Generally speaking food made specifically for a certain species is going to be formulated best for that species.
On the other hand, it makes a lot of difference if a person is only hand feeding a small portion of the fish total diet mostly for entertainment purposes, or if the fish is in a tank and totally dependent on that food for survival. If a person is only hand feeding a small amount of the fishes total diet, lots of different things can be used. Heck BG and GSF love to eat bread torn up in small pieces. But bread is very low in protein and I imagine is a very poor feed for the fish. But a few slices of bread torn up in bits and thrown into the pond is not going to change much in the scheme of things and is exciting for kids to do. But I would bet if a person got up to the level of ten pounds of bread per acre per day (ten pounds is a number Bill Cody had told me that if exceeded could easily run into water problems so that is why I chose that number for an example) it would not be a good thing.
So if I had some dog food on hand and no other feed and wanted to see if the fish would eat some for entertainment purposes, I would throw a little in. But I doubt it would be the best for the fish or the most economical food source for the fish on a sustained basis.
I bet your local farm Coop will have 32% catfish food. After learning what I have here on PBF, it is not the best fish food in the world but I bet it is better than alternatives made for other species of animals. And it is pretty reasonable in price. It is what I have fed mostly because it is what is readily available, and my fish have seem to have done pretty well, at least by my standards. That said, I am attempting to get some higher quality feed and currently have some 36% "Sportfish" feed. But the 32% catfish food will work, at least for supplemental recreational feeding. And you can get it at about any farm supply store.
Last edited by snrub; 04/20/15 09:51 AM.
