How Fast is Fast?

[tscharf]

had my channel for a little over yea. he went from 1in to 18in in that time.

Started him out on flake and frozenblood worm cubes. Then fed occasional small feeder guppies too

He ate the tiger barbs i had in there as tank mates

Then my 6in tinfoil barbs

Then my clown loaches

And then i switched him over to massivore delight pellets, hotdogs and bologna.

Case in point, he'll eat pretty much anything you would, even somethings you wouldnt.

right now hes in a 30 gal pond. he eats acorns, bugs, toads and frogs, mice and chipmunks, floating koi pellets, and the leftovers from dinner.

 

[tscharf]

oh and the entire time i had him housed with my red tail cat the water was between 72-82 depending on the temp fluctuations in my room. i had the water well arraited which i think was key to the growth

 

[kdrun76]

had my channel for a little over yea. he went from 1in to 18in in that time.


right now hes in a 30 gal pond.

Is that a typo, or do you really have an 18" fish in 30 gallons of water?

 

[tscharf]

haha my bad 300gal, sorry, and its prolly closer to 400, idk we just dug a hole, put a liner in it and filled it with water

 

[Fishman0]

this question may belong in a pond forum but does anyone know how deep a pond must be if it is in the north-eastern US?

Temps can drop to negative temperatures but only once in a while...

if the frost line of soil is 12-18" then how deep must the pond be?

 

[tscharf]

my ponds 2 and 1/2 ft deep and it does fine, just make sure u have a heater or something thatll keep a hole in the ice so gas exchanges can take place. I live in MD. Id say 36in for u just to be safe... and like i said, pickup a pond heater for like 20 bucks so that a hole remains in the ice so gas exchanges can take place.

 

[Fishman0]

will the hole b enough for gas exchange of does it still need added airation

 

[phillydog1958]

is it me or i always have seen from my experience that channel cats like cooler waters.....and will go for it if they were given the choice? 82F isn't gonna sit well with them for long term?

i agree. they really are cold water fish but i had mine in tank of about 72-74 degrees.

 

[tscharf]

yea they like cold water better but i had mine in with my red tail and they did fine a grew fast in the warm water

 

[tscharf]

will the hole b enough for gas exchange of does it still need added airation

airration probablly wouldnt hurt and it in itslef would prolly keep some of the ice from forming. My pond i just used the hole . if you have a way of keeping your filter and such warm a waterfall would help airrate as well. we have a waterfall and i think we forgot to take it out last winter and it did so ND WAS FINE WHEN SPRING CAME AROUND ALTHOUGH IM NOT SURE I WOULD RISK IT EVERY YEAR, THE FILTERS ARE EXPENSIVE..

sorry about the caps