Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Source for fish in BC? (catfish)

I'm curious if there is a source for pond fish in BC Canada?
Specifically looking for a species of catfish that can handle LONG winters, grows to decent sizes, and most importantly will breed readily to keep a self sustaining population?

I have no idea where to go for the fish. Any ideas? Thanks.

The only two species that fit that bill would be the channel and blue catfish. I am not sure if they are even legal to stock in BC waters as neither species is native to the Pacific drainages. I would suggest you check with your governmental fisheries agency to see if they are first legal and second if either species can be sourced locally. If legal, but not available locally, you may be able to have some airmailed to you, but I suspect they'd be quite pricey and many hatcheries will not ship catfish because their dorsal and pectoral fins have very sharp spines that can puncture the shipping bags.

Only true Northern latitude catfish I know is the Silurus Glanis or Wels catfish. They can handle the cold. But wrong hemisphere. I doubt you could get them. And boy do they get big even in cold water. I didn't think they had native Catfish in British Columbia.

There is a river in Spain where the Wels catfish was introduced where they are not growing over 400 pounds... That's a big fish! If I recall correctly they must ascend rivers to spawn.

I suspect even channel cats and more likely blue cats would struggle to survive all but the most southern portions of BC. Channel cats range as far north as southern Canada in the Mississippi drainage and blue cats don't make it that far. I suspect channel cats could survive in perhaps the southern 1/3 of BC by their growth rate would be very slow. Other than a large number of trout and salmon species, a few minnow and sucker species and a scattered mix of other oddities like burbot and sturgeon, not much is native.

Thanks or the tips!
I thought channel cats were thriving in Winnipeg, which is way colder than here.
Maybe I can look into trying them.

When I was a kid I caught a few 3" or so catfish in a pond in the city. They were elongated, or not looking like a bottom fish-style. If only I could have ID'd them. May be be worth the trip to see if any are still in there.
They were feisty little things, it would be awful to release a catfish that only grew 3". Yet still had a mouth large enough to clean out any new introductions! Lots of research to do yet. Maybe those things grew 3'.

Manitoba (Red river) is well known for channel cat fishing, it's also one of the coldest places in Canada, similar in climate to northern Alberta. Not sure why they can survive there, whereas there are no catfish around my parts.
For those that are not familiar with BC, there is a wide range of climates from arctic to desert, rainforest and lower mainland that rarely sees snow and is green year round. Not sure where abouts you are but there is catfish in BC waters, also lmb, smb, crappie as well as the cold water fishes.

As in Alberta, you will need a fish culture license to keep private fish. All I could find for allowable species is rainbow trout and white sturgeon. Transplanting of live fish from local waters is illegal, as it is in Alberta. It depends on where you are in the Province, but you likley have more native diversity than I have here, and I heard somewhere that it is very common for birds to transplant fish.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/omfd/fishstats/aqua/species.html#Finfish
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/pasb/applications/process/rainbow_sturgeon.html#a1