Thanks for all the prompt replies!

CJBS & Sunil: The owner, Skip, is the person who delivered them. It was a somewhat surreal encounter. I had ordered 75 perch from him. He arrived and said, "Good news! You are getting 90... make that 89 (he found one floater in the tank.) The fish looked great... at least they did until they hit the water. He stood in the bed of his truck, scooped a net full of perch out of the tank, and handed me the net... directing me to dump them in. I knew this was a BAD idea... and asked him if they needed to acclimate. He replied, "The'll be fine." I obliged him and dumped the net full in my pond... and they stiffened up like boards, - in shock. I point this out to him, and suggested that we at least measure the temperature difference. I went inside my house and got a thermometer and took the temperature of my pond. I then handed him the thermometer. He placed it in his tank, and within a couple of seconds said something to the effect of, "nope. its the same temperature." Mind you, - this wasn't a high-tech digital thermometer. It was an old HVAC dial-type thermometer... and a change in temperature wouldn't be reflected in a couple of seconds. I suspect that any reasonable person would deduce this fact.

He then scooped out another net full and direct me to release them in a deeper section of the pond... stating "they want to get into the deeper water." My thoughts were... "Yeah.. were I can't see them laying dead on the bottom." None the less, I took scoop after scoop from him, and dumped them in. Eventually, they all slowly swam out of sight. He told me, "its chemistry. Your water looks a lot softer then what they are used to. I had a bit of salt in with them." My thoughts were,"that's all the more reason to slowly acclimate them!"

I told him that I was concerned that the fish didn't fair well. He said something to the effect of, "Don't pay me now. Wait a couple of days, if you have a lot of losses, send me a check for the ones that made it." I went ahead and paid him, - in a spur of the moment decision. I had heard nothing but good things about the company... he gave me 14 or 15 9" yellow perch that I hadn't paid for, and I figured if I found a bunch of floaters... he would make it right. Fast forward a month and a half later... and I haven't seen any floaters. It just have seen any swimmers either!

I hope they are as tough as you say Cecil!

Brian