here's a tip: See if you can convince him to visit your pond to stock...then you can walk around and get some free pond management advice. He's a softy like that, and can't resist the urge to talk all things pondy!

Dustin I wish I would have had this warning before i used aps last year. (I probably did but did not heed) I was supposed to get 100 res and 5 lbs of fhm and I ended up with bg, hbg, and 0 res. One of my biggest issues was that the hbg tore up my fhm population I was trying to establish in my new pond. I finally got a lot caught out but definetely not all and I had to restock fhm four times just to get them to the numbers they needed to be to start stocking my pond with predators this year. So in the long run I now have fish I did not want and it cost me more money than it should have....Heed the advise youll be money and time ahead in the long run

Thanks Dustin...I was not aware you are up towards the Panhandle. I'm over near Dallas. One thing I don't like about the fish trucks is you basically never know who and where they're going to be. They don't post schedules on their websites. You call these feed stores and they're like "ummm not sure when their gonna be here...lemme go check....uh no they wont be here til a week from Wed". So my point is if I know they are gonna be there on a Sat @ 9AM and it's 10 mins from my gate....I will go buy some fish...otherwise I use a respected hatchery that delivers.

RC51, it was relatively easy sorting 10# of FHM from the fish truck. - I only got 8# but paid for 10#.........

I have to say we have one in southern IN. Andrys fish farm they do post where they will be. And seem to have nice quality fish too.

+

Yeah I can see that kind of stuff going on anywhere from a truck if your not careful or unless you got a great guy like Rainman helping you out!! That's why I did not get minnows from them. It was'nt to hard looking at 75 CNBG and 50 RES and mine all looked pretty good at the time. Maybe for once I just got lucky!!! From now on though all my stuff gets bought at the fisheries in spring or fall. I have to nice ones here not to far away from me. Hopper Stevens and Keo's fish farm have been pretty good to me!!

Frozengator...good for you. Heck it makes sense. To me it's an absolute no-brainer that they should post their schedules for the current week so people can make plans. A fair amount of their potential customer base never even know they were close-by. It really wouldn't take much tech savy to have a current weekly schedule on their website. Around where I am even the feed stores usually don't post it on their websites either. Maybe they never know when they are going to run out of fish and are afraid to post a schedule? Or maybe marketing is just not their forte.

Maybe I should throw out a plug for Andry's also. I have got fish, (Of various species), off their truck and had good luck. And their schedule is always posted on their website.

Another note for fellow Hoosiers: My HSB came from Clear Creek Fisheries, in Martinsville, IN. Well pleased with those fish also.

Last month I was planning on purchasing some FHM and RES from APS in Quitman, TX. They ran out of fish and even a few folks who had ordered in advance left without the fish they had wanted. There was a gentleman there that had a few small dead fish that he wanted identified by APS. He thought they were shad - The APS guy didn't know what they were. I told him they were red tailed shiners. The man said that his pond was teeming with them and that he only ever bought fish from APS so they must have been hidden in what he bought. I suggested he add LMB to his pond. I planned on carefully sorting the RES if I purchased them - but they were out of everything except FHM. I bought 5 lbs and they said they gave me 8. I believe they did. I carefully sorted the fish in buckets and did not find anything but FHM. My initial stockings came from recommended Pond Boss hatcheries in Texas - but when the fish truck is only 3 miles away sometimes convenience gets figured into the logic. Just be willing to sort!