thanks all for your kind comments!
David, some answers to the best of my knowledge.
1] how old are they?- cant be certain, the original vendor is investigating
2] how long have you had them?- about 6weeks
3] how big were they when you first acquired them?- around 17.5inches
4] have they always been in the pond or were they in a grow out tank and then transfered to the pond?- was in a 5x3x2 tank from the previous owner
5] how did you hear about them?- while i was surfing
http://stonesaquarium.blogspot.com
6] where did you find them? original vendor- as above
7] you mentioned they are nocturnal. have they always been this way?-previous owner described it as always active in his tank 24/7. now, the cat will mostly rest below a driftwood during the day unless i throw in some food it will swim out to investigate. Cat is always active when the sun goes down, loves to nose into rock bottoms over and over again.
8] what does their diet consist of?- I try to keep to MP and just introduced some smelt to the cat. he had some time with feeders and the previous owner would feed him 1 big bag of medium mollies/week.