Rodney Pont wrote:

On 3 Feb 2005 01:48:53 -0800, Pondnovice wrote:

Wow thanks a lot everyone, your info is really a big help, and what a
response! It looks like i have already made a few mistakes so far
according to some of you, but thats ok it wasnt anything too big.
For your information I have laid down river rocks on the bottom,
they look really good but now i'm worried about the detritis factor...
but on the other hand I have also bought some baby channel catfish and
they seem pretty happy searching the crevaces between the rocks for
goodies. If they dont end up being enough I may try the snail idea...
very innovative!

How many channel catfish have you bought and what do you plan to do
with them when they grow? As far as I'm aware these are large fish and
I don't think a 160 gallon pond is anywhere near big enough for even
one of them.

Can someone familiar with these comment?

A channel cat will grow to around three feet - and it'll do it much faster
than a koi and be much more massive than a koi of the same length. A 160
gallon pond is _just_ barely big enough for one.

A channel cat as a device to clean up the detritus is a joke. Most of these
large cats are detritus machines! They will tend to keep it all stirred
up, so as long as you have good filtration and good water flow, it might
work out. You'll definitely be needing a bigger pond - but that's
normal :-)
--
derek