Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding flavor of fed fish.

Does feeding your fish change the flavor?I'v had farm raised catfish bought from the store and hated it.

I wonder if anyone even eats fish from this site? I wonder as well about the flavor imparted from fish feed, mainly on perch.

Alot of people on this site eat fish. Just check out the post under Questions and Observations entitled "Let's Cook!" There is a bunch of recipes for fish there. Mule to answer your question I would agree and say that most store bought fish aren't the greatest. I highly prefer fresh taken from a lake or pond. So I think that maybe the culprit behind the bad-taste rather than that they were pellet fed.

Chris

I would wager it's not the feed itself although it could be. If that was the case then fish farms that raise fish for consumption would not exist. That said, there is something in the fish farming industry known as "off flavor." It can be caused by the pond's chemistry itself or blue/green algae or other factors. Fish farmers typically "purge" their fish before they go off to market especially if they do a taste test and find there is an off flavor. They simply put the fish in tanks with clean well water and don't feed them for a few days. That usually gets rid of the off flavor.

My son and I are raising channel cats in cages. We also have the same off flavor every so often, but we just have a little sample or wait till the water temps drop to 60 deg. before harvesting.

I eat fresh fish every week but I will not eat fish that comes out of dirty water. Personally, I think the water quality has everything to do with taste.

I agree with David. Clean water seems to be the trick. I usaually keep my catfish in a live well until I catch several (a week or two) and they always taste clean.

I've never heard of purging fish in clean water but that makes sense.

Off-flavor is usually caused by compounds that are produced by blue-green algae. It happens frequently with catfish...usually a week or 2 in clean water will eliminate this, but not in all cases.

Also, I have heard of cases where trout fed with rancid pellets took on a terrible taste. To avoid this, keep pellets cool & dry and use them up within 3 months. Never load a feeder with a months supply of pellets during the summer...the heat & humidity will destroy pellet quality.

Quality farm raised fish fed quality fresh pellets taste as good as anything out there.