how cold can it get?

[sauwam]

Good day to you -
We have a channel cat that was kicked out to the outside water garden (an old claw foot tub) when he became too big for the 20 gal fishtank. The stock tank heater failed during a recent cold snap and the water froze down about 3-4". I'm wondering if in your experience if we still have a live cat? I'm hopeful he's well. I've been afraid to poke around and potentially disturb him as he flips himself out of the tub when startled (which freaks me out!)
Thanks for your advice,
-Wendy

[MatsP]

If it's just the surface that has frozen, I'd say it's likely that you have a live fish in there. However, I'd definitely say you want a heater to prevent it from freezing all the way to the bottom. These fish live all the way up to the great lakes, so they should tolerate a bit lower temps than the 12-21'C/54-70'F that the Cat-eLog says here:

Ictalurus punctatus

--
Mats

[Birger]

The temperature should not be a problem unless it was a very sharp drop...I would say the biggest worry would be loss or lack of oxygen as it sits under the ice.

Birger

[apistomaster]

Are you in Washington State, USA? It did recently get unusually cold in the area for this time of the year.
My 12 inch deep wading pool I raise mosquito larvae and blood worms in froze into a solid block of ice last week.
Never had it do that before. I haven't checked to see if I still have any living blood worms yet but it wouldn't surprise me if they survived.

If only the top 3-4 inches of your channel cat tub froze you should be OK but it is a good idea to use supplementary aeration to prevent them from suffocating. I know that can be a challenge to provide but it is even a method used on especially rich trout lakes which are too shallow to prevent winter kill in Washington State . I know of a few small trophy Rainbow Trout Lakes in Okanogan County, some private and one public, where this is done so they can produce 6 lb trout from small sized, food rich lakes, from year to year. It isn't the cold but the lack of oxygen that kills.

[sauwam]

Thanks for all the positive feedback!

There is a small water pump in the center of the tub keeping the water in motion. The water froze in a dome shape over the pump but the water kept moving underneath and it helped to keep a small area from freezing over completely.

Good to hear that this cat lives as far north as the Great Lakes. Having read that these guys perfer 54* or higher I wondered if even the stock tank heater would be helpful as that will only keep it from freezing.

It didn't flash freeze outside, but dropped slowly over a few days time and then didn't raise above 32* for over a week. I think our "Big Guy" will a-ok.

Thanks again!
-Wendy

[apistomaster]

Channel Cats stop feeding when the temperatures drop into the low 50's*F but otherwise they can survive in a torpor at lower temps.
The temperature ranges given in the aquarium literature is only concerned with normal potential aquarium conditions and not necessarily the range wild fish may survive in and particularly the temperate zone species.

I just checked my pool and harvested a ton of small Tetra bite sized live blood worms. Much better than I thought I would do after being frozen solid. Some of my fish are snacking on some newly harvested blood worms. It's cool to be able to collect live food grown under the carport this time of the year.