Ok! Lots of good questions! I'll start from the top!
- How big is the lake area wise? Around 6 acres
- How deep? It was a digging site for dirt to improve the structural stability of near by housing units. So around 20m deep (got paid for it too lol)
- Is it mud bottom? Yup all 100% natural dirt
- How is it supplied with water, by rain, underground spring, creek, runoff, or else? It's connected to canals so the water level is pretty constant +/- 1m depending on the season.
- What is the water like, seasonal temperatures, hardness, TDS, pH, clarity? I have test results somewhere. I'll post it if I find it. Clarity is pretty bad due to the dirt being mixed up from the fish.
- What kind of vegetation grows on the shores and in the water? Mostly morning glory and cattails.
- Are there any structures in the water, rocks, driftwood, etc? There's multiple piles of drift wood I placed to give the smaller species a chance lol. Boulders here and there from the excavation days.
- What lives in the lake naturally, fish and other animals? Tilapia (invasive), climbing perch, snake heads, and a few other SEA species. Lots of snails and birds that feed on the fish.
- What have you stocked it with so far, species and sizes? 2 large gars 5ft, 6 large arapaima 5-8ft, 5 Giant mekong catfish 40kg+, 2 Giant barb 10kg+, 9 Giant pangus (short body was a gift from a friend. Out grew his cement pond) excluding short body 30kgs+, 2 Datnoids 15 inches give or take, 2 piraiba catfish 13 inches, 7 red tail catfish 14 inches+, Asian redtail catfish 50kg+, Rita catfish 13 inches and a few other species that I can't remember lol. I'll try digging for some photos.
- How are the stocked fish doing, how long have they been in the lake? The arapaima have been here for several years. There all doing great!
- Is it easy to get such large specimen of arapiama, alligator gar, Asian red tail catfish, short body paroon shark (I don't know why you'd want a short body)? It's not really that easy. I usually get donations from friends (mostly exotic species) and the Asian fish I usually buy from fishermen (can let such a beautiful specimen be turned into meat balls lol) or stocked fishing lakes.
- One of the fish you released appears to be a tig catfish, or a juruense catfish. Do you think it will survive? Arapaima and the large catfish will swallow it whole, I'd think. I believe that they could if they had the chance but I have lots of species of bait fish which are more appetizing to the fish (from what I've observed - probably something to do with toxin build up). I also feed them once a week. So that's when I release smaller fish so they don't get targeted. Also I believe that in tanks there's no constant source of food causing fish to eat their tank mates. But I feel like in ponds fish are less stressed and have the chance to establish their own territory.
- I am afraid the same may happen to the arowana and datnoid (later, after arapaima get up to 6-8 feet). Funny you should mention arowanas. They coexist when I feed them which is pretty cool. They swim past each other without any concerns. I believe from my experience that fish are intelligent to the point of realizing that there are other alternatives then what food is given in front of them. Why bother risk choking on a large meal when there's multiple small meals you can early sorta vibe.
Are you worried about security? People. Natural animal predators of land, water, and air - like bears, large predatory turtles, large reptiles, like crocodilians, snakes, otters, minks, fishing eagles, herons, diving fishing birds, like cormorant and anhinga - nasty birds we have here? I live in south east Asia so no worries about bears lol. Crocs don't live in my area and are usually KOS due to public safety reasons. Snakes and birds don't target Giant fish and the smaller ones are bottom dwellers. Water monitors are the only big concern. But they usually eat the bait fish.
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