Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey,
For those members who are raising, and esp those how have some time raising, catfish... what have you found to be a successful feed/food? Has anyone tried growing your own, ex; worms, grubs, kittens, etc? I would like to grow my own but am not opposed to feed, just looking at the whole self-sufficency thing.

VR/
Tony

Currently I'm running my 9' diameter tank as one would an outdoor pond, with water plants and a recirculating bio-filter. I haven't had my catfish very long but we are feeding them commercial catfish food and live minnows. I believe they are shinners but not positive. The minnows not only feed the fish but keep insect populations down. Later I hope to add earthworms to their diet but commercial feed will obviously be the largest portion of their diet.

I always liked this article where they raised catfish on worms: http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods007.htm

I like the ideas of minnows and earthworms. I wondered about a tank of bream, which I've heard breed easily, and feed the fry to the catfish.

I read the article about growing catfish years ago. Kurt Saxon is one of my favorite sites... mostly for humor, though he was the one who got my out of the "run around the woods with a gun" mentality and into the self-sufficiency/homesteading mode.

Thanks for the feedback!

Blessings,
Tony

i have been raising worms on rabbit manure then i feed the worms to my assorted fish and that includes Tandanus Cats but they are fed more commercial feed and some yabbies at times.