Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Ye old fish truck strikes again

I will not put the name out in public, but as has been said many times before on this forum, buyer beware of traveling fish trucks.

I'll say one good thing about them. They make the reputable guys look really good and the good guys slightly higher prices seem cheap. Most of my initial fish came from Wallace Fish Farms and the difference between Wallace and the fish truck is night and day. Very satisfied with Wallace. Fish truck?.............well read on.

Can't say I was not warned..... by numerous people. Why did I do it? Sign up in local dealer, they were going to be here in a few days.......hey convinient, good timing. Give them a try.

Here is the story. Wanted to grow out some RES in my new micro forage pond (about half of a tenth of an acre, 7.5' deep)
Thread on new forage pond

Ordered 200 RES and was going to put 50 to grow out in this mini pond. As they got bigger would transfer most to large pond or old refurbished pond. Some for son's pond, some for daughters pond, and 100 to go in our old refurbished pond.

Bought 3-4" RES. Had ordered them several days before. One he pulled out of the tank and showed me looked good. Noticed quite a few smallish looking fish in the 4 bags I was handed, but took them home.

Had rubbermaid tubs set up to sort, along with a small aeration pump. A few fish in bad shape, but not more than I would have expected coming off a truck that had been out almost a week.

About half the fish met the 3-4" measurement, the rest were in the 2-3". I did not count all the fish so not sure if they gave me "extra". Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.

Sorted out about 50 FHM's with maybe a few other species minnow. Picture below. If I paid for RES and got these in the count, they were expensive FHM's. Wish I would have done a total count. Maybe they were freebies, but I kind of doubt it.

One 4" LMB. That would have worked well in a forage pond..........Not!

A BUNCH of hybrids with GSF cross. Had the telltale green bars below the eye and larger mouth. Some looked like they had CNB and some GSF/RES. The larger fish I at least was able to tell. The small fish, who knows? I'm not good enough at identifying fish to tell what they were. The larger ones I was able to determine the ones that were NOT pure RES because of the obvious markings otherwise. Since the pedigree was so bad on the larger fish, I sure was not going to trust the small fish to be correct.

So wife and I picked out the best of the best that I was comfortable they were actually RES, and not some hybrid, and put them in the forage pond to grow out (FHM's are the only other fish in this pond).

The rest I put in my old pond that I know to be contaminated with GSF, and some in son's and some in daughters ponds which both have some GSF. So I utilized the rest of the fish.

But the point is, as has been stated many times on this forum, don't trust what comes off the traveling fish truck to be what you paid for. If it is important to you, check each and every fish. In the old refurbished ponds it was not so important. In my new forage pond or my main pond, it is. What it looks like I got was "pond run" out of a pond that breeder RES were in, so it was assumed what came out was RES. I guess. You would think the guy counting them could identify 50 FHM's in an order of 200 RES. Maybe not.

I wonder how many people just dump the bags in the pond and assume they got what they paid for? I definitely did not get all RES in my order. Buyer beware.

I wrote an email explaining my displeasure. I did not ask for any money back, just expressed my disappointment. I'll see if they have anything to say for themselves or offer any satisfaction adjustment.

The only other fish we have bought off a fish truck is a couple of grass carp from a different company last year. My wife picked them up, and she was not at all impressed with this fish truck either.

Been there done that, sort your fish and be very careful of what you put in your pond. Here is a sample of the 50 RES I got off ye old fish truck several years ago. Anything questionable never made into my pond.

Thanks for the report. Very good advice to hand sort and positively ID every fish.

I guess in a business that deals in volume and somewhat fragile merchandise, if there would have been two or three FHM or maybe two or three hybrids in the 200 I could understand that. It has to be a tough business, going through all the fish they do.

But that many "mistakes"? Sheesk.

I'm sure its a time consuming job to ID every fish. But they are selling certain specific fish. Not 'whatever fish'.

You can see pics of hatcheries and its pond after pond right next to each other. All they have to do is keep one particular fish in each pond.

Fish and minnows always seem to somehow find their way into ponds or lakes that they were not stocked.

If you don't get satisfaction and it's blatant incompetence or they just don't care, don't feel hesitant to post their name on the website. We don't want anyone else to get ripped off either. I've reported a bad dealing with a fish farm and so have others.

If they run a business like this they deserve to get bad feedback.

I made a deliberate effort to purchase fish off the fish truck rather than the hatchery, last year. No unwanted hitchhikers at all. Course' I was purchasing HBG in the first place, so my idea of a trash fish would've been a HSB or perhaps a stray WE or two........no such luck.

But more to the point, there weren't any FHM or BH in the mix either. This particular truck is operated by a hatchery right here in state, and they claim to raise their own fish. At least that's the case for the HBG I purchased, anyway.

Perhaps all companies running fish trucks are not cast from the same mold.

No they aren't but if we publicize the ones that are deadbeats maybe they will clean up their act or go out of business.

The fish in those pictures are stunted too. Look like wild caught seined fish to me.

Cecil, I think the two RES in that picture look stunted too, big eyes.

Agreed.

You guys are a treasure trove of knowledge. I never caught the stunted part on Shorty's fish (no big surprise there). Was too busy just trying to identify the species.

I keep picking up bits and pieces, here and there. Thanks for the input.

I did get a reply to my email sent to them expressing my displeasure. I did not specifically ask for anything.

They apologized and put me down for 250 RES to be delivered the next time the truck comes to my town. They apologized again.

I have to give them credit for at least trying to make it right.

I got the same promise when I complained about receiving hybrids instead of BG. And that was from a hatchery (Zett's in West Va). The owner told me next time they send a delivery my way they'll put 200 RES on the truck for me. I don't mind posting their name, that was 2 yrs ago and I still haven't seen that truck.

LOL - ah, ye olde fish truck...Arkansas Pond Stockers was the company that violated my pristine waters. I now have master angler bh in my cool water species fishery. I try to post a warning whenever I see a post on the forum - might have missed yours, sorry amigo. Hope you caught all the invasives!

FYI - I hand sort every fish I stock for clients/friends at least 3x before delivery and remove anything that isn't to a level upon which I want to stake my personal reputation. Strongly consider local options - often involves a drive but convenience can lead to catastrophic and permanent fishery altering consequences.

Opting against the farm-store fish truck I just picked up 300 of these RES yesterday out of a fishery in KS, meeting them on the outskirts of town as they were en-route North of here.

They seemed to be nice folks and I was referred to them by another PB member so I felt pretty good about using them.

As far as what I received, all I know about RES is to look for the red ear tab. I had no morts even as of this morning as I'm caging them for a day or two but I did hand sort the whole lot and found only 1 tadpole.

Hardly any variation from this one shown so I'm hoping this looks okay for a 3-4" RES. I really wanted bigger ones but apparently there's a shortage and he wouldn't have any until this fall.



With an overabundant massive snail population I'm pretty stoked to have them in the pond and really hope they survive predation! And if they stick around the dock, which is made from a 24' pontoon, there's plenty of snails around for them to grow quickly

They look good to me.

It's not that all fish trucks are bad. You just have to use the knowledge you've gained from here and other places.

Now, there are total scumbags out there who have given horrible names to the fish truck gig.

You will probably get along fine. The 250 RES I got last fall from Wallace fish farms I never seen a single mortality that I found floating on the shore line. Those were about the size I got from Charles. They were sorted the night before and delivered to me the next day.

The RES I got recently from the fish truck every day I see a few more floated up to the shore line. I ask the driver how many days he had been out and I think he said 4 days and had a couple more to go. So the fish truck fish I got had been in transit for a long time.

I've learned my lesson. The reason I decided to try the fish truck was I just happened to be in a farm store that had a flyer saying the truck would be there in a few days. In a previous thread Esshup had suggested I add some more RES in my old pond where I wanted to emphasize RES so they would stand a better chance of out spawning the GSF. I was not planning on doing it, but here was my chance to pick up some more RES quickly. So I called and pre-ordered some to be delivered on the truck. Kind of a spur of the moment purchase. I figured "how bad could it be?". I could hand sort them to make sure of what I was getting.

Well it was a lot worse than I ever imagined. It looked more like "pond run" fish than RES.

Update.

After expressing my displeasure with the 200 3-4" RES fish I had received from Dunn's Fish Farm route truck via email, they contacted me and apologized for my dissatisfaction. They also said they would put me for 250 of 1-3" RES at no charge the next time their route truck was in my area.

Seeing their truck was going to be in the area again, I contacted them and they said the fish would be on the truck. I also ordered 100 coppernose bluegill as I was wanting to try some out in my sediment pond and a couple triploid grass carp.

The truck arrived, I got the fish, and was perfectly satisfied with the fish. Had this been my first encounter with Dunn's Fish Farm, I would have no complaints. The fish appeared healthy, were mostly around 2" with only a few 3" and 1", and I found no obvious off species.

I have to give them credit, they had a problem and they resolved it to my satisfaction.

For others buying fish from a fish route truck I have a few tips.

First, don't automatically assume the college age kid on the truck is going to bag up only what you are supposed to be getting. Be an informed consumer, buyer beware. My first encounter was terrible, my second encounter was fine. So you may or may not get good results from your fish truck. Verify.

Second, I noticed the route for this truck this time had four days worth of stops. The stop I got fish from the first time was 5 miles from me and if I remember right when I ask the driver it was his 5th day out and he had one day yet to go. By looking at the route, this time I drove 20 miles to a different location but picked up fish on the first day out for the route. Had I picked up at the closer location my fish would have spend another three days on the truck before I received them. Last time I was getting fish literally from the bottom of the barrel that had already been stressed from being on the truck and what was left from previous pickings. This time I got the early pickings. Point is, if you are getting fish from a route truck, by viewing the rout the truck takes you might be able to drive just a little more and get fresher fish. The drop location nearest me was near the tail end of the loop, where this time I drove a little farther to pick the fish up at a first day stop. I feel sorry for the guys who got fish the day after I did last time. The other thing is, on the first time purchase everything on the truck was pre-sold. They were completely sold out except for FHM. Some guys had come for grass carp but went away empty handed because all the fish on the truck were already sold. This tells me the truck was probably jam packed with all the fish they could possibly get away with hauling. Another potential stress factor for the aged fish. This time when I ask for a couple extra grass carp from what I ordered, the truck had them as well as some other fish other people wanted that had not been pre-ordered. Truck was only on route 4 days this time, it was either 5 or 6 last time.

Anyway, just wanted to update on the situation. Much more satisfied with the fish this time than last, and they did try to make an unhappy customer more satisfied and were successful.

Edit 4-29-17: I have since had two orders from Dunn's that turned out fine. Last order included RES, FHM and LMB and fish looked healthy and of proper species.