SWM seeks LCF (Large Carnivorous Fish)?

Monty Burns wrote in message . ..
Enter the stereotypical question : I want a big fish for a big pond,
that will eat small mammal carcasses / meat scraps / other fish.
(I've searched via Google, but can't find the answer)

Flathead catfish. Might not be legal in WA, though.

Ask around about the largest breed of catfish in your area, might be
one I'm not remembering.

Go catch a gar and put that in your pond. They are about as
mean as pirranha.



Monty Burns wrote:
Enter the stereotypical question : I want a big fish for a big pond,
that will eat small mammal carcasses / meat scraps / other fish.
(I've searched via Google, but can't find the answer)

--

I've got a pond full of goldfish, and although they're pretty, they're
not terribly entertaining.

I've also got an excess population of eastern grey squirrels (the
non-endangered type) that I routinely dispose of. Opossums, too.

I live in Washington state, where a layer of ice forms over the pond
in the winter. So tropical fish are out.

The pond is 13,000 gallons - a 35'x15' swimming pool, 6' deep in the
deep end. It's also a concrete pond, with a high pH. At present, it
doesn't have a lot of aeration, but I plan on changing that this
coming summer (adding a waterfall and 700 gallon biofilter)

So here's my question: what kind of fish could I get that would eat
dead squirrels and grow to be 2-3 feet long? Would a big catfish do
this? In my hollywood-addled mind, I'd love to see some vicious
pirhana action. (Of course, having owned a red-bellied pirhana
before, I know them to be rather boring in practice)

After reading all the stories about the giant chinese snakehead, it
sounds like what I would want (sans the on-land movement). Of course,
that fish is now quite illegal to import into my state. So an
alternate fish is required.

I realize this is probably not what most ponders are looking to raise.
But it's a serious question.

Thanks in advance.

PS: No, I don't have a wife. :

"Gene" wrote in message
...
Go catch a gar and put that in your pond. They are about as
mean as pirranha.
snip

I had a gar for awhile. He was awesome to watch, and he was a great hunter.
They like moving water, so a serene pond would not be optimal.


--
BV.
WebPorgmaster
www.IHeartMyPond.com
Help Support IHMP by shopping at Amazon.com thru our associates link,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/re...ome/dcg8118-20.

I didn't know gar were a mean fish! My crowd and I used to swim
in a old abandoned quarry that was loaded with gar and water snakes.
Somehow I wasn't at all freaked ....No one ever got bitten.

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"Gene" wrote in message
...
Go catch a gar and put that in your pond. They are about as
mean as pirranha.
snip

I had a gar for awhile. He was awesome to watch, and he was a great
hunter.
They like moving water, so a serene pond would not be optimal.


--
BV.
WebPorgmaster
www.IHeartMyPond.com
Help Support IHMP by shopping at Amazon.com thru our associates link,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/re...ome/dcg8118-20.

chihuahua?
mad
--
I haven't lost my mind. It's backed up on disk somewhere.


From: "Cybe R. Wizard" Cybe_R_Wizard@WizardsTower
Organization: Interdementia-nal Consortium of Wizardly Dudes
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 00:02:15 GMT
Subject: SWM seeks LCF (Large Carnivorous Fish)?

a neighbor down the street lost his wife's small stomp
dog.



-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

when i was a kid, we would spend a week at lake buchannan in central texas.
my dad would lay a trotline which we'd check daily. one summer we had
snagged a BIG alligator gar. he had gotten all the other fish on the
trotline before he snagged himself and there were all these fish heads
attached to the trotline. my dad took the oar to him.
mad
--
"A work of art is a corner of creation seen through
a temperment."
Emile Zola

From: "Nedra"
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 11:39:46 GMT
Subject: SWM seeks LCF (Large Carnivorous Fish)?

I didn't know gar were a mean fish! My crowd and I used to swim
in a old abandoned quarry that was loaded with gar and water snakes.
Somehow I wasn't at all freaked ....No one ever got bitten.

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"BenignVanilla" wrote in message
...

"Gene" wrote in message
...
Go catch a gar and put that in your pond. They are about as
mean as pirranha.
snip

I had a gar for awhile. He was awesome to watch, and he was a great
hunter.
They like moving water, so a serene pond would not be optimal.


--
BV.
WebPorgmaster
www.IHeartMyPond.com
Help Support IHMP by shopping at Amazon.com thru our associates link,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/re...ome/dcg8118-20.







-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:13:08 -0600
mad wrote:

chihuahua?
mad

From: "Cybe R. Wizard" Cybe_R_Wizard@WizardsTower

a neighbor down the street lost his wife's small stomp
dog.

I think it was one of those Chinese kind, a Lotsa A**hole.

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L

Moving water will be introduced in the spring/summer. But it appears
that gars are banned as well:

http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/ans/ans_species.htm

As for the flathead catfish, that would appear to *not* be banned.

http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=11 says that the species
name is "Pylodictis olivaris", and WA only bans Family Clariidae
(walking catfish)

However, that same page lists the Ideal Temperature for flathead cats
as 75 to 84. I definitely get a layer of ice over the pond in the
winter.


Boy howdy. That DFW page is a wishlist for my pond. Not being stupid
enough to intentionally put a pet fish into the local waterways, it
really irks me that they ban vicious fish that can't possibly move
across the land.

(granted, several of the species in that page *can* move across land,
so those are excepted from my rant)





On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 01:51:07 -0500, "BenignVanilla"
wrote:


"Gene" wrote in message
. ..
Go catch a gar and put that in your pond. They are about as
mean as pirranha.
snip

I had a gar for awhile. He was awesome to watch, and he was a great hunter.
They like moving water, so a serene pond would not be optimal.

In Wisconsin we use Northern Pike or better yet "Tiger Muskie" Northerns
are easy to catch, but the Muskie has to be over 42" before they are legal.
But talk about a cool fish, 50" - 60" can be seen regularly.

Another good LARGE predator is Sturgeon. And when you get tired of them get
'em pregnant and the eggs make great caviar. You might even try large
Rainbow, Lake, or Brown Trout, I have seen large ones devour Ducks. What
about Salmon?

JOhn


"John Hines" wrote in message
...
Monty Burns wrote:

So here's my question: what kind of fish could I get that would eat
dead squirrels and grow to be 2-3 feet long?

A dawg that swims?

My chihuahuas are scared of my fish.




On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 08:13:08 -0600, mad
wrote:

chihuahua?
mad