Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Pond TEMP

bman42368 - You have warm water fish in your pond. Providing that adequate oxygen is present they do best in water at temps of 80-86F.

Upper lethal limit for LMbass is 96F which also depends on the size of fish and somewhat on region of country. LMbass survived in a shallow Michigan pond when water temperature got up to 100.4F. Those fish did not "read the book" regarding upper lethal temperature limit for their species. Smaller bass also tolerate warmer temps than the larger sized bass.

Channel catfish and bgills also prefer water temps in the high 80's to low 90's. Bgill were once found in heated power plant water of 95-105F.

C.catfish grow best in water 86-89F. C.catfish were captured in water at temps of 100F; again in heated power plant discharge water.

The main problem for fish is that water cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen at the higher water temperatures. Thus warm water can more quickly "runout" of the supply of dissolved oxygen compared to cooler waters. For this reason warm water is less stable in its dissolved oxygen supply and more vulnerable to causing fish stress than cooler water.