As far as I know there is no agency regulation of these farms regarding having the correct species in an order.
Some background info and history.
I am a small time fish supplier who usually buys fish from local small fish farms and not the big AK fish farms. My local suppliers usually buy fa lot of their fish from the big AR suppliers. Now there are some fish suppliers who have numerous ponds and one I know who farms 230 ac of water. Most all of your local fish farms even the 230 ac farmer get at least some of their fish such as CC and grass carp from Big AR farms. Some local farms will shop around and buy wild raised minnows from big WI/MN suppliers that often have contaminated fish such as sticklebacks or others in with the large minnow wholesale order. When they they run out of stock they also by fingerlings where ever they can get them.
Some farms with ponds owned or leased have fish they grow themselves or hold fish for a time in their own ponds. These instances are likely the most common way species such as the various sunfish varieties get mixed into customers orders. When harvesting fish for resale there are numerous ways different species can get mixed into an order. Numerous ways. And as I noted previously and mentioned, IMO this collecting, handling, and sorting is where the unwanted specie/s most often get mixed into an order. It is a prevalent ongoing problem in my experience mostly for the sunfish varieties due to when these sunfish are small, at times they all look very similar. And as I noted earlier IMO some or numerous fish farms do not think this is a big deal nor a big problem. Pond fish are pond fish correct? So what,,,, if you get a couple of the wrong fish in a large 200-1000 fish order?. Buying pond fish can be like buying expensive watches from a street vendor. KNOW YOUR SUPPLIER for the best results and even then there are no guarantees.
