Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Water temp for surface feeding cats

This winter I had otter tracks at the pond. I don’t live where my pond is so I couldn’t monitor things like I wanted to. I only saw tracks a couple times but we had little snow this year so it would be hard to say for sure. The good news is my koi all Survived. I also caught LMB and SMB last weekend and saw a fair number of BG. Ice just came off the pond two weeks ago so water is cold. I’m Very curious to know if my CC made it. Can someone tell me what temp the water needs to be to satart seeing cats eating pellets on the surface? My ponds are about 1 acre and 3/4 acre. The other good news is I’ve found no evidence of otters killing fish. No corpses. No fish heads etc. I’m hopeful.

Hi Ryan, I believe they will surface feed in water as cold as 12C (~55F) though I think 17-18C is much more common. I also do not think Catfish are high on the list for Otter diets because of all they defense mechanisms they have. If your Koi survived them, Id bet the CHC are just fine.

I'm in TX and BG are already spawning. They feed regularly but the CC are still feeding randomly. Someone will give you water temps.

Thanks for the input guys. I was hopeful when I saw that the koi made it but they are also quite large so I wasn’t sure if they would be targeted by the otter. I guess I’ll just keep my fingers crossed and wait for the water to warm a bit more.