Guides on What Food Should You Feed Catfish in Ponds

Catfish are one of the most loved sport and food fishes in freshwater systems across North America. In many continents, they are deliberately farmed for their meat, including Australia and Africa. Because they are so popular, you can keep them in various artificial ponds. One of the most common cultivated varieties is the Ictalurus punctatus channel catfish and the I. furcatus blue catfish hybrid.

Catfish are considered the kings in aquaculture in America. Their ability to sustain an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollar per year makes them the most valuable fish. Even a one-acre pond can provide enough food for a healthy population, as well as several predatory and forage fish species. The grower may decide to keep catfish on artificial diets in order to speed up their growth and make them harvestable.

The type of food that you feed your catfish will depend on their species, source, and stocking density. If ornamental catfish are kept in garden tanks, they don’t need to be fed fish food that is made for them. You need to be familiar with the food preferences of your fish before you can determine which feed is best. Artificial feeds are often based on nutrients obtained from wild fish.

Wild Catfish Diet

Mature catfish will eat a wide variety of foods, but they prefer crayfish, amphibians and clams.

Many catfish species prefer to live in shallow freshwater bodies, especially those that are located in sub-tropical or tropical regions. Catfish are accustomed to living in water that is running, such as streams or lakes. They will likely find many food options in these areas to meet their nutritional needs, from juveniles to adults.

Young catfish’s diets are restricted by their size and their developmental stage. Their adult counterparts eat more detritus, including decaying animals, and phytoplankton. These foods are easier to find and will work well with smaller mouths.

The diets and nutritional requirements of mature catfish can be very varied. Catfish are able, in highly productive systems that are biodiverse, to eat live prey of many taxa. This can result in larger catfish growth by allowing them to eat larger prey that has higher protein levels. Below is a listing of their preferred food choices from the wild. Some of these foods can be given as treats to naturalized ponds if they have been purchased from a reliable vendor.

• Crustaceans include crabs, shrimp and crabs.
• Clams and mussels as well as snails
• Small fish
• Aquatic insects, larvae and other invertebrates
• Amphibians, their larvae
• Sea cucumbers (in marine or estuarine settings)
• Vegetation and phytoplankton.
• Detritus

Catfish Quality Commercial Feed

You should adjust the size of the fish pellets according to your catfish’s average length and weight.

Catfish production is a smart investment. Before you stock your fish, it’s important to plan ahead. Commercial feeds can be as much as half of intensive farm expenses. Catfish feeds of high quality are nutritionally balanced and contain trace amounts minerals and vitamins. The type of catfish feed used will depend on the stage of growth, the size of the fish at feeding time, the season, and the health of the fish.

Catfish feeds that are used in intensive grow-out ponds tend to have a protein level of 26-36 percent. This is typically due to the use of soybean meal. For feeds used in the warm months or during peak growth periods, the crude protein should be around 32%. This can be decreased to around 26% in winter when the fish metabolism slows down. In heavily stocked ponds, you can also feed your fish with lower protein levels.

The average length and weight of fish should determine the size of pellets. Pellets that measure 1/4 inch (6mm) can be fed to fish that weigh more than half a pound. Pellets that are just 1/8″ to 3/16 inches (3 -4.8 mm) in size are fed to fingerlings. Feeding them with crude protein levels between 28 and 32% is a must. Catfish fry are fed “crumbles” and “fines”. These smaller feeds contain a high amount of protein (upto 45%) to aid in rapid growth. Fry can also be fed natural food sources like tiny insect larvae or zooplankton.

Catfish are given antibiotic-rich, well-balanced food in ponds that have been affected by pathogenic diseases. There may be specific feeding guidelines for medicated feeds in your locality. It is important to check with experts in your area before you give antibiotics. This can have wider environmental consequences.

Catfish feeding behavior

Wild catfish like to be close to the bottom. However, those raised in intensive ponds can also feed from the surface.

Catfish are adapted to survive in the bottom of freshwater systems. Their ventral (underside) section of the cylindrical body is flattened. This allows them to rest comfortably on flat surfaces while they wait for food or rest. Flattened heads are useful for digging holes and removing substrates. Their flattened heads make them bottom or benthic feeders and prefer macrobenthic living organisms.

Most catfish species have a sucking mouth and down-oriented barbels to support their benthic feeding patterns. They are sucking feeders and are more likely than not to chew their prey into smaller, easier-to-digestible pieces. They can only eat items smaller than their own size. Some catfish can cling to walls and objects because of their suction force.

Wild catfish will feed closer to the bottom. However, intensive pond fish are often fed floating feeds to allow them to observe their feeding activity from the surface of the water. Sometimes, both floating and sinking feeds are used. Commercial fish fry suppliers usually provide fingerlings that are feed-trained and can take feeds from the surface. However, floating pellets can be slightly more expensive than those that are sinking.

Intense Ponds: Catfish Feeding

Catfish in intensive ponds require high-quality commercial feeds for optimal growth.

Catfish are raised in intensive aquaculture ponds to reach harvest size as quickly and economically soundly as possible. Catfish require high-quality commercial feeds that contain the right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. It should not be difficult to find a supplier of catfish-specific feed formulations in areas with a strong catfish aquaculture industry. You should also have access to feeds that are suitable for catfish’s growth stages.

Catfish farms use a timed feeding system because it is the most cost-effective way to ensure that all the catfish are getting enough food. The farmer should be able to determine the average fish body weight. If this is possible, the amount of food that the catfish are fed during the day should not exceed a small percentage of their total weight. This amount could also be affected by the water quality and dissolved oxygen levels. Fully aerated ponds are more able to take large food inputs.

Multi-Species Catfish Ponds

Bluegill and threadfin may be included in a self-sufficient food supply for catfish.

Catfish do not need to be fed supplementary feeds in smaller multi-species ponds. These ponds can be used for personal purposes, to make a small profit off seasonally harvested fish or to satisfy the needs of local anglers. Multi-species ponds tend to be more naturalized than intensive aquaculture ponds and are intentionally fertilized. This is because multi-species ponds require vegetation, bottom structure, as well as ample nutrients, which are essential elements for self-sufficiency.

For catfish, a forage base may include minnows and sunfish (bluegill or redear sunfish) as well as threadfin shad. To ensure that the forage base is sustainable without the need to supplement with commercial feeds, it is important to keep catfish numbers to a minimum. You will also need to harvest them intermittently. You should have the ability to stock more catfish, and use supplementary feeds if you have high harvesting capabilities.