HTH
Howard
Over the past month people have talked about feeding fish several times a day down to not at all. This goes back to not all ponds are the same and different people having differing goals for their pond.
Clearly unless you have a well established pond with algae and other natural food feed the fish.
If you want your fish to spawn and have fry survive and grow feed the fish. It takes more food to thrive then it does to survive. Again this goes back to goals..
Over feeding is bad for the fish and drives up the excess nutrients and organics in the pond water. If you get to the point where your are feeding so much that the pond has too much algae (nutrients). Either reduce the feeding or take steps to manage the nutrients with more filtration, plants, or water changes. Maybe you need a larger pond or less fish. Note that during in the 2 or 3 months it takes a filter/pond to cycle you should expect and tolerate some algae and/or green water. (IMHO)
Fish are engineered to eat continuously. Several small meals a day are better for them then one large. When doing this feed enough food so that each fish gets one or two mouths/bites no more. The more often you feed the less you should feed at each feeding.
The 5 minute rule works if you feed them once or twice a day but they may be stuffing themselves. They will do their feed me dance minutes after feeding. There instinct is to eat continuously, they are not hungry.
If you are going to be gone for a few days it is better to not feed the fish during your absence. Do not trust another to do it unless you portion food into packets and mark them with date and maybe time. Some people purposely fast their fish one day a week.
Try feeding duckweed, or other greens once in a while. Boil up a small pot of peas and squirt the contents out of the shell into the pond. Toss in the occasional earthworm. Your fish will thank you.
Clearly unless you have a well established pond with algae and other natural food feed the fish.
If you want your fish to spawn and have fry survive and grow feed the fish. It takes more food to thrive then it does to survive. Again this goes back to goals..
Over feeding is bad for the fish and drives up the excess nutrients and organics in the pond water. If you get to the point where your are feeding so much that the pond has too much algae (nutrients). Either reduce the feeding or take steps to manage the nutrients with more filtration, plants, or water changes. Maybe you need a larger pond or less fish. Note that during in the 2 or 3 months it takes a filter/pond to cycle you should expect and tolerate some algae and/or green water. (IMHO)
Fish are engineered to eat continuously. Several small meals a day are better for them then one large. When doing this feed enough food so that each fish gets one or two mouths/bites no more. The more often you feed the less you should feed at each feeding.
The 5 minute rule works if you feed them once or twice a day but they may be stuffing themselves. They will do their feed me dance minutes after feeding. There instinct is to eat continuously, they are not hungry.
If you are going to be gone for a few days it is better to not feed the fish during your absence. Do not trust another to do it unless you portion food into packets and mark them with date and maybe time. Some people purposely fast their fish one day a week.
Try feeding duckweed, or other greens once in a while. Boil up a small pot of peas and squirt the contents out of the shell into the pond. Toss in the occasional earthworm. Your fish will thank you.
I will throw one in there when I get home!
