Any ideas

[aquaculture]

Those anyone have ideas of catfish that will live for life in a 300 gallon cold water outdoor pond?

 

[haynchinook334]

Bullhead.

 

[aquaculture]

do channel cats do welll in 80 degree water? Summer pond temp.

 

[swede]

i would research what catfish live in your area or at least your climate with this tool
http://www.natureserve.org/getData/dataSets/watershedHucs/master.htm

then you can better match the species to the type of environment your pond will be

 

[aquaculture]

It seems that bullheads and channels will live in my area along with white catfish. Would a white or albino channel cat be able to stay in a 300 gallon pond with a 63 x 69 in. for life or short term?

 

[rjmtx]

A channel cat would eventually outgrow a 300 gallon. It would be fine for a while, but they do get big. Any type of bullhead would be fine for life. Check what the possession laws are for California, though. I know there are a lot of restrictions on what can and can't be kept there due to the environments susceptibility to invasion.

 

[blurock]

It could last them awhile if you start them smaller. I've found that they go threw a growth spurt between 6 and 20" then tend to slow down. If there weren't a lot of other fish a channel could probably live for some time in a 63x69. They are very hardy as well, and could stand the 80 degree summer temp if the pond is deep enough and reaches that temp gradually.

If you wanted a fish in there for life though, I would go with a bullhead. You could have more than one bullhead in there too, but I would only recommend one channel