Are Chinese Wels Catfish Coldwater Fish?

[Loganfish]

Hello! As mentioned in a previous post, I want to stock my pond with some cold water species for fishing that are preferably exotic. One being Chinese Wels Catfish. Are these species able to survive winters in Ohio? The pond is large, contains Bluegill, Green Sunfish, and Largemouth Bass. I’ve tried catching Carp and Catfish there but haven’t caught any of those in that pond yet.

 

[AR1]

Tagging some experts
wednesday13 thebiggerthebetter

 

[wednesday13]

Hello! As mentioned in a previous post, I want to stock my pond with some cold water species for fishing that are preferably exotic. One being Chinese Wels Catfish. Are these species able to survive winters in Ohio? The pond is large, contains Bluegill, Green Sunfish, and Largemouth Bass. I’ve tried catching Carp and Catfish there but haven’t caught any of those in that pond yet.

Im also in ohio… i do not advocate this at all lol… Chinese wels in the trade are farm raised. I do not believe they would survive an ohio winter. At small sizes there not going to survive a decent sized large mouth in their either or channel catfish. Last thing we need is someone keeping exotics in an outdoor fishing pond that leads to more fish being banned.

If youd like “better” fish in ur pond. Go for natives that are available through hatcheries. Its also illegal to transport live natives in our state from one body of water to another. The laws here on collecting natives are very grey in the states favor.

Wipers, tiger musky, musky, walleye, saugeye, channel cats are all readily available from hatcheries in our state. IMO wipers are probably the best option. I doubht ur pond is large enough for esox species.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

100% with Wednesday13. Every time an exotic fish is found in the wild by the public or by authorities, it gives us, the fish keepers as a whole and the whole trade a foul name, and presents another case for banning this species or most exotic fish species. Even if the chance is small, it is still a chance, and it is illegal.

Moreover, discussing a potentially illegal activity on the MFK also throws a shade on the (government-watched) MFK and is against the MFK policies. Please be careful.