Perhaps a pike

[gozzer]

Catfish guard their eggs and young until they are big enough to fend for themselves. If the dog was passing over a nest, it's possible the catfish was trying to deter what it took to be a predator.

 

This video shows the adult guarding the 'nest' of young. Judging by the size, they must be near to leaving the safety of the shoal.

 

 

John.

[MICK SMITH39]

If I lived down that way, I would have a go,When you said it attacked a dog,Jeramy wade sprang to mind,(River monsters).Scarey.I wonder if you could get in touch with the Catfish Conservation Group

[Ken L]

_{So, what would your plans be for the beast once identified ?}

[Spana]

OMG, that video is terrifying. I didn't even know we had catfish in this country. But to be guarding a nest would mean there was more than one, blimey, how would they have got in there. Would catfish eat ducklings, what do they eat? Was looking at the fish when I fed them this afternoon and there is not a single young fish to be seen. Plenty of biggies but no little ones.

[Spana]

Ken L I have no idea now. At the start I just assumed it would be a pike and it would have to be killed. I don't know much about moving fish but I would think its illegal to put a pike from our lake into any other water. None of my neighbours with lakes would want it. If its an eel and big enough to go for a dog I would think its big enough to be thinking about returning to the sea to breed. But to know we've got to catch what ever it is. I'm just a fish keeper not a fish catcher and there is definitely something in there that I don't want. Would you like it Ken, if we catch it?

[Tigger]

Maybe it's a crocodile ?

[JOHN.H]

Is this for real , or is it a spoof ?

[Ken L]

Ken L I have no idea now. At the start I just assumed it would be a pike and it would have to be killed. I don't know much about moving fish but I would think its illegal to put a pike from our lake into any other water. None of my neighbours with lakes would want it. If its an eel and big enough to go for a dog I would think its big enough to be thinking about returning to the sea to breed. But to know we've got to catch what ever it is. I'm just a fish keeper not a fish catcher and there is definitely something in there that I don't want. Would you like it Ken, if we catch it?

 

Why on earth would it "have to be killed" if it was a pike?

Pike are a natural part of the ecosystem in British freshwater.

Yes they eat fish and even duckings where they can but they will mainly target the sickly and the dead, keeping the water healthy.

Being cold blooded, they will consume a fraction of the weight of food fish that a warm blooded predator like a herron or an otter would consume - about 10% of the food requirements for a given body weight if memory serves.

As for attacking dogs...Sorry but that's nonsense. A dog is way beyond the size of prey that even the biggest and most ambitious of pike might tackle - that's why talk immediately turned to catfish when you told this story.

Oh yes - and killing it would be illegal.

 

Same story with eels. An eel big enough to tackle a dog would be ten times bigger than the biggest European eel ever recirded. It's a fantasy.

 

As to catfish, we don't have catfish of the same species (or even from the same genus) as the ones shown in the video above in this country and to the best of my knowledge, the ones that we do have don't show any nesting behavious at all.

What we do have is Wells Catfish in limited numbers. These fish are not native. If you have one or more of these present and they are large, they are valuble fish and I'm sure you will have local commercial fisheries would be queing up to buy it/them provided authority to transfer it could be obtained from the EA.

 

Other exotics like a turtle are a posibility because sadly, unwanted pets do get dumped. If it were a snapping turtle, once again I'm quite sure there are zoo's or colectors who would take it off your hands.

 

If you are concerned, and want the beast identified, why not invite a couple of responsible anglers to fish for it on a catch and release basis and once you have some idea what's lurking then you can make an informed decision about what to do about it. Afterall, if it can be caught once, it can be caught again, if not with a rod then with a net.

 

Back to your dog story. It's far more likely that the dog spooked one of your carp in shallow water and that the carp made a bit of a splash than the dog was attacked by anything.

[Spana]

I'm sorry if I said the wrong thing Ken,I don't like the thought of killing anything. I just know that something is in my lake that has caused havoc with other wild life over the last few years.John H, no its not a spoof, but I can see why you think so. The dog thing, at the time we did put it down to the carp nibbling at its feet which is probably why I had forgotten about it. All these things which have been suggested would have arrived on their own, from I don't no where. I just want to see a few ducklings, goslings, baby carp and moorhen chicks make it to adulthood, like it used to be.

[gozzer]

I don't often disagree with you Ken, but in this case I do on some points.

As far as I'm aware, it is not illegal to kill a fish from your own stillwater. They are the property of the owner. Although the ruling does seem ambiguous.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Leisure/LIT8499.pdf

 

 

The Wels catfish does nest build, and guard the nest. I know the video I put up was not of Wels, but to just give the OP an idea of what happens. There have been several cases of adults attacking/challenging anything that might be a danger to the young/nest, even humans.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Silurus_glanis/

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/bathers-beware-giant-catfish-terrorizes-swimmers-at-berlin-lake-a-557636.html

 

If it was my water, I would try and catch the thing and if it was just one pike, put there illegally/accidently, I wouldn't see a problem, since the life expectancy is usually only in the mid teens, it would soon die off. If however it was a catfish, I would have no qualms about dispatching it, and any others present.

 

John.