Is Different Food for Seasons Necessary?

[dieselplower]

Then yes that's lazy.

 

[Jason]

Oooohh I was gone for a few hours and BOOM this blew up lol, Thanks for all the input! I will probably but a bag of the "Spring and Fall Diet" in the next week or so when my other "vibrance" bag runs out, but I understand that 1: It depends on how you raise you're Koi and what you want to get out of them and 2: The Zone or climate you live in could also determine what food precautions need to take place. Thanks again for all the Help and feed back!

 

[Mucky_Waters]

The crickets were not hard to grow, but when they got big, they were noisy. We used to buy 500 at a time from Armstrong's online ... Was primarily feeding two Leopard Geckos and a Flame Bearded Dragon ... Was also tossing the ones that got too big for them to a Black and White Argentine Tegu ... The Tegu passed a few months ago (miss him), and the "mommy" of the others is trying out her first place ... so no more reptiles here to feed ...

Yeah, the adults can be noisy, but I keep mine out in my pond pump room anyway. I fed the adult breeders to my frogs weeks ago, and the young ones aren't old enough to chirp yet, so things are pretty quite out there for now.
I had a veiled chameleon and fire bellied toad that I fed the meal worms and fruit flies to, and I also fed the fruit flies to paying mantises when I raised them. (it helped cut down on the cannibalism) Use to feed meal worms to gerbils too when I was had them as a kid.

 

[JohnHuff]

I used to buy them seasonal food but my pond denizens are more varied in size than before. So instead of buying them seasonal food, I buy different sized food. Because of the recent depredations in my pond, it's more important for me to keep the young ones alive, therefore I have small bite sized food for them. So no for seasonal and yes for size.

I'm saying most water gardeners probally don't bother to buy different types of fish food for different seasons. But maybe I'm wrong, start a poll thread, lets find out.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

I used to buy them seasonal food but my pond denizens are more varied in size than before. So instead of buying them seasonal food, I buy different sized food. Because of the recent depredations in my pond, it's more important for me to keep the young ones alive, therefore I have small bite sized food for them. So no for seasonal and yes for size.

I manually crush my pellets up for the fry in my pond, and hand feed my turtle and frogs to make sure they are getting enough food, but I guess I'd still be considered lazy because I don't buy two bags of fish food. lol

 

[capewind]

Oooohh I was gone for a few hours and BOOM this blew up lol, Thanks for all the input! I will probably but a bag of the "Spring and Fall Diet" in the next week or so when my other "vibrance" bag runs out, but I understand that 1: It depends on how you raise you're Koi and what you want to get out of them and 2: The Zone or climate you live in could also determine what food precautions need to take place. Thanks again for all the Help and feed back!

You need to use your best judgements ... If you are feeding the Tetra Pond's Vibrance, it says on the bag to use at temps 50^+ but we stop feeding at 50, and I am not comfortable just going from Vibrance to no food ... So once our water temp is a consistent 60* I start mixing the S/F diet in, so that over a 2 week period, they are switched completely to the S/F version ... While you are southern, being coastal. I think you have the same inconsistencies in weather that we have here, just your temps stay higher. Just need to play it by ear ...

 

[fishin4cars]

Jason, keep in mind what all your reading and where you are. The water temperature is a big factor in your choice. Those people that have to deal with water temps that get well below 50 degrees in the winter or even freezing temps. do have a lot more to worry about than those of us that can make most of the winter without it getting lower than 40 degrees or so. I do use both growth and wheat germ type foods. I may actually need to be using the lower protein food for less than a month due to low water temps. out of the whole year. Unless I was sure I could use a specific amount bought in that time frame I probably wouldn't buy it. But attending Koi shows and being in a position that I do sell winter food I feel I need to promote what I sell. Plus I seem to always pick up enough freee samples at the shows to help make it through that short period each year.
The idea of feeding specific food for winter is based on the lack of bacteria to break down the waste. In the winter there is less bio activity, so we really want to produce less waste. We have a Koi keeper in our area that believes that if water temps are above 85 degrees it's best to feed a food that produces less waste as well. So he uses winter food during the heat of the summer. Seeing his fish and how his system preforms I honestly think he may be doing more good for his pond using this method than when we swap over in winter. Of course right now we are back In full growth range and pumping growth on right now.

 

[HARO]

How could a person that lazy possibly maintain a pond?

By posting every problem and letting someone else work it out! :cheerful:
John

 

[addy1]

By posting every problem and letting someone else work it out! :cheerful:
John

whew! glad I don't post problems......................hate to be called lazy..lol (have not had any problems in a long time, thankfully!)

Jason (right now it is 37 out there, we were in the 90's just a few days ago air temp) pond dropped from being in the high 70's to 60 degrees this am, a cold spell came through, but then we are bouncing back up to high 70's to 85 on friday. Spring and now my pond bounces in temperature. My bog, large surface area of moving water, can change the pond water temperature dramatically. With these temperature swings, I feed lightly and feed the wheat germ food. No Koi, but nice healthy gf and shubbies.

 

[Dave 54]

Jason we feed a number of foods dependant on season your fall to winter would see us swopping from prebiotic feed to wheatgerm and garlic which would take us through winter t late spring.
Late spring see's us feeding wheatgermand garlic then weening them of that to go into health which takes us up to summer we then feed a mix of health,beauty and pond care ntri pearl pre biotic tillfall again.
Nothing but the best for our boys and girls but then we are competative at koi shows, ponders are a different breed to us lol in a nice sort of way.
But with your nice Florida winters why bother ...

rgrds

Dave