Ok to feed outdoor fish in the winter?

[BennyLava]

Hi all. I live in texas, close to the fort worth/dallas area. I have an outdoor pond, and it would never freeze all the way through so my fish stay outside all year round. The air in the wintertime is usually in the 30-50 degrees farenheit range. But the water feels very, very cold. Cold enough to hurt your hands when you stick em in there.

So is it still ok too feed my fish when the water is that cold? They still eat, although much slower and much less enthusiastically than in the summer. They slowly make their way to the top, and get maybe a few bites and that's it. You can tell they are in a different state than the summer time. But, I think that they would eat at least every other day. Is this ok for them, when its this cold outside? Or should I just stop feeding them altogether until the water warms up a little bit?

 

[koiguy1969]

IMHO...you'll want to have a few days consistantly at or above 55*f (water temp) before starting to feed....start with a wheat germ based food (spring / fall diet)

 

[BennyLava]

Ok. So feeding below that hurts them in some way?

 

[DrDave]

Benny
This has been covered dozens of times in the past year. So a search on feeding.
In short, it can kill your fish.

 

[BennyLava]

Might be worth dedicating a sticky to it then.

 

[BennyLava]

So basically, feed them nothing unless the water is above 50 degrees F. If it is, feed them wheat germ food. Is this ok for wheat germ? I'm just looking for a small package at the moment. My fish are not very large yet and I don't have a whole heck of a lot of them.

http://www.amazon.com/Total-Koi-Wheat-Germ-19Oz/dp/B0006G7Q0U

 

[Oldhead]

50 to 70 degrees the wheat germ food above 70 you can start on the higher protien stuff until it cools down again

 

[BennyLava]

Thanks for the nice simple answer. I appreciate it.

 

[mogsie]

ive just built my pond and was planning on putting a couple of goldfish in there in a couple of weeks after the water has settled and the ph has picked up a bit, we are past the severe part of winter, mainly just rain, average temp is between 40 - 52 fahrenheit, so considering it is a new un-established pond should i feed these fish ?

 

[DrDave]

Please read all the posts before this. It has been answered many times.

 

[mogsie]

Please read all the posts before this. It has been answered many times.

yes i read all the posts, bennylava is refering to an established pond which the fish have occupied for several seasons i presume, i on the other hand am refering to newly introduced fish in a new un-established pond, on release are these fish just going to swim to the bottom and sit there not requiring any food of will i be better to give them a small amount ? similar question to bennylava but differant circumstances and previous posts didnt address my situation, just asking for advice thanks, !

 

[DrDave]

There are 5 posts in this thread that tell you not to feed below 55 degrees. It does not matter that your pond is new or how deep it is. What is special about your temp 40-52 farenheight?

 

[pondbuilder13]

Yes and that is for anybody that and the temp has to be above 55 for a # of days!

 

[mogsie]

well now that you say it doesnt matter that my pond is new, thats all i needed to know, yes i had read about the nominal temperature in previous posts, but i didnt know if it made any differance if my pond was new, and the best way to find out things is to ask !

 

[addy1]

New water, make sure your ph etc are in a good range. And if you have chlorine in your water use dechlor