How about one of these in the pond

Mr. Limpet?

What is that darn thing?

Looks like the pet fish that the coneheads would have.

Dave, It is some kind of carp.

Yeah, I see the carp body but the face not even a Mother could love.

Let's call it a "Guvnor" fish.

Maybe a stocking of Dr. Frankenbruce's wipers would compliment them.

FT,
It would have to be pretty hot for a number of days before I would go swimming in that pond.

FT's picture is pretty disturbing.

Strangely, FT seems to be fixated on dingy bottoms ever since the convention. Whassupwitdat?

That's the gnarliest fish I have ever seen... a real nightmare.

If you tell the neighborhood kids you have those in your pond, I bet you don't need to worry about skinny dippers.

http://www.bristolzoo.org.uk/visiting/attractions/aquarium
Heybud, it maybe a giant gourami, they start out as a nice looking fish and as they age they develop that weird looking head. I have a dozen or so and at about 2 years and 12 to 14" long they are still normal looking. I have yet to catch one so not much hope for pictures,

FT what in the heck is that fish? Is that some sort of south america fish?

I have no idea, the pictures were from a fishing buddy's e-mail. The caption was "Striper caught in India River" but the locals don't look to be from India. Rad do you know what this monster is?

I'll go out on a short limb here and say that it is a photoshop type picture. I saw this earlier and tried to find it on the web, nothing. I can't imagine where the jaws came from if it is a photoshop. I have never seen one before and am pretty sure there are none in my pond.

This site http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=13768 calls it a Tiger fish. More information on this snoops.com forum. http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=6436

The fish looks like a tarpon or a huge shad, maybe even a huge golden shiner. But the teeth don't seem to match up with any of those fish so who knows?

At any rate, I only have one of these in my pond.
Once a year, usually around the 4th of July, I strip down, go into the water and go "mano-a-mano" with this fish. I do, however, wear a iron mesh jock strap to prevent potential disaster. It's a big, highly anticipated event and just to keep everyone happy, I usually throw the match, and we have a good laugh over it.

If you notice in FT's first picture, I'm standing just to the left, off frame, nursing my wounds after the melee last year.

I should have recognized your sandals.

Not PhotoShop picture - the real McCoy.
South African Tiger Fish.
Quite a trophy on fly tackle...

http://www.shayamoya.co.za/images/activities_tfish.jpg
http://www.zuluafrikasafaris.co.za/images/Tiger_Fishing.jpg

http://www.csir.co.za/rhp/state_of_rivers/state_of_letluv_01/photos/f_tigerfish.jpg

Here is a real fish for you...and alive, well, swimming in the ponds, and serving a very useful purpose.

For big bucks, you can fly to Argentina and catch one on the fly...or you might be able to find them in East Texas in all that acid water.

ML, any reproduction yet?
Looks to me like you have a winner?

ML what about in the hot tub ?

EWEST,

That's where it came from...started as a 2 inch or so fish in Jan. and now is 1 pound and 10 plus inches.

Great fish ML, do you plan on catching it later and overwintering for another year? Our last one was 7 pounds, 2 years, two months from 2".

Rad,

Yes...but catching them may be another adventure. I've never seen any freshwater fish grow like these guys, have you?

Better have a lot for it to eat. I saw a couple caught on TV that were 10X that size. Big enough to pull you around the pond. I don't think they were using 5 wts .


Colossoma brachypomus - Pacu, Common pacu or Red pacu -- Max. size: 88.0 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 40637); max. published weight: 25.0 kg (Ref. 2060); max. reported age: 28 years


Colossoma macropomum
Tambaqui Red bellied pacu ---- Max. size: 108 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 40637); max. published weight: 30.0 kg (Ref. 32894)

ML,
Surprisingly, tilapia, at 7 lbs 9 oz it is the largest fish caught by us so far. Pacu were faster to 6 pounds then the tilapia started to pull away. I will say that at about 6 pounds I switched to 15% protein food from 25. The tilapia remain eager eaters, but the pacu only show that eagerness about every other day. Another surprise, at least for me, was how slow the carp grow. The guy at the hatchery donated about 25, luckily all male, and now they are about 2 lbs.
Yeah, Eric, I can't wait.