Auto Feeders

[qclabrat]

I travel a bit so will need an auto feeder down the road
any you folks recommend a few for consideration? For a small pond about 1500 gallons

I plan to also plan to put a camera in the back for security and fish monitoring while I'm away.
Worst case if something is wrong, I can see it and have my neighbor help me out

 

[Lisak1]

What kind of fish? And how long are you gone generally? I ask because most fish can go three or four days between feedings. Goldfish don't really need to be fed at all in an established pond.

 

[qclabrat]

What kind of fish? And how long are you gone generally? I ask because most fish can go three or four days between feedings. Goldfish don't really need to be fed at all in an established pond.

initially goldfish and shubunkins, but my pond is getting to the size where I think I could consider 1-2 koi in the future. the fish are between 4-12 inches
I'm gone sometimes 2-3 weeks, especially in the summers when we go overseas on vacation with the family

stupid question, but what are goldfish eating if they don't need to be fed? and what fish are we talking about which need food?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

but what are goldfish eating if they don't need to be fed?

I'll answer that with another question. What do fish eat in their natural surroundings with no one to feed them?
Answer: Micro- and meio- organisms that inhabit most aquatic eco-systems....algae, zoo plankton, nemotodes, etc.

 

[Faebinder]

I travel a bit so will need an auto feeder down the road
any you folks recommend a few for consideration? For a small pond about 1500 gallons

I plan to also plan to put a camera in the back for security and fish monitoring while I'm away.
Worst case if something is wrong, I can see it and have my neighbor help me out

For goldfish... you can ignore feeding them for a week in an established pond as said above..

For Koi though I don't believe you can do that.

I have had struggles with autofeeders as they are expensive. I bought this but it broke down on me after a year and I had to buy it again.

Don't buy this. I did and regretted it.

This is nice but expensive.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

For Koi though I don't believe you can do that.

With a low fish load and allowing some accumulation of sediment the same applies. Who feeds them in their natural environs?

 

[MitchM]

In a pond with a "bog", marginals and a substrate with submerged plants, auto feeding isn't an issue.
Just sayin'.

 

[Faebinder]

Agree that I'm overzealous in my feeding. I spoil my ungrateful water piggies.

 

[Lisak1]

Here's something else to consider - we were at one of our favorite pond suppliers and a customer came in all in a tizzy because her koi had eaten her prized tropical lily while she was on vacation. "$250 down the drain!" she cried. The store owner replied, very sensibly - "what did you THINK they were going to eat?" I'm not saying keeping your fish well fed will prevent them from eating your pond plants, but I think it's a sure bet that NOT feeding them will mean there's a pretty good chance they will!

 

[Mmathis]

initially goldfish and shubunkins, but my pond is getting to the size where I think I could consider 1-2 koi in the future. the fish are between 4-12 inches
I'm gone sometimes 2-3 weeks, especially in the summers when we go overseas on vacation with the family

stupid question, but what are goldfish eating if they don't need to be fed? and what fish are we talking about which need food?

I'm going to make a couple of [potentially unpopular] comments. First of all, I don't think your pond of 1500 gals is going to be adequate for several koi and goldfish. That is a good size for just GF, however. Your questions about what fish eat in the wild have been addressed, but please let me warn you that koi tend to be/can be/have been known to be difficult keepers, requiring almost constant maintenance [and yes, there are exceptions]. What bothers me about your comments is that it sounds like there might be frequent and long trips away from home. With all that can go wrong with a pond, I would rather leave my fish UNDER fed while I was away. In the event that there was a [free-feed] malfunction with the feeder, or if there was a fishy illness, or other environmental issue......there are times when you want to cut back on feeding, but if you aren't there to monitor the pond conditions, your fish could be overfed [with a very bad outcome]. Problems like this would be even MORE of an issue with koi. Now, that being said......there are TONS of people who have auto-feeders, and they probably never have any issues. Just IMHO, and not trying to stir anything up......just wanted to point out something you may not have considered.

 

[Lisak1]

I agree @Mmathis - a goldfish pond would be much more self sufficient at that size than a pond stocked with koi.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Most of the "most people that have feeders" have them because these devices can either be programmed to feed the fish multiple times during the day (which Koi prefer) or they are demand feeders where the fish learn to bump a trigger that will release a certain portion of food. Either way the fish are fed more according to their natural tendencies than that provided by once or twice a day feeding.
As @Lisak1 pointed out, Koi will eat whatever is the next best thing available if they can't have their natural preferences.

 

[qclabrat]

I'll answer that with another question. What do fish eat in their natural surroundings with no one to feed them?
Answer: Micro- and meio- organisms that inhabit most aquatic eco-systems....algae, zoo plankton, nemotodes, etc.

I'll answer that with another question. What do fish eat in their natural surroundings with no one to feed them?
Answer: Micro- and meio- organisms that inhabit most aquatic eco-systems....algae, zoo plankton, nemotodes, etc.

I'd like to think the new pond's ecosystem will be that complete, buy I'm not that optimistic at the moment

 

[Tula]

Today's koi and goldfish, have been selectively bred for specific traits...color, body shape, fins etc, so are removed from their "ancestors" who lived in a natural setting. I don't advocate over feeding them, but believe they should be fed regularly

 

[qclabrat]

I'm going to make a couple of [potentially unpopular] comments. First of all, I don't think your pond of 1500 gals is going to be adequate for several koi and goldfish. That is a good size for just GF, however. Your questions about what fish eat in the wild have been addressed, but please let me warn you that koi tend to be/can be/have been known to be difficult keepers, requiring almost constant maintenance [and yes, there are exceptions]. What bothers me about your comments is that it sounds like there might be frequent and long trips away from home. With all that can go wrong with a pond, I would rather leave my fish UNDER fed while I was away. In the event that there was a [free-feed] malfunction with the feeder, or if there was a fishy illness, or other environmental issue......there are times when you want to cut back on feeding, but if you aren't there to monitor the pond conditions, your fish could be overfed [with a very bad outcome]. Problems like this would be even MORE of an issue with koi. Now, that being said......there are TONS of people who have auto-feeders, and they probably never have any issues. Just IMHO, and not trying to stir anything up......just wanted to point out something you may not have considered.

no offense taken, and after reading a little more about raising GF vs koi, I'll be completely content leaving koi out for now. There's already so much to learn about GF, it doesn't make sense to make a plunge with koi to complicate what has already been much more than I expected....