I ordered a small batch and most arrived dead due to 3 day delay in USPS transport during COVID. Got a free second shipment (ebay seller was awesome to communicate with and very much worthy of others patronizing his efforts). PUt that in and hoped for the best. WE have lots of cruising golden shiners, spotfin shiners and perch and almost no vegetation. Put them in on the side of the pond with some overhanging sedges/rushes and hoped for the best. Now we have scads of baby SFS and about 1/5 of the pond is covered in FA giving lots of cover. I may wait till weather cools and try again.
I'm more concerned now about water quality. I think these critters need a lot more hardness to feed their need for calcium than my pond can offer. My water turns over by rainwater runoff and ground water inflow. Ground water is pretty low in hardness which is great for my water softener but not so great for crayfish, scuds and shrimp which seem to not do so well.
