The better fish foods for predators (not catfish food) use fish meal and oil as 2 major ingredients. Quality fish meal is the gold standard and is used by most quality manufacturers. It is far better than ground up fish meat. They are better than the other "crude proteins". A few brands lump all protein sources as crude protein on the label. The major fish food manufacturers know what makes the best product for happy fish and customers. There are lots of studies on fish nutrition and the manufacturers have PhD fish/animal nutritionists to design and develop and test the products. The commercial hatcheries and many knowledgeable lake owners buy the products and see the results. Hard to argue with proven results.

MNfish I understand your point. Fish growth is dependant on energetics. One part of that is amount and type of energy into the system (what a fish eats). See this as one of the all time best posts on energy in the pond system - http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9167&page=1 .

Supp feeding has been shown to be much more efficient at producing fish growth than just natural food. However IMO it is not as healthy in the long run to rely on just or mostly pelleted food. Natural forage is needed also.



Last edited by ewest; 05/10/12 02:23 PM.