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Roger L.
01-21-2014, 09:23 AM
I was always taught that catfish were bottom feeders so you had to watch where you caught them at. If there was a lot of pollution in the water you may not want to eat it. So this leads to my curiosity question. If catfish are bottom feeders, why do they make floating catfish pellets? Just my mind wondering.

dead_sled
01-21-2014, 10:10 AM
Different types of catfish eat at different levels of the water column. Some species tend to be more of a scavenger and reside on the bottom. Many fish spend time closer to the bottom (safety, food, etc). Pollution can be found at different levels in the water depending on its makeup.

In my experience, the floating catfish bait is attached to a hook which has a length of line between it and a weight. The fishing line is weighted sufficiently enough to sink it to the bottom. This allows the bait to float up a short distance from the bottom, which allows the fish more opportunity to discover it.

Roger L.
01-21-2014, 01:01 PM
I was talking about the pellets bought at the pet store to feed fish in my Aquaponics system.

dead_sled
01-21-2014, 02:04 PM
Catfish will feed off the surface. There are videos of the farm raised catfish getting fed. The water boils when the feed is thrown out onto the water.

foodchain
01-31-2014, 03:50 PM
They will eat where ever the food is, when they get hungry enough.

dstjohn99
10-08-2015, 01:19 PM
I was always taught that catfish were bottom feeders so you had to watch where you caught them at. If there was a lot of pollution in the water you may not want to eat it. So this leads to my curiosity question. If catfish are bottom feeders, why do they make floating catfish pellets? Just my mind wondering.

The reason catfish (and other) pellets float is so you can see if you are overfeeding your fish. If the pellets sink you can't tell if there is food remaining, especially in a pond / lake / murky water environment. Also, any uneaten food is more easily removed if it floats. It's a fish farming management thing. No other reason. Smaller pellets for fingerling and juvenile fish usually are slow sinking. This helps with the transition to train the bottom feeders to look up and come to the surface.