I am building an outdoor pond. I live in Michigan (USDA zone 5) and it gets pretty cold here in the winter. I am going to build the pond with a spot at least 6 feet deep to overwinter Koi. I wonder if a Channel Cat could over winter in this pond as well??
Channel Cats in outdoor ponds??
- Thread starter Blackwater
- Start date
hey, i live in michigan as well... lansing to be exact. as we have native catfish in lakes, ponds and rivers am thinking that if you do indeed have a depth of 6 ft in at least part of your pond you should be ok... just be careful of "full" ya stock the pond....
They should be fine but to make sure put a bubbler or stock trough heater is there. they are cheaply available at most feed stores or online through people who sell pond or livestock equipment and they keep a small hole in the ice by creating an upwelling of current. It works in North Dakota.
Thats a native NorWester fish. Just keep a whole in the top for gas exchange and make sure you do the hybernation process. wakeing em up and putting em back over and over isn't a good idea.
i have 2 albino channel cats (plus bullheads, koi, goldfish, 1000's roseyreds, bass, etc.) in n.e.pa.
winters that start in oct and end in april, it's not uncommon for temp to be in the single digits(heck last night it dropped to 17degs{3/23/08}).
pond 6' deep, froze over completely 2 winters in a row , no hole in pond and they are fine...
winters that start in oct and end in april, it's not uncommon for temp to be in the single digits(heck last night it dropped to 17degs{3/23/08}).
pond 6' deep, froze over completely 2 winters in a row , no hole in pond and they are fine...
Muske;1642664; said:
oh definately,
in fact, the last winter was an accident that i let my pond freeze over, i kept my waterfall running throughout the winter then my pump failed...
this winter i coundn't find the sleeve that went over the inlet for my 350gph pump that i use to keep a hole open and never got around to putting the pump in...
my buddy has a pond 10'x4wide'x3'deep with a dozen goldfish ranging from 3"-5" and they also survived complete freeze over.
it definately matters proportion of fish to water...
Channel cats are found most of the waters here and prob. by you. so yes they will survive the winter. Just a heads up, I've seen a 7-8"er go in a pond in the summer and come out a 14" bowling pin the following spring. Not many goldfish though....