Feeding baby catfish
What Do Catfish Eat? - Feeding Nature
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Catfish are common fish species that are found in most parts of the world and there are over 3,000 subspecies. They are called catfish because of their barbels that resemble cat whiskers. This group of fish is members of the ray-finned fish. They are easily identified by their whisker-like barbels and they do not have any scales.
Catfish are some of the toughest freshwater fish species in existence. They can survive with very little oxygen and water. In drought conditions, this fish species is even known to dig holes underneath rivers so they can hide out until the rainy season arrives again. They also follow a remarkably flexible diet which is exactly what enables them to survive in tough conditions.
What Do Catfish Eat?
Most species of catfish are omnivorous. They eat a huge variety of food and can also feed on the decayed matter. Some species such as the Loricariidae catfish do however prefer foods like wood and algae above other types of food. Here is a quick look at the most common foods this fish species enjoy eating:
What Do Catfish Eat?
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What Do Catfish Eat?
Commercial fish food
Catfish can eat just about any commercial fish food you offer them. For fry, high protein fish flakes are an ideal food source. For larger catfish, other commercial fish foods such as pellets are also a perfect food to offer to keep them healthy.
Fish and fish eggs
Catfish love to hunt for other fish species. They usually eat fish that are much smaller than they are but can also nibble at carcasses of larger fish to consume them. Most catfish are also cannibalistic. They will feed on smaller catfish and in catfish farms, cannibalism is a serious concern while raising larvae and fry.
Insects
Catfish will eat all sorts of insects that live or fall into the water. Young catfish, mostly feed on aquatic insects such as dragonfly larvae, water beetles, fly larvae, mosquito larvae, and others.
You can use all sorts of insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, and earthworms as bait to catch catfish.
Crustaceans
This large fish species will also feed on various crustaceans they find in their natural environment. Animals such as crabs, decapods, lobsters, procambium, crawfish, cherax, water flies, water fleas, isopods, and many others are terrific foods to offer this fish species.
Aquatic plants
Catfish also eat plant matter. They will feed on aquatic plants that grow in the water such as algae, lotus plants, water lettuce, and many others. They may also feed on non-aquatic plants that happen to fall into the water such as grasses and soft leaves. This fish species can also feed on aquatic plant matter called detritus.
Fruits and vegetables
Pet owners are often advised to offer a pet catfish some fruits and vegetables to ensure that they get enough nutrients. You can offer them certain veggies raw or even cooked and cooled. If you cannot find natural algae or detritus to feed your catfish, you can also supplement them by offering them fruits and veggies such as apples, bananas, strawberries, broccoli, cabbage, and many other foods.
Blood
Some catfish species like the Candiru are parasitic. This fish species will latch onto its prey and feed on the blood of its host.
Small animals
Catfish are also fond of catching and eating small animals such as mice, rats, lizards, small birds, pigeons, frogs, and many others. They often catch these animals when they fall into the water or catfish may snatch animals like frogs or birds of the riverbank or from above the water.
Carrion
Catfish love to eat carrion meat. They will feed on just about any dead animal they find drifting about the water. Catfish may even scavenge on the carcass of larger animals such as cows or deer and they are happy to consume meat that has become slightly decayed.
Diet Variation
Catfish are detritus feeders which mean they can eat almost any food they can find at the base of a tank or on the river floor. They will also eat just about any type of fresh food they can find including fruits, veggies, and grains.
In harsh conditions, they will eat just about anything they can find.
How to Feed Catfish?
Catfish are very easy to feed because they feed on fresh food as well as detritus and carrion meat. To feed catfish, you can simply dunk some food in the tank. This fish species can eat food from the water surface or they can feed off the tank floor and they are happy to eat almost anything they can find.
What Do Catfish Eat In the Wild?
In the wild, they eat what is available to them. Some seasons, they may focus on larger foods such as small mammals, crustaceans, fish or plant matter. In tough times, they can adapt to survive on detritus or carrion meat.
What Do Catfish Eat in Captivity?
In captivity, this fish species is often kept healthy by offering them a combination of commercial fish foods, an insect or two per week, some algae and detritus they find in the tank as well as other fruits and veggies you may introduce.
What Do Baby Catfish Eat?
New hatchling catfish are called larvae.
When the catfish start to mature a bit, they are called fry. Young catfish mainly focus on smaller foods that are easily acquired such as algae, plant matter, detritus, crustaceans, fish larvae, and many others. They also have cannibalistic tendencies and are happy to eat one another.
How Much Do Catfish Eat?
As a rule of thumb, a catfish needs to eat about 2.5% of its body weight per day. This can however be tough to determine if you do not have a scale. To see if your catfish is getting enough food, you can simply keep an eye on it. Add its food to the tank and keep an eye on your catfish. If it consumes all food within minutes then you should add more food. If too much food is leftover, you can clear the tank and reduce the amount of food you offer daily.
How Often Do Catfish Eat?
Catfish are at their most active in summer. The warmth of the water boosts their metabolism and they start to eat much more compared to other seasons. Ideally, you should feed this fish species once per day, or seven times per week.
They can however survive relatively long without feeding any food at all as long as their bodies can enter a hibernated state if the water is scarce.
Do Catfish Bite?
This fish species is relatively harmless to humans. They do not have teeth but do have a hard file like gums that can be used to grind down food. They also have sharp talons on some of their fins that they can use to sting you. These stings are however non-venomous and won’t do much harm.
Do Catfish Eat Frogs?
Catfish do enjoy eating frogs and tadpoles. Frogs and tadpoles are a good food source since catfish can easily sneak up on these reptiles in the water to catch and eat them. They will also feed on the carcasses of frogs that they might find floating about the river or dam.
Do Catfish Eat Other Fish?
Yes, catfish do eat any type of fish that are small enough to fit into their mouths. They eat a variety of fish species including their own species.
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What Do Baby Catfish Eat?
27 Answers
Charlie Proofer answered
cliff1066™
Many catfish like to eat raw or fried meat such as raw beef, hot dogs, small insects and brine shrimp. Make sure though that when you do feed your baby catfish, you are torn all meat up into really tiny pieces otherwise they might not be able to eat them or they might even choke.
Adult catfish will not get full off eating brine shrimp so this is only recommended for babies. If you do feed brine shrimp to adult catfish then make sure that you give them something else so that they are satisfied. You can buy cubed brine shrimp from the majority of pet stores. They can also live off pond algae but a diet based just on algae is not recommended. A variety of foods is best.
Catfish also love to eat chunks of white bread and wholemeal bread.
However, if you do feed them bread, make sure that it is torn up into small bits for babies, and slightly larger for the adults.
Remember that catfish are ground feeders, you can tell this from the way they always tend to swim along the bottom of the tank or pond, so don’t give them any food that floats because they won’t reach it.
It is also essential that you do not overfeed your catfish, especially when you first get them and are enthusiastic about raising them because overfeeding will kill them.
If you want to find out more information on what baby catfish like to eat, then visit your local pet store. The owner might be able to give you some information or there might be a book there that you can buy and read through.
All catfish are different so it is important to try new foods with it and see which ones that they prefer. Some like to eat hot dogs whereas others prefer brine shrimp.
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Anonymous answered
Many like to eat raw or fried meat. Mainly raw beef, fried hot dogs, insects, soft newborn leaves, brine shrimp. Only feed brine shrimp to babies, because adult catfish will not full off of brine shrimp. They also love little slices of white or wheat bread. Small small pits for babies, but bigger slices for adults. They also can just live in algae pond water and live off of that for about 5 days. DO NOT OVER FEED YOU'RE CATFISH, BIG OR SMALL!!! They will die if fed to much. I advice you to feed them only around 1 time a day or every 2 days. This is sorta off subject, but it's smartest to just raise 1-3 at a time!
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Jack answered
My baby catfish eat lunch meat like ham and turkey it works well trie it
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Anonymous answered
I have about 25 to 30 baby catfish in a 10 gallon aquarium. I feed them once a day, because you can over feed them. They eat grounded up bread crumbs, cubed frozen brine which you can buy at your local pet store, any kind of chicken liver, and algae.
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Anonymous answered
I caught 4 baby catfish and I have been feeding them little bread crumbs they will eat almost anything
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Anonymous answered
I had a baby catfish about 2 - 3 inches long. I no longer have it because I gave it too much food. Its a shame I hadn't done some research sooner. I fed it dried bloodworms n baby shrimp.
I sure do miss the lil guy =(
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Anonymous answered
I'm 10 years old and I caught 6 baby catfish .I feed it very small cut up worms
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Anonymous answered
Try woms and the bigger the catfish the bigger the worms but cut the up so they're not too long to swallow
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Anonymous answered
If you buy them at a pet store they eat pellets of shrimp
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Anonymous answered
Any thing that is green even peas
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himanshu sharma answered
Though cat fish are omnivorous but I think and according to my experience they are primarily algae eater fish .
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Anonymous answered
Baby catfish love to eat fried hot dogs I'm only twelve years old and I caught five baby catfish off of fried hot dogs.
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Anonymous answered
Baby Catfish Eat the bottom of plants, small leaves,and very small bugs that are present in the sand. They eat food that are present on the ground under the water so try not to give them food that floats. Yes you can give then fish food that is easily available in the market.
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Anonymous answered
My catfish eats fish food and algae.
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Shumaela Rana answered
A baby cat fish likes to eat small insects and soft newly born leaves and the stems of the plants.
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Anonymous answered
I was at the river with my friend and caught a baby flathead/yellow catfish and it wont eat anything what should I do?
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Anonymous answered
Baby cat fish eat cut up worms
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Anonymous answered
My baby cat fish have been eating cubed blood worms
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Anonymous answered
I raised some baby catfish for like two years.
I fed them cubed brine from the pet store.They loved that stuff.I had like 7 in a twenty gallon tank.I took them back to the river I caught them in because I was getting different fish for the tank.They reminded me of piranha the way they attacked the cubed brine.
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Anonymous answered
The eat pellets
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Anonymous answered
I just caught 2 new born baby catfishes and I don't know what to feed it
so I was hopping someone would help me
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Anonymous answered
My baby catfish ate flake food when he got 1 1/2 cm. Just crush it up in your fingers and feed once a day.
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Anonymous answered
I just caught 3 baby catfish and I don't knowif they can live with other fish
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Anonymous answered
Did you ever hear of you are what you eat? Well same gose with you taste like what you eat. One thing I do is I feel my few catfish baccon. Ummm baccon, but not to much they have arteries and a heart too. So I feed it small fish plus cheap, but not too cheap of meats. And all of the stuff I feed myself & my fish comes from the local farms in my area because legally the epa states that heavy metels and other toxins that can't be removed from a body can be in that food sold in US stores. These foods are found in supermarket foods and when you eat it you get all of those toxins. That can't be removed from your body. Feed you animals weel and you may reep the rerwards with baccon.
Ummm
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Anonymous answered
My baby catfish eats tiny leaves, tiny bugs, and catfish pellets. They r ground eaters so no floating pellets!
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Anonymous answered
Cut up pieces of hot dog
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Anonymous answered
Baby catfish eat baby food
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Answer Question
description, habitat, nutrition and reproduction
There are a lot of fish in rivers and lakes that people eat. Predators and their prey coexist quite peacefully with each other, forming a natural cycle. Almost every body of water today is inhabited by catfish - the largest river predators.
So what does catfish look like? What do catfish eat?
- Description
- Habitat
- Nutrition
- Reproduction
- Catfish and man
- Captive breeding of catfish
Description
The body of this species is long and elongated. This species has no scales at all. The body of an ordinary catfish is covered with mucous secretions, which help the fish to easily maneuver in muddy water. The head of this species is wide, flat, with small eyes and a fairly large wide mouth. The teeth of this species of fish are small and sharp. The eyesight of the catfish is poor, he is even a little blind. The tactile organ of the soma is the mustache, only two pairs of yellow. They are located on both sides of the fish's mouth, it is with their help that river catfish finds food for itself.
Color of this fish is dark brown to dark brown. The belly is lighter, most often white or yellowish.
The tail is long, about 60% of the entire length of the river catfish. The dorsal fins are soft, blue-black, less often black. Young individuals have a brighter color than adult fish. There are individuals with a length of about 5 meters, weighing more than 300 kg. These fish live for a long time, 50-60 years.
Classification soms:
- class - ray-finned ;
- family - catfish ;
- squad - catfish ;
- species - common catfish ;
- genus - common catfish .
Habitat
Common or European catfish lives in almost all freshwater bodies of Asia and Europe. Most often, these fish prefer to live at depth, in pools and underwater pits. Sometimes representatives of this species swim in salty waters, but they cannot live there for a long time.
Only channel catfish live in salty waters .
It is considered the most numerous of all catfish species. Most commonly mined.
This fish does not migrate, it tries to live in one place all its life. This freshwater predator leaves its home only for the duration of the hunt. It becomes most active in the morning and evening, during the day the fish rests. In late autumn, the common catfish hibernates. During this period, he does not eat at all.
Feeding
Common catfish are rather large in size, they are lazy and slow. To catch a large prey requires effort, so large prey is extremely rare.
However, these underwater inhabitants are not to be fooled. They learned to apply various tricks for hunting. For example, if a large individual experiences a feeling of hunger, then it is almost stranded. In shallow water, fish such as bleaks and fry often rush in flocks. Common catfish freezes with a half-opened mouth. A flock of small fish, not noticing the impending threat, gets as close to the freshwater predator as possible.
A representative of this species draws water into itself with force, and together with the flow of water, about a dozen fish immediately fall into the mouth of an individual. And also the mustache of a catfish hiding under a snag is taken by another fish for bait, a kind of worm. Swimming closer to the catfish, the fish becomes prey.
Freshwater predators are extremely voracious: they eat everything that is in the water. Waterfowl, calves, sometimes dogs were attacked by a whole flock of catfish. There were cases of attacks on bathing children.
So, these fish feed on :
- carrion;
- large and small fish;
- animals swimming in the water;
- insects;
- crayfish;
- amphibians.
Reproduction
Puberty in females ends at the age of 3 years. When choosing a partner, males begin to beat the water with their tails, performing a mating dance. After the pair has formed, the parents begin to create a nest.
The place is chosen quiet, mostly in the whirlpool. The female lays about half a million eggs at a time, the male fertilizes the clutch. The male guards the nest until the fry appear, scaring off strangers. The first 25 days of life, the male guards the fry, then the grown catfish go free swimming. Catfish are polygamous, after mating, the female and male disperse to their homes.
Catfish and humans
Trapping of representatives of the catfish family has long been established on an industrial scale. These predators are eaten, their meat has excellent taste.
Catfish meat is practically boneless, only the spine is present.
In addition to taste, catfish meat contains many trace elements :
- calcium;
- magnesium;
- potassium;
- phosphorus;
- iron;
- sodium.
I vitamins :
- A;
- B1;
- B2;
- B6;
- B;
- C.
Doctors advise people with diabetes to eat sommier meat. Due to the rich composition, this product can significantly reduce blood sugar. Helps to eliminate problems with the gastrointestinal tract.
Captive breeding of catfish
This species of freshwater predators is bred in captivity. This is an extremely hardy fish. The only thing he needs is enough food and relative rest. An extensive reservoir is not needed, space for river catfish is optional.
In total, there are 4 ways to breed representatives of this species in captivity:
- cage method - eggs are placed in special cages, in which fry appear;
- pond method - fish reared in conditions close to natural;
- pool method - catfish kept in a pool;
- feeding method - catfish are raised with other fish species, but the breeder will have to carefully select catfish so that the size of all fish is approximately the same.
Aluminum catfish (Chrysichthys longipinnis) photo, aquarium conditions, description, care, feeding, biology, habitat, photo, cultivation, lifespan, abstract, breeding, reproduction, spawning, disease and treatment, water hardness, salinity, behavior, compatibility, Gephyroglanis congicus longipinnis, aluminum catfish
Aluminum catfish, or gephyroglanis longipinnis - a fish with an unusual appearance, endemic to Africa. There is practically no information about the content of this species. It is quite rare for sale, and only young individuals. Predator, in aquariums takes live and frozen food. He will eat any fish that will fit in his mouth. In nature, it grows (according to some sources) up to 70 cm, so you will need an aquarium with a volume of at least 300-700 liters. Does not breed in aquariums.
Photo © Hippocampus Bildarchiv
Range: Central Africa - basin of the river.
Congo-Lualaba.
Habitat: freshwater rivers and their tributaries.
Description: body is elongated, slightly compressed laterally. The dorsal fin is rather high, flag-shaped. The caudal stalk is long, the caudal fin is two-lobed. Lower mouth with three pairs of whiskers. The eyes are very large. Scales are absent. The dorsal and pectoral fins have strong serrated spines.
Colour: main body color is silver-grey. All fins are transparent, grayish.
Size: conflicting information - from 14 to 70 cm.
Life expectancy: 10-15 years.
Aquarium: general, oblong.
Dimensions: from 100 to 700 liters per one som.
Water: pH 6.3-7.5; dH 4-15°, active aeration, powerful filtration, low flow. Weekly changes of up to 20-30% of water.
Temperature: 20-28°C.
Lighting: moderate, diffused.
Plants: thickets of plants, including a few bushes floating on the surface.
Decoration: driftwood, pipes, caves, stones and other shelters.
Feeding: aluminum catfish is a predator; in nature, worms form the basis of the diet. In aquariums, he takes live and frozen food (bloodworm, tubifex, shrimps, fish fillets, small live fish). There is evidence that these fish can be accustomed to dry food (pellets for catfish).
Behavior: , like most catfish, leads a twilight lifestyle.
Character: predator.
Water zone: lower water layer.
Do not keep with: smaller fish.
Related article Spotted catfish (Corydoras paleatus)
Breeding of fish: spawning in pairs. In the wild, aluminum catfish lay their eggs on washed plant roots, in shelters or bottom holes.
