Wels Catfish (Silurus glanis) Grow out and informational thread!!!!

**bulldovii** · 01-20-2013, 8:30 AM

Originally Posted by necrocanis

I do not plan on an outdoor pond, but huge, indoor tank or pond yes. I won't reveal my full plans yet as they are down the road a bit, but like I said I hope to have him in a 1200 gal pond within 2 years. This fish can probably withstand your winters as well as mine here in Montana so long as the water is deep enough. They have worse winters than us in Russia. I cannot however condone housing this fish outside without saying that you need a fail safe in case of flooding or failure of your pond. As for others that would probably be fine, Goonch comes to mind. Flathead catfish, and blue catfish would probably get large enough that if you had a steady stock of bait fish in there you wouldn't have to worry about them getting eaten by the wels eventually. I would also provide large structure on the bottom for them as well. Old concrete culverts might work well for instance. One per fish and they should be able to sort the rest lol.

There shouldn't be any chance of escape during flooding. The pond that I have is very landlocked and is spring fed and has been there for well over 100 years. It is on what was originally my wife's great grandfather's land. The pond itself is about 1.5 acres in size and roughly 12-15 feet deep.
My intention is to eventually have a nothing but massive catfish pond. Definitely not going to be a swimming pond for the kids.

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**mkman** · 01-20-2013, 9:38 AM

Again congrats, you guys are lucky as I moved to a state that bans many giant fish (hawaii). However, once I move back someday, watch for a thread were I unveil a pond that I'm already planning on that will have alligator gar, piraiba, wels, goonch, wallagos, gatf, rtc, etc

As for aggressiveness and being territorial, when you have a large area with many hiding spots, that should minimize things, right now, necro only has 1 hiding spot so that wels took it by force haha.

I think I have videos of my wels outdoors, I will check. But like that one other poster mentioned, when you train it to eat from you, they do beg and almost become like a giant dog asking for food

**mkman** · 01-20-2013, 9:41 AM

This fish should do well in cold and warm, I had massive temp fluctuations when my wels was outdoors and it was fine and dandy. In the summer outside temps was in the 100s and the water got up to mid 80s, no issues and ate well.

When weather became cooler, water would drop to 60s and maybe even lower and it was still fine and dandy as well. Its a tough fish and I miss my wels but one day when I can move back to the mainland I will have my giant fish pond with monster fish including mekong stingray (there is a seller that had one a while back)

**necrocanis** · 01-20-2013, 11:20 AM

I had thoughts if I were to be able to get my own place again in the next five years of doing an outdoor tank that would be like a hybrid pond and tank. I would dig it into the ground to get some more dept but maybe only like 3ft or so at the deepest to make the bottom more natural. I would then also build the sides up to where you can view it through some panels from the side. So the largest depth at the bottom would end up being like 9-10 feet. Of course it would be completely enclosed and extra insulated so when I get the most severe montana winters of -40 or less I can still heat it without breaking the bank. My eventual plans is a warehouse type facility that will be used for trying to breed and house large species of catfish.

**mkman** · 01-20-2013, 1:19 PM

Necrocanis, thats a great idea of in the future do a warehouse type of thing to breed them and sell them to hobbyists. Aquaticeco would be a great idea as they have many things you would need to do something like that. In fact when I do move back, I will have to check them out and see what I would need for my monster pond.

**necrocanis** · 01-20-2013, 9:31 PM

Originally Posted by mkman

Necrocanis, thats a great idea of in the future do a warehouse type of thing to breed them and sell them to hobbyists. Aquaticeco would be a great idea as they have many things you would need to do something like that. In fact when I do move back, I will have to check them out and see what I would need for my monster pond.

They do have lots of stuff. Some of it very expensive though. I might have a go at some of the filtration stuff they have for lakes though. Seems like it might be worth a look since the bioload would be so high.

**Chicxulub** · 01-20-2013, 9:43 PM

Check out Dolphin Fiberglass Products too. They are eminently reasonable for their prices. You can get a 1,000 gallon plus tank for about $2000. It won't have a viewing panel though. I think it'd be hard to build a 1,000+ gallon pond right for that price.

edit: http://www.aquaculturetanks.com/

**Egon** · 01-20-2013, 9:45 PM

Originally Posted by Chicxulub

Check out Dolphin Fiberglass Products too. They are eminently reasonable for their prices. You can get a 1,000 gallon plus tank for about $2000. It won't have a viewing panel though. I think it'd be hard to build a 1,000+ gallon pond right for that price.

I like their "Grotto" aquariums/ponds. Very reasonable at a price per gallon ratio.