Fitting in on this planet?

[windgirl]

Hey there gang!, Any one here into just plain old common catfish? I love the idea of a common cat fish, heard they are hardy little suckers .

Although I was thinking of buying a live canadian cat from the grocery store to live its life out in my tank ... but I have no idea how to care for one or even if the tank is big enough (it's bigger then the one in the store but thats all I know). Sigh, don't get mad ... but I fish on occation (legal fishing of course), and I did catch few cats (by mistake, I wanted bass ... or anything to impress the guys). I found them awsome with those whiskers and all ... They are sure fighters, and I found they can get pretty big. Hey, the one big guy did get back at me with a nice good sting.

Either way, I'm Becky in canada. I mostly love these cat fish because some (with big fins on their backs) remind me of little under water windsurfers ... my fav. part of life is windsurfing.

[Silurus]

Becky,

By "common catfish", I take it you mean North American catfish (ictalurids)? I have a couple....madtoms and a black bullhead (<i>Ameiurus melas</i>).
They're among the easiest catfish to care for. Not fussy eaters and fairly tolerant of most water conditions.
The best part is that they don't need a heated tank.

[gibbo]

The fishing topic kinda takes a new twist for us in the UK... Fishing for Salmon/Trout and Sea Fishing off the coast generally means that you can eat the fish you catch. Think of our ancestors catching animals to eat then it is not a problem. 'Sport' fishing though I do have a problem with. I would imagine that Bass make good eating. Am I right? And the odd Catfish you get you put back alive.... the 'target' fish was the Bass. Here in the UK we have course fishermen/women who catch fish for sport and then put them back after holding them in a giant submerged net for several hours at a time. There are large man made lakes specifically stocked with sport fish such as the Common Carp and its sub-species. I have fishermen as friends and as a fishkeeper I sometimes see pictures of the 30lb+ Carp they landed with pox marks on them or cysts that are most likely caused by stress/adverse living conditions. The 'boilies' that are used can contain all sorts of chemicals that would probably do no end of harm to a fish in the long term, and as for being hooked day in day out..... this is a very complex issue. Like our love of fishkeeping, there will be Fishermen/women out there who are very responsible and very considerate toward the fish they catch, and there will be those who aren't interested in the welfare of the fish, just in their 'trophy'. So, personally, I find your question/poll a little difficult to answer.

[Zack]

I live in alaska so fishing is just how i grew up i dont aggree with commercial fishing at all though. Iv worked on charter boats and what not and when were coming into the harbor you can see 200 hundred foot commercial boats over flowing with halibut salmon cod and rockfish. And the worst part is the commercial fisherman complain because they say the sport fisherman or subsistance fisherman are catching all their fish. The prices keep going down and down because of farmed fish and because of the lack of good prices the fisherman just catch more and more fish. The island i live on used to be the king crab capitol of the world. There was soo many, that people would just set a small ring pot and have it full of three foot long king crabs in fifteen minutes. Now do to commercial fishing there is hardly any king crab left around here. Even the fisherman have to go to the bering sea now to get them. What im saying is fishing is good and bad. When a man and his son/daughter/wife/friend got out and enjoy a evening of sport fishing maybe landing two or three fish and most likely keeping them to eat for dinner its not a bad thing if anything it helps people learn about fish and makes them want to help preserve them.