Detailed Explanation of the Mud Carp's Diet: What Food Does It Like to Eat

The mud carp is an omnivorous fish. Four days after the fry hatch, they begin feeding on zooplankton such as rotifers, copepods and small cladocerans. Ten days after hatching, when the body length exceeds 14 cm, they begin to take phytoplankton in addition to zooplankton. Thereafter, they eat more and more phytoplankton, until about 40 days after hatching, when the body length exceeds 4 cm, phytoplankton becomes their main food. At the same time, the mud carp likes to graze on algae growing on the surface of the mud or rocks at the bottom of the water. In addition, the mud carp also swallows a small amount of zooplankton and organic debris. The species of phytoplankton that the mud carp can digest and utilize are the same as those of the silver carp and the bighead carp; it cannot digest those phytoplankton with thick fibrous cell walls or gelatinous membranes. When raised in ponds, the mud carp likes to feed on rice bran, peanut bran, poultry and livestock manure and other feed.