Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations RBT in Mid-Missouri

Well made trip with my totes in Escape. 50 % went well. Arrived and put water in first tote. It had a single hole in corner. Dang. Very friendly and professional staff gave me liners for totes. I bought the most expensive aeration stones walmart had to offer. They lined totes for me and I hooked up aeration. They put fish in each on and loosely ducked taped for 2 hour trip home. I could tell owner was not impressed with set up. He went ahead and loaded fish and made it home in record time. He said before I left he would replace fish if they did not make it and I get home and open first tote super surprised. All fish in first tote were super alive. I'm very happy at this point. I release them and move on to next tote. All fish but three were belly up. The airline cord came off stone. I had to clean and fillet them out. Perfect side for eating. I called and he said come back with larger setup Monday. I now have a 300 gallon setup. Heading out Monday for a do over.




My new setup.

Try again Monday.
I'll pick up the ones he is replacing and get 50 more.

Excellent John. I've always wanted to go there.

John, are you going to fill the tank to check for leaks before leaving?

That's terrible that the fish croaked.

Very cool of the guy to replace those fish that you lost.

What was stored in the tank before you got it?

Esshup, doesn't that officially make him a pondmeister?

John, question. What was the average weight of those fish?

Nope, they didn't make it to his pond yet.....

I passed by a place last week that had those IBC totes for 50 bucks. I can't remember where it was now. They would come in handy for conditioning water. Dang brain cells anyway

Yeah they did!!

Half went in the pond already on the first run

He probably got it from work. Looking up the name on the label, it's a natural antioxidant used as a preservative in pet food.

Yes half made it in pond. I work at a dog food factory and it had a natural ingredient in it. I seen one at his place and he said a lot of clients use them to haul fish. He said just cut hole in top out and get a long net to dip them out. I cut hole and climbed inside and scrubbed clean with dawn dish soap. What would best the way to aerate this thing? I have a 60 gallon aquarium pump but not sure that would do the job for this big tank. I could put my small generator on trailer with tote and run about anything. Do you guys think one more 60 gallon pump would work. He said I would only have to fill it half to three quarters of the up for my fish. I'm going to pick up a few more for all the problems he helped me with on my first haul. That was just one run in pics. He said he had 8 more runs. Might get me some golden ones on trip Monday too. On top of all that he did not even charge me there. Just gave me an invoice to send a check. Very nice people to work with. I hope to see more of his place next trip. If this all works good I will be doing business with them every year. Still can't believe lowes is selling totes with one tiny hole in each corner.

I ordered 50 quarter half pound ones. Most were 3/4 pond range easy. That was another thing he did for me. He told me on phone he usually has a $200 min for order but he let me buy smaller amount anyway. Awesome customer service. I asked if I did this next year what would be max amount for my quarter acre pond. He said I could prob do 100 to 150 max. I think I will get 50 more so I ain't driving 2 hours pulling all that weight for 20 trout that died. He even had ice on hand for me which was a relieve because I ran out door and for got my frozen water bottles. I'm think 3 block ice cubes would be good for the trip back this time.

John, did you see this recent post on transporting trout 4 hours. Perhaps it may help, or he'll tell you how he did his aerator.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=354379#Post354379

These will help:

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3862/ProLine-Dry-Ammonia-Remover

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/2584/ProLine-Defoamer

Use a 0.5% salt solution in the tank water.

That bilge pump agitation system will help a LOT, more so than an aerator for an aquarium, but for the best possible chance of them making it, also run pure O2. You can rent a "pony" tank from any welding supply shop, then use these:
http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/...ubble-Diffusers

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/2462/Oxygen-Flow-Meters

and you will need a regulator to go on the tank and hose. Those will really, really increase your chances of getting the fish there alive.

If you use ice in the water, and it melts, it could be made from city water, which has chlorine or chloramine in it, which the fish don't appreciate......

Thanks esshup. I'll look into that stuff when I get off work. I talked to owner and he said not to buy ice. He would supply good clean ice. He thought one more pump like I had would do the job for now. I wanna get me a good setup going because I no longer trust random fish trucks. I'm going to have to make long trips for HSB, HBG and these RBT every year. I'm getting me six 1 to 2 pound Goldie's and he is refunding all 50 trout from yesterday. I told him I would buy another 50 too. So with the 23 that survived yesterday that will put me at 129 in my quarter acre pond. I hope I ain't pushing it too much with the fish that are already in there.

IMHO:

With only aeration (that's WITH the water conditioners that I listed, plus the salt in the water), I'm not comfortable transporting more than 1/2 pound of trout per gallon of water. With O2, chemicals AND aeration/agitation I've hauled 1# per gallon.

Other people with more fish hauling experience than I have should chime in if I'm pushing the limits. I'm a newbie to hauling fish compared to others here on the forum.

So esshup if I put 100 half pounders and six 2 ponders in that tank. With salt, aeration and 240 gallons of water I should be fine? Correct? FNC I will watch that video when I get home. I did miss that yesterday.

A simple risk evaluation put it that there would be more than usual morts on the trip. Nice of the guy to fix a problem that he was not responsible for.

I'm scared to death about making a trip to the UP. Building a fancy rig and all has been crossed off the list. I'll just rent one from Dan when the time comes.

I'm very surprised too. I even told him it was that crap airstone from walmart that caused them to die and 23 of them in other tote lived. For some reason he feels obligated to replace all 50. What a guy!

I don't think he feels obligated, but is just a nice guy!

Your probably not the first he's dealt with that had a bad rig, and probably would like to see his fish thrive for you. He's just a nice guy.

I would suggest to bring some extra cash with you to cover the fish you killed in your desire and haste excursion. He offered to cover this, but you reciprocate and and admit to your fault. A good way to build a friendship.

Remember, people like this are not Walmart!

Good luck!

Guys,


I've used the ice from convenience stores on the road hauling several times with no problem. Maybe I got lucky but it's possible that it's not a good idea for them to have any chlorine or chloramine residue, as it can effect the taste if the ice is used for anything that is drank? It would be interesting to call a few places and research this.

Keep in mind that block ice is rather large and may damage your fish during transport. Small cubed ice would be much better.

Seems like the block ice lasts longer tho, but Ice is Ice and melts at 32F. 10 lbs of block ice has the same BTU's as 10 lbs of crushed ice or 10 lbs of cubed. I don't think I would use those contained ice freezer gizmos because it is a contained mass that could easily bounce around in the tank and damage the fish. Raw Ice, and let it melt on the trip.

Good point from Cecil on the source of the ice too. If it's derived from a municipal system, could be the nail in the coffin on the next haul.

Mind your P's and Q's, and don't get all OCD about it. Take it easy

Way ahead of you on this one. I know I killed those fish and they are now in my freezer. I will be trying to pay for them but I don't think he will take the money. Maybe a gift card to a eatery or something for the crew would be better accepted.

The guy you dealt with is smart businessman. He knows if he treats you well you will come back and won't even think of going somewhere else. It costs more to regain a customer than it does to keep one. I wish more businesses would be more aware of that.

I think I cost a supplier in Ohio thousands in business. He treated me very poorly and I went out of my way to inform everyone I knew about it. If he only knew how many people I know that were potential customers -- that steer clear of him now.

What's really sad up until my bad experience I was actually drumming up business for him and distributing flyers. Stupidity knows no bounds.