I usually add fish when the water temp is 55-60 degrees. To clean the cage, I use a soft bristle brush on a long handle, and gently scrub the exterior...and it will stress the inhabitants for a time.

What are your goals for caging these fish? Are you growing them out in order to be able to stock them into a BOW with an already established predator base? Just experimenting?

I get my fish in Martinsville, but that's a ways south of you. Maybe Scott, Cecil, or Bill Cody will have some suggestions that are closer.

"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.