Is the Bream Fish a Bottom Feeder?

Bream are found in lakes just about everywhere in the United States; they're popular fish for anglers. Bream are hardy fish; in captivity they can live happily in ponds and in large aquariums. Several species of bream exist, including bluegills, redear sunfish and redbreast sunfish. Bream will eat just about any type of available food in whatever depth of water they can find the food in. Some varieties of bream do prefer to feed at the bottom of their habitat.

  1. Where Bream Eat

    • One of the reasons bream can be found in so many different environments is that these fish are highly adaptable. Bream will eat pretty much anything that presents itself to be eaten. Bream will feed on the bottom of a lake, stream or pond but they will also feed on vegetation at the middle levels of the water, as well as consume insects and other items near the surface.

    Bottom Feeders

    • Bottom-feeding fish will eat the matter that sinks to the bottom of the living environment. Bottom feeders generally wind up eating an assortment of different stuff, including small animals, scraps of animals that other fish have eaten, algae and various vegetation.

    Redear Sunfish

    • Redear sunfish are bream mostly found on lake, stream, pond or river bottoms. Redear prefer to act as bottom feeders but will eat any food available to them if they are hungry. Redear are more likely to exhibit the eating habits of a bottom feeder than bluegills or redbreast sunfish.

    Feeding in Captivity

    • If you have bream in captivity or are trying to supplement the diets of the fish in your personal pond, you can add virtually any type of pelleted fish food and your bream will eat it. Food designed for bottom feeders such as catfish is often used to feed bream. Just make sure the pellets are small enough that a bream will be easily able to consume them. Floating pellets are more likely to be consumed by bluegill bream, while sinking pellets should reach redear or redbreast sunfish.