The food used for culturing is highly sophisticated and is nutritionally balanced to provide diets that often surpass those that might be found in nature.  It is usually made in dedicated factories which employ state of the art manufacturing technology.  Most food is pelleted and packed either in bulk sacs or is packaged into smaller 20 or 25 kg bags which can be more easily handled.

Much research had gone in the modern fish diets such that they are now highly efficient providing fish with exactly the right proportion of nutrients and  both for and for day to day living.  In all fish, the proportion of the food which is required for growth and maintenance changes with age and with the size of the fish. Delivering this, with no and at exactly the right time, is well understood by the feed manufacturing companies and they all supply an extensive and comprehensive support service with the feed that they sell.

All the manufacturing companies invest heavily in research and development programs and the fruits of this are borne in the continued advances that are enjoyed by modern aquaculture.  is well known to be closely related to not only the growth of fish but also to their health and well being. The advances that have been made in modern times have been truly astonishing.  Feed conversion rates have tumbled, growth rates have improved and carefully planned variations in at different times of the year are known to keep fish healthy. This has resulted in fish being grown more efficiently and in good health so that the use of medicines in aquaculture is now the exception rather than the rule.

Leading companies in this field and details of the fish food that supply can be found by following the links in the right pane of this page.

As part of its on-going mission to support the aquaculture feed industry,   Aquafeed.com, the aquaculture feed sector’s information and marketing website, has a new look for 2003, new features and more services - including an international directory of aquaculture feeds, feeders and feeding systems.

A new service called 'FEED FINDER' will list hatchery and grow-out feeds, broken down by categories such as life stage, species, stocking density, countries available, brand name, physical form, special properties and the supply company’s details - to help farmers and hatcheries pinpoint the feeds they require. Since means of delivering feeds is an integral part of a successful feeding strategy, feeders and feeding systems will also be included in this service.

'FEED FINDER' will also provide:

• A section on new product news, feeding trial results and other aquafeed information;
• A forum for farmers to pose their feed-related questions;
• Links to useful information;
• Reports, articles, news directed specifically to these visitors;
• An FAQ list.

In other words, 'FEED FINDER' will be a self-contained service, dedicated exclusively to finding information on commercial aquafeeds.