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Updated: May 31, 2026

A Standardized Protocol for Preference Testing to Assess Fish Welfare
Published on: February 22, 2020
Demand feeding and welfare in farmed fish
Joël Attia1, Sandie Millot, Carole Di-Poï
1ENES, CNPS, UMR CNRS 8195, University of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France. attia@univ-st-etienne.fr
Abstract:
Following the development of demand-feeding systems, many experiments have been conducted to explore feeding motivation and feed intake in farmed fish. This work aims to review a selection of studies in the field, focusing on three key factors, related to demand feeding and fish welfare. Firstly, we outline how demand feeders should be considered when developing feed management strategies for improving welfare in production conditions. Secondly, via laboratory demand-feeding experiments, we show self-feeding activities depend not only on feeding motivation and social organisation, but also on individual learning capacity and risk-taking behaviour. Thirdly, we report encouraging results demonstrating that when presented with two or more self-feeders containing complementary foods, fish select a diet according to their specific nutritional requirements, suggesting that demand feeders could be used to improve welfare by allowing fish to meet their nutritional needs.
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