It is advisable that you allow your fish fingerlings / juveniles some rest after stocking before giving them feed. This is to prevent feed problem that may be as a result of stress that they have been made to pass through.
If stocking is done in the morning for instance, it is better to wait till late in the evening or the following morning before giving them feed. This is also applicable to sorting; allow them to rest before feeding them after your sorting.
What Feed Size to Give Your Catfishes
Like I said earlier, there are various fish feed sizes, whether you go for floating or sinking feed; sinking feed is usually bigger, and longer, than floating feed.
From my experience, here are the different sizes I’m currently aware of:
1.5mm, 1.8mm, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, etc.
The bigger you fishes, the bigger the feed size they can pick.
Here’s what I recommend if you just stocked your ponds, if your fishes fall into the following categories:
- Fingerlings (3 to 4 grams): 1.5mm feed size
- Post-fingerlings (4 – 6 grams): 1.8mm feed size
- Juvenile (6 – 10 grams): 2mm feed size
- Post-juvenile (10 – 50 grams): 2mm feed size
As your fishes grow, the size of feed they can pick will increase. Here’s the feed size I recommend for bigger fishes, based on their size/weight, if you’re to give them floating feed:
- 10 – 50 grams: 2mm feed size
- 50 – 150 grams: 3mm feed size
- 150 – 400 grams: 4mm feed size
All things being equal, your fishes should be around 200 – 300 grams in 2 months with floating feed alone, if they are being fed properly; after then, you can switch to sinking feed and give them the following feed sizes:
200 – 300 grams: 2mm feed size
300 to 600 grams: 4mm feed size
600 grams to 1kg+: 6mm feed size
If your fishes exceed 1kg in weight, and you’re able to get bigger feed sizes, then you can consider giving them 8mm, or even later 10mm, feed sizes. 3 to 4kg fishes eat 6mm sinking feed just fine, though, so don’t worry too much if you can’t find bigger feed sizes.
