Generate a daily and weekly feeding plan based on your fish species, size, temperature, and production stage.
Select based on current average weight, not target weight.
Fingerlings: 4–6 meals/day. Grow-out: 2–3 meals/day. Pre-harvest: 1–2 meals/day.
| Meal # | Time | Amount (kg) | Notes |
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Feed cost represents 50–70% of variable production cost in commercial aquaculture. Feeding too little stunts growth and extends the crop cycle, eroding profitability through fixed overhead costs. Feeding too much wastes expensive feed, degrades water quality through uneaten pellets decomposing in the pond or tank, and increases disease risk. Precision feeding - delivering exactly the right amount at the right frequency - is the single most impactful management practice available to a fish farmer.
This tool generates a feeding schedule based on feeding rate as a percentage of body weight (% BW/day), adjusted for species, production stage, water temperature, and meal frequency. It accounts for the fundamental biological reality that feeding rate changes continuously as fish grow.
Fish metabolism scales allometrically with body weight - smaller fish have a higher metabolic rate per unit of body weight and require a proportionally higher feed ration. A 1g fingerling may require 10–15% of its body weight in feed daily, while a 500g grow-out fish requires only 1.5–2.5%. This is why feeding schedules cannot remain static through a production cycle - they must be adjusted at least monthly as fish grow.
The standard feeding rates by production stage are:
Fish feeding activity and metabolism are directly controlled by water temperature. As ectotherms, fish cannot regulate their internal temperature - their metabolic rate rises with water temperature up to a species-specific optimum, then drops sharply as temperatures become stressful or lethal.
For warm-water species like tilapia and catfish, optimal feeding occurs at 26–30°C. Below 20°C, feeding rate drops by 30–50%; below 15°C, tilapia stop feeding entirely. Above 32°C, heat stress reduces appetite and increases oxygen demand simultaneously - a dangerous combination at high stocking densities.
Cold-water salmonids (salmon, trout) feed optimally at 10–16°C. At temperatures above 18°C, salmon become stressed, susceptible to bacterial infections, and show sharply reduced feed intake. This is why salmon farming is concentrated in cold northern waters and high-altitude RAS facilities.
Practically, this means checking water temperature before each feeding and reducing the ration by 20–30% on hot days above the optimal range, or cold days in tropical systems. Never feed when temperature is outside the survival range for your species.
Automatic time-based feeders distribute a preset ration at programmed intervals, eliminating the labour cost of manual feeding. They are appropriate for large facilities where manual feeding is impractical, and for large pellet sizes where even distribution by a blower is effective. The limitation is that ration must be adjusted manually as fish grow - a task that is often neglected, leading to chronic underfeeding or overfeeding.
Demand feeders (also called pendulum or trigger feeders) allow fish to self-feed by pressing a trigger that releases a small amount of feed. Studies consistently show that demand-fed fish achieve equal or better growth than time-fed fish at lower feed conversion ratios, because fish feed according to their actual appetite rather than a fixed schedule. The key skill is calibrating the trigger sensitivity - too sensitive and feed is wasted; too stiff and fish are underfed. Demand feeding is most effective for salmonids and in cage culture systems.
Feeding a pellet size appropriate for the fish's mouth size is critical for both feed efficiency and water quality. Pellets that are too large are rejected or broken up by fish, sinking uneaten to the pond bottom where they decompose. Pellets that are too small are inefficient - fish must make many feeding strikes for the same caloric intake, which is energy-intensive and stressful in crowded conditions.
General guidance on pellet size by fish weight:
Shrimp require a different format - sinking pellets that dissolve slowly over 2–4 hours, allowing shrimp to graze throughout the day.
Floating (extruded) pellets are the standard in most aquaculture systems. They remain on the surface for 15–30 minutes, allowing visual monitoring of feeding behaviour - the primary tool for assessing whether the ration is correct. If fish consume all feed within 5 minutes, they may be underfed; if uneaten pellets remain after 20 minutes, the ration is excessive. Floating pellets also allow incorporation of higher oil content for energy-dense diets and have longer shelf life than sinking pellets.
Sinking pellets are essential for bottom-dwelling species (catfish, some carps, shrimp) and in cold, windy conditions where surface pellets blow to the edges before fish can consume them. Their limitation is that uneaten rations are invisible - they sink and decompose without any visual feedback to the farmer.
Experienced fish farmers read fish behaviour constantly for feeding cues:
Signs of overfeeding: Uneaten feed remains after 20 minutes (floating pellet systems). Pond water turns greenish or turbid from algal bloom driven by nutrient enrichment. Dissolved oxygen crashes at dawn. Fish show reduced activity and lethargy (ammonia toxicity from feed decomposition). Pond bottom becomes soft and black from anaerobic decomposition.
Signs of underfeeding: Fish rush aggressively to the feeding area and consume all pellets within 1–2 minutes. Fish show erratic surface swimming (hunger behaviour). Slow growth rate versus expectations at monthly sampling. Aggressive competition at feeding time, resulting in injuries and disease. FCR improving too much (below 1.0) usually indicates significant growth underperformance rather than exceptional efficiency.