Giant Fish in Downtown Omaha - Heartland of America Park

[Emmu]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here so I apologize if it's not in the right category.

Yesterday, I was downtown at the Heartland park when something piqued my attention: a shark-like fin sticking up out of the pond water.
My boyfriend and I both stopped and watched the creature swimming for several minutes. It swam very near the shore (not ten feet away from the rocks where we stood),
and so close to the surface its tail fin stuck out of the water. We could part also see its back, which was brown and looked spotted.

After we walked away from where we initially saw it, we came around a curve and saw several more fish of the same kind.
I'm not particularly interested in fish, however, these guys were huge. They looked to be about 4 ft long.

I also thought it was strange that a) such huge fish were in a relatively small pond in downtown Omaha and b) that they swam so near the surface.

So I was just wondering if anyone any has seen them while passing through the Heartland of America Park, or if anyone has an idea of what they might be.

Thanks.  :)

[Coyote]

I have pics of them somewhere I took a while back. I was told what the were but I now can't remember maybe loricarid. They are algae eating catfish.

[Brad]

Saw them 2 weeks ago, just a bunch of carp.

[thenewguy]

Saw them 2 weeks ago, just a bunch of carp.

for a minute i thought you said a bunch of |expletive| ;)

[guy4omaha]

I have seen them too. Last year I saw what I thought were catfish. Big 'uns. So maybe they're in the lake in addition to the carp.

[ThatGuy]

I couldn't find an official Heartland of America Park thread so I guess this will do. I took my kids to the park yesterday and it was obvious that the waterfall hasn't worked in quite awhile. Not only was there no water at all, but giant weeds were growing in the 3 different levels. Also, the fountain sat idle the whole time we were there. What's up with this? Lack of funds to fix them or what? It looked terrible.

[Uffda]

I know there was no water running down the falls during the Taste of Omaha back in June and it looked like there hadn't been for awhile back then.

[Brad]

The lights on the ped bridge are all jacked up too...

[justnick]

I know I'm a weirdo who enjoys the trashy run down side of things, but surely there aren't enough people in Omaha like me for these people to be catering too. Get your |expletive| together, Omaha, my viewpoints is not a good one to prop up!

[joeglow]

I know there was no water running down the falls during the Taste of Omaha back in June and it looked like there hadn't been for awhile back then.

They had people pump water from the lake to fill them in so people could not see how sh*tty it looks.  They have not been running all year.

[ThatGuy]

I know I'm a weirdo who enjoys the trashy run down side of things

We took the kids down there on Labor Day and you would have been in HEAVEN. We started out at the GLM and it was disgusting. There was so much trash in the water that it looked like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A Creighton freshman saw me taking pics of the garbage and asked, "Why is this place so nasty? Is it always this way?" Next we walked to the Heartland of America Park and you already know the story there. We decided maybe the pedestrian bridge would be better and hit that. Bad call. We ended up back in our hood at Elmwood Park. We probably should have just went there to begin with.

It was a holiday weekend with a parade and carnival. I bet there was a lot of people down there that don't normally visit and the place was a disaster. Way to go Omaha!

[Bfishomaha]

Me and my husband saw that huge fish. My hubby says it's a huge carp. I tried to attach a picture of it but it didn't appear to work.

[Coyote]

Me and my husband saw that huge fish. My hubby says it's a huge carp. I tried to attach a picture of it but it didn't appear to work.

Try emailing it to me, I'll post it.
I think they are carp...

[GRANDPASMUCKER]

I think that people have been throwing in algie eaters from their aquariums. These catfish/prehistoric looking fish are called plecostomus. They are from South America and can get 2 feet long. I had one in my 29 gallon aquarium once that was a foot and a half long.

[MTO]

But plecos are from the tropical Amazon how do they servive our winters?

[GRANDPASMUCKER]

But plecos are from the tropical Amazon how do they servive our winters?

How could any fish survive a winter in those shallow concrete ponds. I assumed those fish were thrown in there this spring.

[MTO]

I'll take plecos over snakeheads if people are going to dump them. Plecos kept our tanks clean for years and that water down in the mall definitely needs cleaning by late summer.