Sun catfish food options

[Gunna623]

I feel my 2 sun catfish dont eat enough? Is that possible? Also what are good foods to vary their diets that may trigger better eating habits?.....im interested in some homeade food recipes as well if anyone has any...please help

[Suckermouth]

These catfish are quite voracious. Shrimp pellets are a good staple food, but you can vary their diet with other typical carnivore fare such as bloodworms and chopped seafood.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Welcome! They are usually unfussy and eat almost everything offered - what Milton mentioned above plus all manner of pellets and fish/crustacean/seafood pieces, various worms, insects, etc.

Some reasons they may not get enough include stiff competition, shyness (fish size and tank decor/cover matter; also need a pack), harassment from tank mates, too much light, etc. They do the best in groups of at least 5-6.

If you will, share a pic of the fish and the tank. That'd be nice.

[Gunna623]

What types of chopped fish? Any?

[Gunna623]

[Gunna623]

Getting a photo of the fish would be dufficult as they are quite shy....i know they eat cause ive had them almost a year I just hope there happy if that makes sense.

[Suckermouth]

What types of chopped fish? Any?

Any type of fish should work as treats.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Milton, do you think colder-water-fatter-fish would be fine too? I thought lean is almost always recommended for tropical fish but I may be wrong. Not that this is even close, but, for a recent example, I gave my 14" Zungaro zungaro some trout and he had problems and eventually got sick, so I had to stop.

Gunna623, nice-looking big tank, adequate cover. In dim lighting, they should not hide all the time during the day. How many are in there? If you had 5-6, they'd be much more visible.

[Gunna623]

There are just 2, and I do see them, just rarely....however last night I saw them both and there stomachs were full so they had a good portion of something....i may just be over analyzing there eating habits. I would love to have more of these fish.....

[Viktor Jarikov]

Well, surely one wants to see their fish - that's the main perk of having to go through all the trouble of keeping a high-maintenance, huge vessel of water in your living quarters... What's holding you from having more?

[Suckermouth]

Hmmm, how much trout did you feed Viktor? I'll admit it's been a while since I've had a predatory fish but my preferred seafoods were shrimp and squid, and rarely did I actually feed fish. While fattiness is a concern, if you use it as an occasional treat I don't think it's a bad thing.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Don't wanna derail the thread but quickly: he ate probably about a pound over a month or two. He was digesting funny doing funny body contortions. Eventually his tummy turned brown, yellow around mouth... and I thought I killed him. He rebounded in 2 weeks.

[Suckermouth]

Well, I think it helps illustrate that moderation is best! Glad to hear he made it out okay.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Right. But my impression was that the question had been directed at the staple foods (albeit you clearly stated "as treats"). So to sum up, any lean fish pieces as a staple is fine. Most typical sea foods like shrimp, squid, octopus, crab, mussel, etc. is lean anyway.

[Gunna623]

@viktor ....i havent seen them at my lfs in a while and Im not big on petsmart but the ones they(petsmart) have arent big enough for my tank....they'd be a cheap snack! Id keep more if I could buy them at the right size though in a heart beat.

[Viktor Jarikov]

I see. When I ran a fish rescue in western and central NY state, I regularly saw trade-in sun cats brought back to the LFSs. Big Box stores don't take trade-ins and I have not visited them anyway - their selection is of no interest to me. I am talking about other per stores and LFSs that, normally, have better variety and know far better what they are doing with fish. If you don't see them at your LFS, you can make it a point to visit any good LFSs when you go outside your area, however far or near, and specifically ask to see tanks with traded-in fish.

About 1 year ago, someone brought a group of seven 8"-10" TL sun cats back to an LFS Petworld in Greece/Rochester NY. They all swam out in the open together and it was a breathtaking sight even for me who had five 4"-6" suns in my community tank and saw plenty of sun cats before... but never a group of sub-adults. BTW, they can grow to 18" SL but I've never seen a sun cat bigger than 10". I hope to, one day.

There is of course an on-line trade, like aquabid and a plethora of others.

[Gunna623]

I seen the 2 that I have and bought them immedietly a yr ago. However a couple of months ago I saw a sun cat that was quite a bit larger than mine (not 18 inches) and I was shocked because I didnt realize they got that big. I was on the brink of purchase but this sun cat I believe would be too big for my current inhabitants

I think my concerns on eating habits were based on a channel catfish that I owned 2 yrs ago. This channel catfish not only ate literally everything, but also came out during the day and to the top to feed. At the time I didnt have my current tank or I would still have that big guy. I was told sun cats grow much slower than channel cats which is fine by me(much less expensive to feed) however im just hoping that their age matches there size.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Sun cats are not the most predatory of cats. But if a fish can fit in its mouth, I'd not house them together.

Yeah, they are an order of magnitude slower growers than channels IME. Channels are in a different league altogether though than suns. I don't think you'd still have your channel in your tank because it'd be about 3 years or so now, right? And be at least 2'-2.5' and 20-30 lb. They do grow to 4' and 60 lb.

[Gunna623]

Exactly I took him to a my lfs and they put him in a 300 g and sold him a few days later. He could be hand fed so his new owner had more space and other monsters he could live with!