Bill, the tank is one of Todd's old transport tanks. I really liked the size of this tank because at 50 gallons of water per tank, I can easily carry fish in my 1/2 ton pickup. It is also narrow enough to fit in my Mule when moving to the pond. I'm thinking the tank originally came from Boatcycle in Henderson TX, but I'm not sure. Similar tanks priced new are around $1,200.
To me, the biggest advantage is the O2 system. That part is easily repeatable with ibc totes, or polyethylene tubs. I've used both, and they work well.
We've probably moved tens of thousands of fish over the last 5 years, and killed thousands of smaller fish early on too. The weak link has always been the transition from the hatchery pond to the big pond, so that is the area I focused on. The simple answer was to keep the fish wet. As long as they were in water, either seined up in the corner of the pond, or in the tanks, they were fine. Also, moving fish from the hatchery pond to the tank, or from the tank to the big pond was done in 5 gallon buckets with water, not nets. Since going to the buckets, the number of morts during movement has decreased to an easily countable number, and without exception, the only fish that died were less than 2" long.
I've posted this picture before, but this O2 rig has worked very well, and could easily handle a larger Pentair O2 diffuser if needed. I think I have less than $200 in this rig.
