# Fish pellets Vs. Dog food



## grino21

I am going to start feeding some fish in my community pond. I know it has at least 2 dozen crappie, 4-5 cats, 6-8 carp and a few white bass in it. 

First question I guess is, Will the fish eat the fish food?

Secondly, I am just doing this to hopefully supplement their food supply a little. Is it ok to feed them dry dog food or do they really need fish pellets?

Thanks in advance for your responses.


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## Salmonid

here are a few things to know about feeding fish, first, not all species will come to the feed. in fact most species will not unless raised to know that pellets mean food, so you probably will no see any crappies, white bass or LM Bass come to the pellets but the olfactory senses of the catfish and carp will start to zero in on the feedings after you do it consistantly for maybe 10 days, I suggest always feeding at the same spot and always do it at the same time of day, you are training them so it takes about 10 days or so to get them conditioned, I suggest dusk as that is when both carp and cats will come towards shallow water as the sun is dipping and its not so bright out. 

Next as far as the dog food vs fish food, I think youll find a quality fish food with a high ( ~32% protein rate) will run you about $22 for a 50 lb bag which is significantly cheaper then a quality dog food bag of similar size. On top of that, you can choose weather you want floating or sinking pellets, and what size the pellets are when you get fish food, Most grain mills have some fish food and they usually load it into your trunk for you as you pull through ha ha. I personally use the Purina Game Fisgh Chow, its floating but eventually sinks, and comes witha mix of small, medium and larger pellets to accomodate everything from small gills to the larger catfish, my 3-5 lb channels love this stuff as do my yellow perch, hybird blue gills and hybrid striped bass.

To answer you questions, yes, get the quality fish food as its loaded with protien, enzymes and other ingredients that is specific for a fishes growth, dog food is typically lower in protein, and has more filler in it vs actual good stuff. 

I hope this helps, oh yeah, a friend of mine started do ing this same thing many years ago as kids, we used dog food and before long, all the carp and cats would come to the nightly feeding, but then so did all the local ya-hoos who basically fished out all the fish after seeing them concentrate at this one spot so be sure to avoid publicity when you do it, word will get out quick!

Salmonid


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