Catfish Food Types

You can find catfish in and around every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Catfish vary greatly in size, behavior and physical characteristics, but most catfish share the one characteristic from which they obtained their name: protruding long, thin barbels near the mouth that resemble the whiskers of a cat. The diet of a catfish depends greatly on whether it is domesticated or not; wild catfish consume different foods from aquarium catfish.

  1. Catfish Food in Nature

    • The diet of wild catfish is vast and quite flexible. Catfish are bottom feeders, which means they scavenge the bottom of the sea or river floor for most meals. They often consume other fish, such as minnows, as well as crayfish, mollusks, snails and fish eggs. Catfish have no qualms about making a meal out of whatever aquatic insects, frogs, worms, leeches and decaying vegetation they come across. Any edible substances that sink to the bottom of the sea are fair game for catfish.

    Commercial Feeding

    • Many humans enjoy making a meal out of catfish. Catfish are raised by the thousands in catfish farms across the United States for this purpose. Farm catfish are typically fed pellet food. Commercial catfish food is designed to produce the largest, healthiest and tastiest catfish possible, so the food itself is carefully balanced to be nutritionally sound. Commercial food contains all the nutrients catfish need to thrive, including vitamins, minerals and protein.

    Aquarium Food

    • Catfish kept as pets are typically fed a mixture of manufactured fish food and food that a wild catfish would consume. Most pet supply stores offer fish flakes that cater to bottom feeders like catfish, which are weighted so that once dropped in the aquarium, they sink to the bottom in easy range of a hungry catfish. Catfish owners often supply their fish with bloodworms, small insects and vegetation as well. Fish owners also sometimes add catfish to a large, multi-species aquarium as a mechanism for cleaning up sunken fish food and other messes associated with the cohabitation of numerous fish in one tank.

    Differences by Species

    • The types of food catfish eat varies among species. The approximate 2,000 different species of catfish found worldwide fall under specific categories according to their feeding preferences. Large-mouthed catfish typically prefer fish over other foods, while catfish with sucker mouths consume primarily algae and vegetables. "Cory" catfish and similar catfish species mostly eat small crustaceans.