ABSTRACT
The relationship of the various factors affecting feed intakeenvironmental, physiological and dietary-must be kept in mind. Often one factor cannot be considered without the others because of the manner in which they influence each other. This chapter will examine the biotic and abiotic factors that initiate or cause fish to feed and may also cause them to stay on feed. The biotic factors, including chemo-attraction, visual, electric sensory and social interactions and the abiotic factors such as light intensities, day length, water temperature and the physical properties of the feed will all be discussed. Needless to say, this topic has been well discussed in various venues and hopefully this chapter will pull together many of the divergent ideas concerning feeding activity in fish.
