What do you feed to your catfish?

All posts regarding the care and breeding of catfishes from other parts of the world (North America, Europe and Australia). If you don't know where your catfish is from, post a query in the identification category.
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ChocolateCatfish
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What do you feed to your catfish?

Post by ChocolateCatfish »

Right now I'm feeding my baby 1 1/2" raphael Hikari sinking wafers, but I want to buy him a big variety of foods that are medium to high in protein.
I'm not sure what to buy, but right now I have my eye on Hikari carnivore pellets and Ken's earthworm/catfish sticks.
If anyone could list a bunch of healthy pellets/sticks/wafers/etc I could safely feed to my catfish (and aren't full of fillers) that would be very appreciated.
If there's a thread here that lists a bunch of catfish foods, let me know! I looked but couldn't find anything.

My ideas:
Hikari carnivore pellets
New era catfish pellets
Omega one veggie rounds
Omega one sinking shrimp pellets

Any more suggestions?
Last edited by ChocolateCatfish on 10 Sep 2015, 19:05, edited 1 time in total.
Bas Pels
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Re: Best foods for catfish?

Post by Bas Pels »

I would feed it anything, but not too rich in protein. It can live a very long time, therefore it will not need to grow rapidly. Rapid growth normally reduces life-expectancy. No problem when you are raising chickens in order to eat them, but a bit of a shame if it concerns animals you want to enjoy
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ChocolateCatfish
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Re: Best foods for catfish?

Post by ChocolateCatfish »

Bas Pels wrote:I would feed it anything, but not too rich in protein. It can live a very long time, therefore it will not need to grow rapidly. Rapid growth normally reduces life-expectancy. No problem when you are raising chickens in order to eat them, but a bit of a shame if it concerns animals you want to enjoy
I didn't mean to sound like I wanted him to get huge fast. Cause trust me I don't. I mean grow healthily, not blow up to 7 inches in 4 months. That was my bad.
I was suggested to feed high in protein/meaty foods for him since he is young, I hear that for all kinds of catfish. I'm in no hurry, so please don't think of it that way. Planet Catfish's page says to feed high protein foods. His diet will not be entirely protein/meat based at all, don't worry, but I'm not growing him out so he can be a huge show-off fish. That's really cruel. I'll change my original post, cause it did sound like I was trying to grow him. I just saw that protein foods can be beneficial to his health.
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catfishchaos
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Re: Best foods for catfish?

Post by catfishchaos »

Frozen bloodworms get a lot of catfishes attention and promotes a very aggressive feeding response (towards the worms), mysis shrimp are another awesome thing they will love. I use Hikari sinking carnivore pellets and algae wafers for my plecos but for my other catfish its all frozen food or even live (grindal worms, fruit flies etc) and I give them spirulina brine shrimp every now and then as-well.
I can stop keeping catfish whenever I want. I just don't think I'll ever want to do that...
ChocolateCatfish
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Re: Best foods for catfish?

Post by ChocolateCatfish »

catfishchaos wrote:Frozen bloodworms get a lot of catfishes attention and promotes a very aggressive feeding response (towards the worms), mysis shrimp are another awesome thing they will love. I use Hikari sinking carnivore pellets and algae wafers for my plecos but for my other catfish its all frozen food or even live (grindal worms, fruit flies etc) and I give them spirulina brine shrimp every now and then as-well.
Thanks for the suggestions!
I want to feed my baby some bloodworms but sadly I do not have access to frozen foods anywhere near here.. I plan on stocking up once I go out of town but as of right now it's not an option :(
Is the spiruluna brine shrimp freeze dried? Like Hikari's brand?
Bas Pels
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Re: What do you feed to your catfish?

Post by Bas Pels »

I got my platydoras because my cichlids made a mess of their tank: I used to feed Hikary staple foods, with 30-40 % protein (obviously, when dry). The cichlids crushed the pellets, and a lot of this sank to the floor, where it remained laying on the sand.

To prevent rotting, I got the Platydoras, which did their task nicely.

Obviously, one should not put catfish in a tank in order to feed them with garbage, but in case the amount of food on the floor of the tank is large, is it wrong keeping catfish? I would say no.

I can't say I would do it again, but that has to do with life expectancy: New Platydoras I could buy might outlive me.
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