Halibut Grower Diets

Halibut have a unique diet that can consist of several different fish and formulas. Farm-raised halibut have a very different diet than that of wild halibut. It is important for anyone interested in raising halibut to know what diet options are available for the different stages and sizes of fish.

  1. Features

    • Halibut are some of the larger ocean fish. They can grow to be more than 400 pounds in the wild, with most farmed fish ranging from 5 to 15 pounds. This makes halibut an ideal size for farming because they are not too large and not too small. The diet that most halibuts eat is also easy to find and use in farm cages. Most sources of halibut come from Alaska, Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada and Iceland.

    Wild Diet

    • In the wild, halibut have a vastly different diet than they do in farms. Very young halibut eat plankton for the first year of life. From one to three years, halibut eat shrimp and shrimp-like organisms such as euphausiids. Some small fish are also eaten. Older wild halibut eat a large variety of fish including rockfish, sablefish, cod, pollock and herring. Octopus, clams, crabs and even smaller halibut are eaten by fully grown wild adult halibut.

    Farm Diet

    • Much of the difference between wild and farm halibut's diets comes through the expense of feeding such a large variety of food to the halibut in addition to their more sedentary lifestyle in farming cages. Most farm halibut are fed a formula diet based on the nutritional needs of the fish. Currently there are no formulas designed expressly for halibut, but many other sea fish formulas are able to support the life of a farm halibut.

    Mixed Diet

    • In the early stages of a farm halibut's life, mainly the first few months, halibut are fed brine shrimp or a formula with the same nutritional values. During breeding, the fish are given a formula diet designed to maximize their nutritional intake. Some farmers will feed raw fish to halibuts. Adult halibut are usually fed formula diets only. For a few weeks, young halibut are offered a transition diet consisting of live fish and formula feed together.

    Formula Ingredients

    • Farm fish formula diets can be made with a variety of nutritional values and ingredients. Some formula diets are plant-based and use ingredients such as yucca to give fish the proper diet. Blood meal, shrimp, squid, crab and krill are also commonly found in farm-fish formulas. Additional formulas can also be given.