Feeding koi

[mrsclem]

It seems the more expensive lily, the better they taste! My Turtle Island lily blooms usually are gone as soon as they open.

 

[Spartamets]

This might be the last year I buy tropical, because I found out I got lucky this afternoon. The tropical I got last year, plus the one I got this year, are both zoned for just South of me (8, and I'm 7b). I left it in the pond over winter, and when I went wading in to do my "deep" arranging and setting up for the season today, I saw that it came back. That was a gamble that paid off. The leaves are still just getting started, but there are a whole lot of shoots coming off the tuber. I thought I waited long enough before assuming they didn't make it (my hardies both have had pads out for weeks). Had I known, I wouldn't have gotten this year's tropical, which the koi love so much. I'm keeping them both in the pond over winter this year, and I won't shop for tropical lilies before mid-June any more.

 

[mtravigne]

And I just bought water lilies... This is a new obsession but Im starting to realize it’s literally like taking money and throwing in in a watery hole. Fun though all the same.

 

[mtravigne]

So this is day three of feeding the koi. I don't see them going for it, and it doesn't appear to be being eaten too quickly. I have been throwing in a small handful for 5 fish. When I got back to the pond hours later there is still some food floating on the surface.

 

[Angel]

Do nbnt feed for a bit. You just got them they are probably stressed and confused. My fish do the same thing if I have to take them out for pond maintenance. Few days later they are back to normal. Same for my tanks.

 

[Spartamets]

What Angel said. They will be shy for some time, too. Once they acclimate, though, then the eating will really commence.

 

[CliffandJoann]

We feed our koi 'pond fish food' We purchase it at agway. A forty pound bag cost
about 25.00 . The product is called Strike...we also have a compost pile which
breeds a lot of earth worms. We feed the koi a lot of earth worms. ( 100 percent
protein) The koi love them.

 

[DrHarryLopez]

Does anyone have their Lillies surrounded by nets?

 

[carolinaguy]

The whole feeding discussion should be focused on fish weight and not frequency. The most misleading guidance you will read is “ enough food for them to eat in five minutes”. It’s a pervasive theme on websites and is wrong. Would you feed your dog only enough food for him to eat in 5 minutes? Once a day?

The aquaculture industry is the place to go for feeding discipline and the range is 1.5 to 4 percent based on fish weight. Fish weight can be estimated from length. Your new fish might be about 4 ounces based on length. There are conversion tables on line. The feeding rate will be between 3 and 4 percent for young koi. Koi are grazers with no stomach, so they eat all day. Measure the amount of food you will feed based on weight, mark a container to make measurement simple, and feed it over they day as often as you chose but not once or twice. When the container is empty you are done for the day. Most importantly, use your scientific training to use the feeding time to observe fish behavior. That behavior is your clinical presentation to determine something about health.

If you feed properly, the koi will not destroy your plants. Underfeed and they will blitzkrieg anything that doesn’t move.

 

[Lisak1]

@carolinaguy while your advice is likely scientifically sound, it really doesn't take into account the fact that many people aren't home all day to feed "not once or twice". The morning and evening feeding routines that many use fit with a typical "I go to work every day" lifestyle. If I were raising fish for purposes other than to just enjoy having them, it would be a different story. Most of us are caring for garden ponds with a few run of the mill koi or goldfish and aren't concerned about maximum growth at the fastest possible rate. This is after all the Garden Pond Forum.

The "feed your fish what they will consume in 5 (or however many) minutes" advice is reasonable and is to encourage owners to observe to make sure the fish are eating the food they toss in so it isn't just polluting the pond without being consumed. And I know I joke about the "math is hard" thing, but honestly - having to estimate fish weight just isn't interesting to me. I'd rather use my skills of observation to decide if my fish are still hungry or not and feed accordingly. Making it all about math and calculations just takes all the fun out of it for me. Pay attention to your fish and you will soon know how much food they will eat at one time.

I do agree with you that hungry koi will eat plants. But curious koi will also uproot them just to see what's under them. And spawning koi will shred the heck out of pond plants. The moral of the story is koi can be hard on pond plants.

 

[carolinaguy]

@carolinaguy while your advice is likely scientifically sound, it really doesn't take into account the fact that many people aren't home all day to feed "not once or twice". The morning and evening feeding routines that many use fit with a typical "I go to work every day" lifestyle. If I were raising fish for purposes other than to just enjoy having them, it would be a different story. Most of us are caring for garden ponds with a few run of the mill koi or goldfish and aren't concerned about maximum growth at the fastest possible rate. This is after all the Garden Pond Forum.

The "feed your fish what they will consume in 5 (or however many) minutes" advice is reasonable and is to encourage owners to observe to make sure the fish are eating the food they toss in so it isn't just polluting the pond without being consumed. And I know I joke about the "math is hard" thing, but honestly - having to estimate fish weight just isn't interesting to me. I'd rather use my skills of observation to decide if my fish are still hungry or not and feed accordingly. Making it all about math and calculations just takes all the fun out of it for me. Pay attention to your fish and you will soon know how much food they will eat at one time.

I do agree with you that hungry koi will eat plants. But curious koi will also uproot them just to see what's under them. And spawning koi will shred the heck out of pond plants. The moral of the story is koi can be hard on pond plants.

any koi keeper can feed the fish three times a day to the level that is required for their maintenance. the five minute rule is targeted at people who don't want food in their skimmers and don't know how to maintain fish. the easy way to keep food out of the skimmer is to place an air stone in front of the skimmer and turn it on when feeding. the air keeps the food out of the skimmer and the fish are fine. if you are feeding sinking food and have a bottom drain, don't feed near the drain. its not about maximum growth. its about effective koi husbandry. i did a survey one year on the ponds i was asked to visit for fish issues. 75 percent of the ponds had fish that were underfed. the fusiform shape of the fish was indented behind the gill cover showing early evidence of starvation feeding. other ponds had fish that were terrorized by their school mates fighting over the little food that was given. koi husbandry means making choices to benefit the fish and not choices that fit our need for convenience.

we feed our herd of koi 40 ounces a day for maintenance.. if we need to feed them at our convenience, we could buy a feeder, but don't starve the fish. its just not right.

 

[Lisak1]

but don't starve the fish. its just not right.

Naturally, I wasn't referring to starving fish. And observing your fish would include observing their physical condition. I've seen starving koi - it's pretty obvious. I've never seen a starving koi in a garden pond though - never. I would guess that most pond owners tend to overfeed rather than underfeed quite honestly. People love to feed their fish. And yes - part of the "feed what they will consume quickly" rule is based on not losing food in the skimmer.

What exactly do you do that you are asked to observe fish? Is this for a koi club or in a professional stance? And how many koi do you have that you are feeding 2.5 pounds of food per day? That's a sizable investment in food ever month! I'd love to see photos of this herd!

 

[carolinaguy]

Naturally, I wasn't referring to starving fish. And observing your fish would include observing their physical condition. I've seen starving koi - it's pretty obvious. I've never seen a starving koi in a garden pond though - never. I would guess that most pond owners tend to overfeed rather than underfeed quite honestly. People love to feed their fish. And yes - part of the "feed what they will consume quickly" rule is based on not losing food in the skimmer.

What exactly do you do that you are asked to observe fish? Is this for a koi club or in a professional stance? And how many koi do you have that you are feeding 2.5 pounds of food per day? That's a sizable investment in food ever month! I'd love to see photos of this herd!

Every pond I have observed has plants, sometimes separated as ours is but mostly together. The worst ever was a couple who bought very expensive fish, used a water softening system to improve the home’s water, and fed expensive sinking food using the 5 minute rule. The fish they called me for was 26 inches long and looked like a tadpole with a long skinny tail and a huge head. It could barely swim. In another pond every fish had the gill cover indentation and one got so beat up by the other fish during feeding that it hid in a corner. Not a mark on it in a crystal clear pond and starving because of the 5 minute rule. The biggest problem with the five minute rule is owners, at the end of the day, still do not know how much to feed as a weight measurement. One of my friends in the club showed me how much food she fed daily and I showed her how much food 2.5 percent of the existing school represented. She was shocked and said she doesn’t feed that much food in a week. All her fish were indented. We have a saying in the quality business —if you do not measure how do you know when to get mad?

I’m the clubs koi health advisor and am asked to come to sick ponds or new builds to provide analysis and advice. As for the herd, I feed at 2.5 percent of total body weight. 40 ounces. Do you know the total weight?

 

[Lisak1]

100 pounds - that math is easy. Why don't you feed the full 4%?

 

[Tara]

I was interested in the feeding topic, just excuse me if this question is very ignorant (new koi person) . I put duckweed in my pond each day, and the fish love it. I'm just wondering if this should be included as feed. Because my pond is new I don't think there would be a lot to forage. So I give Koi food and duckweed.