Could I raise Arapaima in my pond?

[vipercaleb1]

Hey everyone ^_^ this is my first post on here, and first attempt at re-stocking or raising the pond; so I apologize if I'm being ignorant in anything I say in my questions. Thanks in advance for the help!! (=

Ohkay so we have a ~2acre pond that's spring-fed, and deep (~25ft at it's deepest). We used to have flathead catfish which were 2-3ft long on average and healthy (I know their size was awesome for a "pond"! atleast I was surprised when we moved here 5 years ago). I would feed them chicken scraps, generic pellets, and bread every other day. They would just come up to the surface from the depths and gulp the food up; it was so cool since they were "big"! Theere was a Lochness (we calledhim/her nessie) that looked to be about 5ft in length. But when we went on vacation last year, someone came and fished them all out. I haven't seen any since. So now we just have bluegill, LMB, some kind of minnows, and crappie. I think the biggest LMB is around 18in. A bunch of small ones and bluegill.
Bye Nessie ='(

I'm putting in an aeration system soon; have the pump/tubing/diffusers/etc. I just haven't had electric run out there yet.
Here's an infograph of the aeration plan and the pond itself.
imgur <forwarSlash> a <forwardSlash> Srgtx8B

In turn, I really would love to raise a "giant" freshwater fish like a Nessie replacement.
I saw this video that's similar to how the catfish would come and hover close to the surface and gulp the food.
(I can't post a link) Search on youtube for "Super Red ARAPAIMA GIGAS 2"

If Arapaima isn't an option or too expensive, are there any other big freshwater fish that I could raise/stock the pond with?
We also swim in it, but that never bothered them and the big catfish didn't bother any of us.

Thanks guys!

 

[krichardson]

You certainly have a big enough pond for a pima,where are you located?

 

[vipercaleb1]

Oh ohkay coolness!
Alabama.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Oh ohkay coolness!
Alabama.

To cold for a pima

Instead here are some fish that can be thrown in your pond,some get very huge:
1x tiger Muskie (feed regularly).
Alligator gar
Longnose gar
Hybrid striped bass (get a trio).
Blue catfish (if you feed them a mostly fish based diet as fingerlings they'll grow much faster and bigger).
More flatheads .
A bowfin pair.
A lone paddlefish
1 koi.
A bunch of convict cichlids every summer will give your predators more food.

If you can find a source for true meanmouth bass they are very cool.
You can also add fish like redfish.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

if you remove bluegill in the 3 to 5 and a half inch range and feed them to your other fish than the rest of your bluegill can grow bigger due to less food competition.

Water lilies and iris on the sides of the ponds encourage mayflies and can help booster foods in ponds.

If your pond has abundant snails a few freshwater drum work well.

A hifin shark is a cool looking addition as well

 

[Dloks]

You can get away with a alligator gar, a few actually. Please get a sturgeon as they are one of my favorite fish I can not keep due to temperature in CA. I recommend these two to anyone with a pond like yours.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

You can get away with a alligator gar, a few actually. Please get a sturgeon as they are one of my favorite fish I can not keep due to temperature in CA. I recommend these two to anyone with a pond like yours.

To warm for sturgeon unless very deep

 

[Dloks]

To warm for sturgeon unless very deep

25’ is deep brother

 

[Joshomaru]

Pacu can get monster. Grass carp, too.
But, they aren't predators. Not sure if that is what you're gunning for or not....

 

[fishbum]

Pacu can get monster. Grass carp, too.
But, they aren't predators. Not sure if that is what you're gunning for or not....

Alabama gets too cold for tropical fish.