South Carolina Catfish pond

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I still say you can't fully prepare for hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, ect. But the fish will need to be able to tolerate cold and hot temps. YOu can provide shade trees around the pond to significantly lower the temps in the summer. Also solar heating covers for during the winter to bring up the temps a lil during the day. Not much else you can do unless you plan to full insulate, and cover the pond so that it can be minimally heated during the winter. YOu'd be surprised how high you can get the temps with proper insulation. I like the half under/over idea. Will make viewing the fish really hard unless you have a platform to stand on with a locked gate so kids and animals can't get to it. You can net over it to keep predators out, but then you might ensnare a bald eagle and drown it or something. I know they are rare there but still any predatory bird. There are many issues to overcome with this kind of setup. I once had dreamed of doing a tropical indoor pond full of exotic catfish that people could pay to come snorkel with and possibly catch on rod and reel. :) The massive building would have a natural pond right in the center and be very tropical climate with a dome and tropical trees from the amazon. Nifty idea, but I couldn't find any billionaires to bite lol.
 
hey man it does not hurt to dream if you ever find a billionaire that bites let me know that would be one sweet place to spend a day. and i am not apposed to the idea of native catfish i was just wondering if there was any non native cats that could survive because i have been around water since i was born my grandparents wore signing the papers on there lake hose the day i was born and we always had tanks in the like with fish and years ago i had a nice size liner pond raised a channel cat i got when he was like 4 inches i raised him up to about 27lbs unfortunately he died when we wore visiting relatives out of state the liner got ripped somehow and the pond drained all my fish wore dead when i got home and i kinda stopped keeping fish for wile after that but i have Flathead and channels in my fishing pond already so i wanted something different this time around
 
There are many asian, russian, and european species that could easily survive in there. You want big catfish or small catfish is the question? I assume big ones lol. Think Goonch!!!! ;)
 
i would like a large one but i am not sure that i could handle a goonch or wells because of there size even with the size pond i am going to build i feel that both would eventually outgrow it not to mention if i ever had to drain it to make repairs if a leak formed plus they are both hard to find . the size i was thinking about is something over 10 but under 50 pounds so basically something that gets around the same size as a channel catfish but a little more well different but i think maybe i am just going to have go back to the drawing board and build the whole thing indoors or maybe i am just crazy i don't know
 
lol well indoors does open up a lot of options, but you could still do it outdoors and have the same options as indoors. I kind of eluded to it earlier. I once made an insulated pond that was above ground and I kept it outside with my now dead RTC x TSN hybrid during the winter one year for 6 months. The water was 82 F. and the temps outside sometimes dropped to -25 F. Temp was maintained and the heaters barely ever kicked on. I had insulated it from all sides and the top with ecessive insulation. YOu wouldn't have to use as much insulation as me. My pond was just 300 gals, but a 500 watt heater was sufficient with all the insulation to keep the temp up. :) You could build a larger version outdoors and should be able to hold the temps around 72 f which is the low end for most tropicals. This would open up a slew of catfish for you. Plus you would be better in control of environmental factors such as predators. Just a thought!!! I'm actually thinking of building another one soon. Just need to get permission from the landlord first. :) good luck with whatever you decide.
 
I still say you can't fully prepare for hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, ect. .... with a locked gate so kids and animals can't get to it. You can net over it to keep predators out, but then you might ensnare a bald eagle and drown it or something.
The permit application I mentioned takes care of all of that. For the restricted and prohibited species, a "Critical incident Plan" has to be filed that shows the viable steps to be taken in an emergency. The officials will let you know if netting is ok.

@OP: Have you tried what I suggested on Planet Catfish?
 
The permit application I mentioned takes care of all of that. For the restricted and prohibited species, a "Critical incident Plan" has to be filed that shows the viable steps to be taken in an emergency. The officials will let you know if netting is ok.

@OP: Have you tried what I suggested on Planet Catfish?

Not to get off topic but for some reason every post you have made today is a double post? lol.
 
Yes and I reported each of them. JK47 eventually replied they are having a problem with the browser, not on my end. The same happened on PCF to me a minute ago. Some kind of Tapatalk error?

Edit: this one posted as a single. Must have fixed it.
 
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