Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources TWO ZETTS fish farms ?

http://www.zettsfish.com
http://www.zettsfishhatchery.com
what is diff. between the two ? Looks like one has pay lakes

looks like the top one is in PA and is just a hatchery, the bottom one is in WV and is a pay lake

Same family, same fancy names for common fish as a marketing ploy different locations.

I strongly recommend you skip their stocking recommendations because if you followed them, you'd almost without a doubt end up with a giant mess of a fishery in your pond. Also, hand sort the fish you buy from them... Otherwise you may end up with species with your pond you don't want.

For the WV, MD, PA, no VA area, they are but one of a handful of hatcheries to choose from.

Travis (CJBS) said it well. I like Zetts. I think they are honest and hard working people. They have good prices, and they are very pleasant to deal with. I've never had a single fatality in the fish they've bagged and boxed for me to pickup. If I pick up fish with my aerated tank, they always throw in a few bonus fish.

But, there are cautions. As Travis said, you really need to sort the fish you get. There are several of us here who have gotten "hitch-hiker" fish that were of a different variety that the majority of what was in the bag. There have been some other apparent mistaken identities that caused one of our Northern Virginia members a few problems. I've got to believe that nearly every hatchery must have some similar issues.

I don't agree with many of their suggested management techniques, stocking suggestions, and I really question some of their assumptions about certain fish types. I'd stick with the advice of the many state extension services, Pond Boss, and other scientifically based groups.

But all-in-all, I'd much rather deal with them than with the fish trucks that come through several times a season.

I'll strongly second that!

Here are some pictures of a catfish that I caught this evening:







When I caught the first one of these last year, I was excited because I thought my channel cats were reproducing in the pond. CJBS quickly noted that these weren't channel cats -- they are WHITE CATFISH.

I can't prove where they came from, but after I last purchased what I believed to be 10-12 inch channel catfish from Zetts two years ago, these started showing up, and they are successfully breeding in the pond. This one was about 16-17 inches long when I caught it tonight. I've caught them as small as 6-inches. I've not stocked catfish that size in a number of years. I'm also completely landlocked, so they didn't come from a stream or flood overflow.

Again, just a "buyer beware." I actually like having them in the pond. They are not as invasive as bullheads. They don't get as big as channel cats, but they will reproduce. I just wasn't expecting them.

Ken

Ken, any white cat over 16" is something to be proud of... Better be careful, you'll be breaking the WV white cat record before the BG record. Is that your biggest white cat so far?

Begs the question... Does a Bullhead by any other name smell just as fishy?

I would love to get some of these white catfish but zetts tells me that they don't sale them anymore. I wonder of any other source where I can get some shipped to me ?

I cannot think of any commercial source for white catfish. They used to be fairly common in the Potomac River back in the 90's. Since blue cats have taken over, they have really knocked the white catfish population back. Now they are pretty rare.

I may have to see if I can get catmandoo to ship me a few when it cools down if he doesn't care. BTW those are some beautiful fish