Channel Catfish Questions. My First One.

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Destroyer551

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2009
548
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16
Orlando, Florida
Wow, after finally getting bored of my bullhead....I ate it. (I never used chemicals and it tasted good) But to continue my love of catfish I went to my lfs. The first one that caught my eye was the 10" paroon, which I never see around my area, but I knew I couldn't handle that one, then a rtc, and again, grows to big. And lastly, a nice 12" blue channel catfish. For 13$, and for me, it was worth it. I never catch channel catfish. I ended up buying it and placing it in a 100 gallon pond, with fatheads, a few roseys, a couple bluegill and a goldfish. Now to my questions...

1: How much should I feed a channel catfish of his/her size? I don't want it to grow too quickly, but I want it to be nice and healthy.

2: What should I feed it? I know they eat anything, but what would be a good staple as well as supplements?

3: Is his current pond enough? What size pond should I move him to next, I'm looking to build another in the next couple months, or next week?

4: Will he survive the Central Florida weather? I know it reached as low as 28 degrees last year. (that's very rare) I've never had a pond until this year, I don't know how low the water temps gets. (pond is 16" deep.)

5: It hasn't eaten yet, I just got it yesterday. That normal? There's several dozen minnows in there, can he snack on those for this week?

6: He's been trying to jump out, luckily he keeps hopping back in. Is he stressed? There's lots of hiding places.

That's all for now, I had much more until I started typing....maybe I'll remember them later. The reason why I did not get the paroon or rtc is mostly due to the lack of tank and heater, I was mainly looking for a pond fish that would survive the winters.
 
Channel cats are one of the most bought catfish for ponds. They are practically indestructable.
I fed mine cichlid pellets and bloodworms, but he was in with cichlids and kept at about 80 degrees.
They grow fast and you can expect him to reach about 3'. Mine grew to about 30" in a 125 gallon before he met his demise breaking a heater fighting with a pacu.
 
in a pond, i'd feed him a pellet as a staple. you might want to buy bulk, i'd feed all of the pond fish the same thing. channels are cold water native fish. as far as feeding quantity goes, that's a judgement call. you're a fish keeper . . . play it by ear . . . he should be able to handle those occasional florida chilly nights. i always thought that a regular channel has a greenish color. i had an albino that i purchased from an lfs. i've seen blues in lfs's but never in the wild. good luck.
 
he'll be fine, mine lasted two winters in a pond in MD before a herring got him, i fed him feeder, goldfish pond food, frogs, worms, mac n cheese, potatoes, and anything else we didnt finish with dinner. instead of dogs getting the food, my channel cat pair did. hes now about 3ft in a 500gal pond at my parents.
 
1. this catfish will gorge itself as all catfish do. theres no right or wrong amount to feed it, you will have to figure it out when you feel hes had enough

2. worms, pellets (sinking or floating), other fish, shrimp, clams

3. if a paroon or a rtc is too big then so was the channel. Channels can get just as big as them sometimes reaching close to 4 feet long. I would definitly look into making it atleast 8ft x 8ft x at least 2 ft deep.

4. He will live, but that pond needs to be deeper if your winters are going to get that cold.

5. he will feed a bit at night, he may be stressed but give him a little time to pull around.

6. ^ of course hes stessed, he was in bag and then dumped into a new home. keep a tight cover over the pond to prevent his jumping and a predator getting him.
 
cover is a must, like i said a herring took one of mine..

oh yea and make sure your pond if dug below the frost line and that you have a hole in the ice all winter round so that gases can escape.
 
I agree with all of the replies. What im hung on is that you ATE your bullhead cuz you got bored with it. If I die and get reincarnated as a pet fish, please god dont let me end up at this guys place. But if I must, atleast give me the gift of doing tricks or something so that I dont get eaten.
 
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