Herons, egrets, and other water birds live almost entirely on fish. She is a bully though! But there are cats in all the ponds. Given the information you now have, you can decide whether keeping the channel catfish in your backyard pond is for you. Over the last month we added more Koi to each ponds. At first the cats were very shy and would not surface to eat. This bird is found in most of the contiguous United States. Hi Barbara. We took back to pond place and replace them yesterday afternoon. Thanks for the feedback Larry! Our 3 year old catfish began at 5″ length and now at 2 ft matches our 10 year old koi. My husband suspects it is because I used the Pondcare Microbial Algae Clean (which is to be safe for fish and plants.) My question being, will he learn to eat sinking sturgeon food or floating koifood, once he ran out of goldfish to eat? Here are a few helpful hints to figure out who your hunter is, so you keep your fish safe. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly snakes but I’m sure the cat gets his share of tadpoles and adults, either way the issue has gone away. Hey Jennifer, I have 3 foot koi and a 2.5 foot catfish. I would contact a local aquarium store or aquarium services provider to see if they would be interested in them. We have about 150 catfish (not sure if its channel) solely for fishing in our pond. It is a good idea to place it so you have a safe path to shut it off before you get hit. They also hide most of the time only coming out for feedings. I guess I won’t be wasting my money on koi! Good luck. While largemouth bass seem to dominate, we occasionally get a really nice channel cat on the line. For raccoons, cats, and dogs, it seems the best deterrent is a “scarecrow”. You could also try a mesh over the pond that wouldn't keep the fish from coming up to feed but would keep the cats from hooking the fish out of the water. He ate a lot of food, but no one else seemed to suffer. Please provide a video link of your cat's reaction in comments. As a pond pro part of my job is to give advice that even I may not want to live by and that includes the advice I give about keeping catfish in your backyard koi pond or water garden installation. All copyrights to this material is solely owned by Mike Gannon. There are, of course, several possible culprits when it comes to eating koi right out of your pond. It’s hard to say why they jumped out, but I can say that it is not typical behavior. Most fishkeepers will be introduced to catfish via the aquarium hobby, and if that is the door you came in through then you know that there are many genus and species of “catfish”. They are great fish to have in ponds. Recently he has stopped eating the shrimp pellets he has always eaten for years and will not eat anything else I have tried everything but he does eat calf liver ever so often. We had purchased it on a Tuesday and by Friday noon he was find by evening we found him and 2 tad poles dead. -Mike. Blame the heron, but the catfish may not be so innocent either! I have notice he/she is definitely slowing down as it gets colder out. We like to add a fish tunnel. Keep us all updated. For daily pro pond tips, follow us on SnapChat, Twitter, FaceBook, and Instagram, The Pond Digger on Facebook: www.facebook.com/theponddigger, The Pond Digger on Periscope: www.periscope.tv/theponddigger, The Pond Digger on Instagram: www.instagram.com/theponddigger, The Pond Digger on Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/theponddigger, The Pond Digger on Twitter: www.twitter.com/theponddigger, The Pond Digger on Youtube: www.youtube.com/theponddigger, The Pond Digger on Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/add/theponddigger. Those long chain chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides were able to persist for long periods. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you. That’s alot of fish for 350 gallons! There are different species of herons scattered around the country, but the most seen around the pond is the Great Blue Heron. When a raccoon, or bear is hunting your koi, they create a complete disaster. They’re a nondescript light grayish tan with a pale peach fin (can’t remember which fin it is, but the peach color is key), about 4 to 5 inches long, and swim near the stones along the pond banks. I am wondering if I should move the two inside for the winter. Max 20ft deep and has low water clarity. But the water is naturally dirty mucky swampish. They are tons of fun to keep. Eased the fish in the temperature water, fed, them went to family 4hrs away came back next day catfish was at top for air, it was night so we’ll see in morning if he pass. The only way to control algae if you want to keep those fish is to upgrade your filters, and/or the size of your pond. The depth of the pond helps provide fish with a safe area to hide. I have had a catfish in my pond for many years who has grown very large. We fish that pond regularly. That won’t happen. Let’s face it, their normal hunting grounds are big lakes, rivers, and even the ocean! And don’t get me wrong I LOVE catfish, and think a catfish pond can be alot of fun too. In the wild the channel cat can get up to 40+ lbs. Actually I enjoy watching them more to see how they continue to adapt to their environment. Next day the blue and 1 jumped the pond spillway and the other blue eyed albino is missing. There are numerous reasons why a catfish, or any fish, may break from their normal eating patterns. Enjoy. I spread the food out over the surface of the pond and all the fish get to eat. However, we lost him just as the spring weather was starting recently. Every single pond has the same fish in it. mono. I honestly don’t know the answer to that but would be very interested to know if this is the case. Hello Siluris. 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