So we have an established pond...LMB, BG, GSF, BCP...kind of a mutt pond. Wanting to add channel cats. My mom has some in a very small neighboring pond beside her house in town and people hand feed them. One of my daughters did it and it was memorizing to watch. We have a floating deer feeder that we have fed our BG with...optimal/aquamax...etc. that's fun...but nothing like the catfish. Catfish are great table fare, and are fun to catch. Feeding them will also be cheaper. Growing bass is hard and expensive and time doesn't allow me to keep the pond up to bass standards. Lol. So here are my questions.

The truck comes Thursday to the coop. The have two sizes I'm looking at. 6-8" and 8-11". I do realize I would be better off getting the 8-11...but the price jumps from 69 dollars a 100 to 199 dollars a 100. I'm on a budget. I could get 300 6-8 for the price of 100 of the larger...they also provide containers for the 6-8". Do you think the 6-8" will have decent survivability? The pond isn't super full of huge fish...but there are some decent sized bass. The cats will be started on feed within a week...so I would think a month or so of fed growth. At this point I think they would be ok for the most part. What do you guys think?

Goal is kid fun, table fare, family fish fries, and watching them eat. Probably harvest around and before 5#.

Been a while since I've posted...missed this place. Pond has kind of been on the back burner for a while.

Thanks in advance!!