Dog,
I'm far from an expert, but I do know a little bit about catfish.
All three types of catfish you mention can cause problems. But, the channel cat is probably the least problematic. Channel cats can also grow quite large in small ponds.
Blue cats and flat heads both have bad reputations for being unmanageble. Many report that they will wipe out virtually all forage.
Channel cats certainly taste pretty good. We are having poached channel cat tonight.
Any catfish is probably going to need forage, unless you continuously feed. Channel cats live very well with bass and bluegill. They are reasonably easy to catch if you don't overfish using catch and release. In that case, they become hookshy real fast.
For us, a 10-12 inch channel catfish becomes a 20-24 inch catfish in one season. For us, they are also a major factor in growing citation size bluegill.
Just my thoughts.
Ken
