I have a 12 inch channel catfish caught from the wild in my fish tank. how much should it be eating?

Question

Currently, I'm feeding it 2 or 3 worms a day, but it still seems hungry, is this enough? Also, it doesn't seem to want to take fish food; is there anyway to get it to want to eat fish food? I've tried bread, ham, and frozen chicken, but it won't take those either. He only accepts the worms. Any help?

Answer 1

Well you have turned a wild non-pet animal into a pet. This is an animal that is used to scavenging for food and having a very large area to do so with. Obviously you are going to have problems right off the bat. Long story short is that your catfish is going to have an extremely hard time adjusting to your tank, if it ever does. Hopefully the tank you have is very large...that will help.

The worms are good, I would try using cheddar cheese. My neighborhood lake has a bunch of catfish and I like to fish (catch and release) for them. All I use for bait is a small chunk of cheddar cheese and it works like a charm.

You also may want to consider letting your catfish go a day or two without eating before introducing the catfish to new food.

Answer 2

get crickets, they are very cheap, and you can keep a large covered bucket or container with small air holes, put in some cardboard and crickets. they will breed fast. just drop in a few crikets in the morning and night. since it was wild caught, it is unlikely that he will eat fish food.

Answer 3

I have tried raising two wild channel cats at different times. one caught  at 10 inches and the other about 4.  I also bought an albino at a pet store twice both were about 3 inches.  none of them survived. the reason they would not eat or not getting enough to eat.  they are scavengers and need more than 3 worms a day.  my biggest one would only eat worms and dead goldfish. I was raising compost worms and european night crawlers just so i had plenty.  the problem was they would bury themselves in the gravel before they got eaten.   the dead goldfish would start to stink when the catfish would finally eat them.  its not worth it in my opinion.  I had no problem with bass or bluegill.  except  they were expense to feed.  the bass ate 12 to 24 gold fish a day. not counting the worms and crickets.

What does the catfish eat in the wild? worms, bugs, and fish.  that is what you need to feed it and a lot of it.

oh!  I forgot.  cut up small pieces of bluegill that you catch. or you can buy catfish from the grocery in the fresh seafood section. cut into small pieces freeze on a tray, once frozen put in a bag and keep in the freezer and feed several pieces a day.

hope you have a big tank at least a 125 gallons

good luck

Answer 4

Just watch out what you feed them.  Catfish will try to eat anything ( I mean anything)  Make sure the food is ok for them before you feed it.  (But there is a lot you can feed them, trust me)  

- I'm serious about the anything part, I've seen guys on tv who catch them by using there own hands as bait!