Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations "Pet" catfish dilemma

I'm seeking some advice/recommendation/observation regarding releasing a channel catfish I have in an indoor aquarium. The tank is 25 gallons and shared by several other fish-GF, rosy reds, Corydora catfish, a loach, a nearly blind BG from my pond. Its temp is a constant 74 degrees.

I bought this CC from a local aquarium store back in the summer. It's been in warm warm water all its life. My intent was to release it into my 1/4 acre cool water pond during Spring warmup.

My question is would it be acceptable to release said catfish into our pond now? There's no ice on the pond and has only had skim ice a few mornings since Thanksgiving. Other winters the pond is frozen over for 1 to as many as 3 months straight. I would acclimate the fish to the present pond temperature over the course of a full day or more in a separate container.

Any of you stocking experts care to hazard a guess on the likelyhood of success? There's only 1 LMG with gape large enough to eat this CC; it's a 4 pounder who has all the forage she's accustomed, to huddling around her in the deep where they all winter.

How big is the pet Channel Cat now?

If it's lived all it's life in 74F degrees water, I'd be concerned about it's future health moving to an outdoor environment in a cold state like Colorado.

It's 8" long

At 8" long, I would think the CC would be eaten pretty quickly by the 4 lb. LMB.


But still, I would also be concerned about the CC making the jump to outdoor fluctuating temperatures.

Thanks Sunil. I can keep the fish indoors until spring when the water approaches 60 or 65 degrees. It will have the season to acclimate to the gradual cooling next Fall.
My hope had been to give it a jump on experiencing freedom. Maybe it's best to wait so the fish can experience years of liberty rather than days of freedom before being gulped.

If there was a way to fatten him up, and grow him, it would improve his chance of survival, obviously.

If you wanted to, maybe you could net off an area of the pond for him to be safe, for some period of time.

It's growing well in the present tank. Gained just about an inch since purchased a few months ago.

Although I don't really have enough room to set up another aquarium, I just may make the room. Then I'll have to supply the CC with tank mates, right? It's easy enough to drag weeds from my pond and recover crawfish, tadpoles, GSF, BG, and fingerling LMB.

what did you name the pet catfish?

It won’t be long before your pet eats the other tank mates. Have seen this happen before when I owned a pet shop years ago doe your tank lite stay on all the time?

What Pat said!!

I had a single channel cat in a small tank, and when the lights went off........he'd come out.

His tank mates were some small bluegill, some Florida Flag fish, and some fathead minnows. He went through them all!!


'Diego' was his name.

He died one night after eating a stink bug that was floating on the surface.

Good morning fishy folks.

Zep, I haven't named the CC yet. That's likely coming.

Pat, the last of the 10 rosy reds are gone as of two nights ago. It surprised me that this daytime slug of a timid fish (the cat) becomes a rocket ship once the tank turns dark. It can sprint from one end of the tank to the other so fast my vision cannot focus on its dash, stop on the proverbial dime without hitting the opposite tank wall, spin in dizzying circles, then resume resting on the bottom. Its mouth gape appears to be 3/8" horizontally and less than that vertically, but still has managed to gulp a couple of fatheads that were 1 3/4" long. With this speed and eating ability, it's no wonder that CCs are regarded as sporty gamefish.

Sunil, Diego might have first tried a microscopic bite from that stinkbug, don't you think?

Thanks for replying guys. Ponds are really great, but the entertainment provided by pond fish in an aquarium? A whole new level.

From my experience, catfish are extremely tough and durable.

I would not be concerned with transferring him. An acclimation process to help with ph and temperature is all he needs.

As for aquariums, as mentioned, a catfish is a terrible tank mate. They eat everything.

4CP, all I know is that when I turned off the light before going to bed, there was a single stink bug floating in the tank. I guess I was just tired, and opted not to remove it.

When I came down in the morning, Diego was suspended in a plastic underwater tree, as dead as could be, and the stink bug was nowhere to be found.

We opted not to do an autopsy as Diego was only about 4" long.

We cremated him.

The story of Diego....

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=330200&page=1

I find it interesting that an aquarium store sold channel cats and not tropical cats.

When you release it, make sure the water temp is within 5°F from each other. The closer the better to being the same temp.

The pet store has plenty of tropical cats for sale, corydoras and more. The owner also enjoys fiddling with other fish that are able to possibly live in outdoor ponds in our area, hence the channels.
I don't know that anyone in our cold water area "fiddles" for catfish though.

The store proprietor, in previous years, has offered BG, GSF, BCP, TP, LMB, FHM, and probably others that he and I haven't discussed.

As for his tank of CC, all but 2 were those albino cats. I bought the 2 natural coloration fish that he had.

In my opinion Colorado Parks and Wildlife has become overly restrictive regarding the species of fish we can release into our BOWs. TP are completely off the chart; they would make a fantastic fish for algae control in our cool water ponds that grow FA all summer long, and would provide a good human food source. Triploid GC must go into a pond with screened inlet and outlet, even if the outflow goes out onto dry ground. As of just recently, we are prevented from or cautioned against stocking SMB, YP, GSF. Probably others, too, that are already very common throughout the entire Western Slope of the state. DUH

Sorry...rant over.

That's interesting. I think there is a fish supplier on the Eastern slope of the state that grows YP.