What would you do with a 540 gallon pond?

[Divemaster]

So due to budget issues, instead of a 180 gallon tank I'll be making a DIY 540 gallon indoor pond (72"x72"x24") for my large catfish and am looking for some stocking advice. The fish I already have that will be going into this pond include 1 Gibbiceps Pleco, 1 Striped Raphael Catfish, and 1 Pangasius larnaudii. Other than those fish, I'm open to pretty much any suggestions for catfish that would go well compatibility wise with these fish. Some cats I was considering were Channels or Albino Channels (I. punctatus), Blue Catfish (I. furcatus), Flathead Cat (P. olivaris), Northern Brown Bullhead (A. nebulosus), Tiger Shovelnose (Pseudoplatystoma sp.), Redtail Catfish (P. hemioliopterus), Megalodoras (M. uranoscopus), Bacu (P. granulosus), Niger (O. niger), Achara (L. marmoratus), or Vulture (C. macropterus). VERY clearly, I'd not do more than 2-4 additional catfish for this pond depending on which ones I go with because of the bioload these fish produce. I'm also aware that fish like red tails and shovelnose will outgrow a 72"x72" pond but I'd say in about 10 years I could definitely upgrade to something along the lines of a 120"x120"x36" pond or bigger for these cats if they don't outgrow the pond before then. I'm also open to any other suggestions that you guys may offer. So what would be a good stock list?

[bekateen]

Good luck with your project. Here's a stocking suggestion, although it's not along the lines of what you're already considering:

Instead of getting more cats of different species, what about adding more striped raphaels and trying to get them to spawn in your pond? There's already one on-going thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41372) about the challenge of breeding doradids. Perhaps the combination of gallonage of your pond (which is large, relative to a typical aquarium) and the very fact that you're setting up a pond instead of a tank might make it easier to achieve success. I'm sure that if you did succeed in spawning them, others on this site would like to learn from your results.

Cheers, Eric

[Divemaster]

Yes, I know that thread, I made it and I'll be breeding some Acanthodoras or Amblydoras in a 30 long soon enough (or at least try to). The idea of a pond full of Doradids sounds amazing to me, however, my fear is that the Pangasius will gulp up any eggs at the sight of them so I'll save that idea for when I upgrade my Pangasius from this pond.

[bekateen]

Yes, I know that thread, I made it

LOL. Sorry, I wasn't even paying attention to its OP. Silly me.

I suppose that if you did take this approach, you could risk sacrificing the first batch of eggs to the Pangasius. Just keep your eyes peeled for bubble nests; when you find your first nests, then you'd know it's time to move the Pangasius.

Cheers, Eric

[Divemaster]

Any other suggestions guys?

[Jools]

Consider an average Hypancistrus spawning tank and do a scaled up version with very large caves and lots of gibbiceps - they may well spawn.

Jools

[Andrewjw]

I like Jools' suggestion, but i might try a group of Megalancistrus instead of the gibbys....!

[Divemaster]

Sometime in the future, I will definitely attempt breeding some species in this pond. But for now, it's not an option because I already am growing out my striped raph, Gibby, and larnaudii in a different tank which is the entire reason I'm being allowed to have something this large inside . I'm looking for more fellow monster catfish to join them such as the fish I originally mentioned, ideally species 12-18"+ that could learn to handfeed over time.