The bait of the colorful phoenix fish includes fish worms, water earthworms, fiber worms, Tenebrio molitor, small live fish, pellet feed, etc. For the colorful phoenix fish with a body length of 3-12 cm, the bait is mainly tortoise worms, supplemented by water earthworms, red worms, and Tenebrio molitor. For the colorful phoenix fish with a body length of more than 12 cm, the turtles and worms are small and have poor palatability. The bait with a slightly larger body should be selected, mainly including red worms, water earthworms, yellow mealworms, and small live fish. Most of the colorful phoenix fish are mainly based on animal bait, and small varieties can also be domesticated to give priority to pellet feed, while there are very few fish that mainly use plant bait.

Most varieties of colorful phoenix fish use turtles and insects as bait host. When the bait is mainly worms, the feeding amount should be controlled within 10-30 minutes. When the bait is mainly worms, the feeding amount should be controlled within 5-10 minutes, and each person will feed 2-3 times, and the worms fed should be rinsed clean. When the bait is mainly small fish and shrimp, in principle, it should be fed more and less. When the colorful phoenix fish is replaced with new bait, the feeding amount should be gradually increased from less.