Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Calling Rad & Don...Giant Cat!

Rad & Don,

Check out this giant catfish from your neck of the woods....be careful what you stock in your ponds

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050629/od_uk_nm/oukoe_environment_fish

Good Lord, I wonder what the growth rate is for that species? It had to be ancient. You could use the 40 lb cats we catch in the Ohio as bait for one of those things. Insane.

I think our resident Pond Boss noodlers need to get over to Thailand.

Sure it takes guts to hand fight a 60lb. cat, but the man who can arm wrestle with a 646lb. cat.....

I'm thinking channel cat hybrid...

It's a CC X WB (water buffalo) hybrid. Just look at the mouth. Too big to have any carp in him. Could be an F2 1/2 hybrid. Ask Cecil, he's probably mounted one before.

I'm ordering genetic testing on all future picture posts!!!

I'd like to put a few in my 3/4 acre pond. How many pounds per acre should we stock of this species?

Wonder if Tilapia would provide enough forage for the CC X WB?

One thing for sure, the CC X WB wouldn't have to worry about water turkeys aka cormorants

It would probably eat them.

I hope they looked in his gut.

Who knows? Maybe they found Jimmy Hoffa in there.

Amelia Airhardt maybe?

Good one Sunil

...more likely to find Pol Pot (sp?) from Cambodia

Very funny.

I wonder who has the publishing rights to all the Pondboss funnies from the fourm . It would make a great addition to the Pondboss series of pond mgt. books. Giant catfish , copperheaded rattlemocusins and dumb things you have done at the pond and others come to mind .

That catfish is old enough to know, as a matter of fact ,if John Kerry came that far up the Mekong River. ewest

Ohhhh...that's the best one yet EWEST...my compliments!!

I bet they didn't take it on a Zebco.

But they did eat the dang thing! Musta fed about 500 of 'em. 'Magine the fish fry!

Boy sure would be nice to have these in the states! I would LOVE to stock some these in my pond!!

Oh, those old things...
Thailand has another species of giant catfish, a giant carp various other asorted large fish.

My girl friend caught a fifteen pound Mekong in a friends pond, he said it was about 5 years old.
Some folks call them dog eating catfish, the mouth on the 15 pounder was huge. I don't think you would need to open the feed sack, give a whole new meaning to pellets.
Oh and if you want one stop by your local tropical fish dealer, probably fix you right up.

I released 11 of those Mekong Cats in my pond two years ago, have not seen them since. Like Rad had said they are readily available in the Aquarium shops around Thailand. There is a pond at the Crocodile Farm in Pattaya Thaiand that has them stocked in it, those in this pond look like 200-300 pound size and readily come to the surface to eat the tourist's 25 cent cup of fish pellets.

Since those released in my pond (6 inch) were rather small...maybe the snakeheads got them! I had released those a couple years ago, but have no plans to release again, sure don't want those monsters destroying tackle when trying to finese fish.

Also I released a dozen red tip catfish from the Amazon a year ago which I have yet to hook into.

Don, do you have any qualms about releasing non-native fish into Thai waters? The amount of damage you could do is horrendous!

Norm,
That is sort of a strange question. The fish that are raised in or imported to Thailand have been approved by the Thai government. I know that governments’ decisions are not always correct, but some one looked at the fish’s bona fides before allowing its import.
Don is restricted by Thai law just as he would be restricted by US laws if his pond were there. He just plants what he wants, that is available to him, probably just like most of the rest of us.
I realize that Thailand might be an emerging nation, but, WE GOT RULES!!!!

Rad, that is great to know, and I didn't know it. Thanks for telling me. Florida is over run by exotics. Some are good and some don't matter one way or another. Some are down right nasty and the really bad ones are yet to come.

Invasive exotics cost this country billions of dollars, literally. Once something is let go, there really isn't any way to get it back. Black, Bighead, Silver and breeding Grass Carp have the potential of destroying fishing in this country as we know it. It's good to know that Thailand understands this potential for harm.

Norm,

Most of the commercial fish raised in Thailand are imported, including the Pacu, Talipia, various carp and Barramundi and a lot of them have already established in the streams and rivers. I am conscientious about controlling the species that I have within my own pond and have a seven foot levy surrounding it, with no spillway. Also none of the species in my pond have been imported by me yet...but if I ever find a source for LMB I will be adding them to the pond. Most of the exotics in the USA are already well established in Thai waters. The worst fear of Americans - the walking catfish and the dreaded snakehead are native, with one of the local species the Giant Snakehead growing up to 45 pounds:

http://www.anglingthailand.com/gallery/gallery.htm

I have both the walking catfish and snakehead (though not the giant) in my pond, and honestly I have not noticed their impact. Fish in the tropics are very adaptable, most are prolific breeders and many protect their young up to two months. I'm sure that in the northern climates that fish would be more niche sensitive, but in the tropics its dog it dog!

Having said that I have noticed a couple of the smaller fish species that were established in my original pond (expanded from 1 acre to 5) have disappeared, particularly gouramis and a couple of other small fishes most likely from the Peacock Bass, but these fish stay isolated in a bowl, similar to the flathead minnows and shiners in many of the stateside ponds. The flood plain where I live is enormous as I live within an hours drive of the Mekong River, unlike the Missisipi where the flood plain has been greatly reduced by levies the flood plain here is left open as it brings the waters for the staple crop of rice. I really think it would be difficult for any fish species to totally eliminate another.

Norm a good question and seriously glad you asked. The answer is yes I do exercise a conscientious approach when stocking.