Those fish were on the very small size for being almost 1 yr old. I think they were not able to eat much or maybe they were just the slow growing ones that had been put through sizing machines and all the faster growing, larger ones removed. The truck was probably just selling their left overs at the end of the year so they did not have to hold them all winter for the spring sales. These small ones were maybe slow growers also known as runts. They will grow when getting enough food however they will never be as big and grow as fast as those that were 7"-12" long and the same age. You spent all that money on building that pond it is sad you skimped on a few added dollars to buy high quality bass. I would go find a local REPUTABLE TRUTHFUL fish farm that has some soon to be one year old LMB, pellet trained bass and are 8"-12" long that had been hatched in 2020. Don't buy 2 yr old 6"-10"bass!
Or you can wait until this fall(2021) and buy this year's bass 7"-10" long. This way you will have at least some known good genetics and pellet trained fast growing bass added to the small bass you have stocked. I would at least buy 30 to 60 more quality bass. Get them pellet trained so they continue to grow fast.
This is how it happens in nature. You start with 1000 -5000 bass fry and give them all the food they can eat. At ONE YEAR OLD about 15% to maybe 20% are slow growers aka IMO runts 2"-3.5"- those that tend to stay smaller,,,, same as with most all animals even humans; small short ones. Then you have 25% fast growers (tall people and longest ones 8"-10"); of those 5% are the tallest aka jumpers or shooters 10.2"-12" maybe a few 13"). The middle 50% are average size 4"-7" with length variation even among them ranging from 4"-7.7". You bought those slowest growers and short ones. See the great service the fish truck provided.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/22/21 03:58 PM.
