catfish in a farm pool

[mike1234]

i was speaking to someone who fishes one of the same farm pools as me and he told me that about 15 years ago someone bought up some freshwater catfish from a pet shop and released them into the water

 

i have never heard of anyone catching any recently but i know that alot of the fish in there came from other lakes mostly from another local lake that was filled in

 

i know there are some nice sized goldfish in there and other ornamentals that most likely came from pet shops or garden pools, i doubt the lake owner or anyone official would have been asked about the introduction as the fishing as been ran by a small group of anglers who seem to have a few "different" ideas on fishery management

 

i am not sure if they have survived or of there life span but i am thinking of leaving a sleeper rod out with a fish bate on to see if anything picks it up

 

does anyone know what species of catfish would likely to be sold in a U.K .garden centre ?

[Newt]

It would not have been Wels which as far as I know is one of the few species that does well in the UK.

 

The tropical varieties would probably not have survived a winter.

 

Most of the others (like the US channel & flathead catfish) could do OK and are long lived fish but inactive in cool weather so unlikely to bite until next spring when the water has warmed up a bit.

[mike1234]

cheers newt

 

i assume they would have been sold to go into a garden pool.

 

i was told that they came from a local garden centre and was being sold off cheap, probably because the more active and colourful fish where more likely to sell

 

apparently around 20 of them was put into the water but i dont know what species they where so its hard to find out much in the way of life span or breeding conditions to see if they are still in there

 

i suppose the only way of knowing if they can be caught there is by fishing for them

 

i have been looking at what fish are being sold here in garden centres and aquiriums at the minute and cant see anything that would survive a winter but there is no way of knowing what was on sale 15 years ago

[Dick Dastardly]

Lets hope they wasnt Brown Bull heads.......

 

Newt Ive seen Wells for sale in Garden Centres and pet shops.

Edited September 30, 2009 by BUDGIE

[Vagabond]

Cold-water species of catfish sold to British aquarists include the Ameiurus spp from N America. - Brown Bullhead A.nebulosus and Black Bullhead A. melas

 

Numpty aquarists (as opposed to intelligent ones) put them in ponds from time to time.

 

One Brown Bullhead used to reside in one of our club ponds. Fortunately, they don't appear to thrive too well in the UK but on the Continent have bred and proved a nuisance - do a Google search for poisson chat

 

eg http://www.questbaits.com/blog/dont-get-pe...s-find-out-how/

Edited September 30, 2009 by Vagabond

[Steve Walker]

My guess would be brown bullheads too, they used to be freely sold for putting into garden ponds.

[mike1234]

i have never heard of any problems that could be linked to them being a nuisance or even heard of anyone catching one

 

so if they was a nuisance species hopefully they are all gone,

 

but there is only a small group of people who fish the lake and most of them dont target anything but carp (even tho there are a lot of species in there) so if they was a smaller species that feed mostly at night it would make sense that they dont get caught much,

[Newt]

Bullheads (both brown and black) can be a nuisance but they make an outstanding live bait for larger preds. They are very tough fish and stay active much longer than any other bait fish I know of.