Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi, my son caught a little perch in our creek and has transferred it to a large aquarium to study it for a couple of months. It is doing well and eating nicely, although what it has eaten is strange.. some deli turkey intended for its aquarium mate, a crawfish caught in the same creek.

The perch is about 3.5 inches now, and we think it is maybe green perch, although we are trying to determine the exact species.

Our question is: how much and what and how often should we feed our new "pet?"

Thanks, fish friends

If you follow aquarium folk advice it would be "a pinch of food, scoop out anything not eaten"

If you take an Aquaponisists advice it would be "throw tiny bits of food in till it stops eating, don't throw in more that they eat"

As to what to feed, the best thing would be a high nutrient aquaculture pellet, but you might have to settle for a quality koi/pond pellet if you can't find aquaculture pellets in small quantities. Avoid the pond pellets designed primarily for "coloring up" the fish.

I would avoid standard aquarium flakes for this type of fish.

If the fish is small, use 1-2mm pellets or crumble.

sounds like a member of the sunfish family, i had a link to a good website for id but can't find it at the moment,, this one isn't bad:
http://tnfish.org/FishIdentificationID_ ... on_Key.htm

Thank you I might just stick with the turkey..he really likes it..and it seems like good protein. But, we do have some pellets to try too. It's neat to have a new fish..and he is very smart. He has all kinds of interesting behaviors and is always on the lookout for food.

My son thought it might be a sunfish too!

Good to hear about your experiences with the fish. If it loves turkey, it would be better if you feed it with the same.