What would make catfish grow faster?

Question

I have a channel, pictus, sun, raphael striped, 4 line pictus, and aluminum, ( all catfish ). What food will make them grow fastest. I feed them store bought food such as bloodworms and shrimp pellets as well as cut up hot dogs and other meaty foods i find in my fridge.

Answer 1

Alot of good answers above for faster growth, BUT IMO I would not want that channel cat growing too fast. They get HUGE. Will eat every other cat in the tank. Some of the Pimelodes(pictus) are good choices. I'm a die hard cat fan also. You might want to look into acquiring some Synodontis species. Awesome cats and most of the varients(over 25 available) stay 8" or under. Some of my favorites owned are Angelicus, Brichardi, Decorus, Granulosus($$$),Multipunctatus,and Petricola. Out of your cats, the Channel can hit 3 feet, the sun can get over a foot and both are predatory. Both Pictus can hit 8" and are actually schooling fish(somewhat predatory). The stripped Raphael hits 9" and is real seclusive. Not sure about the aluminum. Hope you have a huge tank =). And if you like cats, Synos are the best, hands down.

Answer 2

If you want the channel to grow faster and larger, get pond fish food for catfish. I know they sell it in 50 pound sacks, but most will also sell it in bulk. This pond food is designed to make catfish grow faster. It is high in proteins. Catfish are scavangers and will eat just about anything which is why cat fish food actually contains just about everything.

If you cannot find a pond/garden center try any store that sells large koi or pond fish from in house ponds (not tanks) They will have the pellet food. If they don't carry it, you can always offer to buy a cup or two from their stash.

Hotdogs believe it or not are fine for cats as well as a few other meat eating fish.

Answer 3

Most catfish prefer vegitation, like algea wafers and hard protein.
Instad of left-overs, consider to continue buying shrimp pellets, with a variety of other food too. Like=

algea wafers

plankton

goldfish pellets

brime shrimp

They need a well balanced diet, and the one thing garanted to boom-up growth is space. The mre room and comfort, the more they'll grow!

Answer 4

Good high protein fish food and plenty of water changes are the most important thing you can do to make a fish grow to its' full adult potential.

Commercial breeders whose income depends on selling good looking adult fish almost all use a constant drip method of continually providing fresh water for their fry tanks. In your case, a regular (weekly) partial (30-40%) water change should do the trick. More frequent would be better, but that amount is more than adequate.

Answer 5

get rid of the "people" food, make sure you have more than enough room for them, make sure your tank is properly set up for them. the regular bottom feeder foods + the "meat" fish foods you are feeding should be fine. some grow faster then others, some just simply don't get big. what rush nature?
also some regular fish moving around in the tank keeps the active and will help.

Answer 6

Cut out the fatty non fish foods and stick with things intended to be fed to fish. If you want a very meaty treat for them try earthworms or beef heart that has had all of the fat removed, that cheaper and healthier than hot dogs.

Give them tons of space, lots of QUALITY foods and plenty of water changes and they will grow.

MM

Answer 7

Keep a Cat outside the tank, the catfish will see the cat and say wow, I wanna grow like that, & will grow faster, Simple.