when to start feeding?

[slick]

Hi my pond temperature is reading 8*c
the koi are starting to munch on the green stuff round the pond sides,
they are now starting to eat the sinking food thrown in for the two sturgeon ( now thats costings a few quid lol)
So at what pond temp do people start to feed?
Many thanks for looking and reading

 

[Troutredds]

I believe 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) is the generally accepted temperature to begin feeding koi. We have trout and koi, so I feed all year long, since the trout tend to eat year round, regardless of temperature fluctuations. Our koi tend to lose interest in food below 10 C. It's recommended that koi eat food lower in protein content at these lower temperatures, however.

 

[slick]

Thanks for that,
im in the same situation as I have two big sturgeon that are also acrive all year round, but now the koi are starting to eat the sturgeon food,
koi food far less expensive,
the other problem is that the sturgeon food is 36% protean so the koi are already eating high protein food not good

 

[Dave 54]

It has to be over that of 10c for at least 3 weeks prior to starting to feed you should feed them wheatgerm and garlic mix only until the start of summer and only then swop over to a higher protien mix of food and not before .
Dont know how your going to work a way of feeding the sturgeon but your going to have to fnd a way around this mate ?

Dave

 

[slick]

Lol thanks for that Dave54 you told me what I thought,
but what's this about garlic? And in what form?
I take it you mix it in with the wheat germ,
please tell more, iv been told it's like cat nip for koi, an old boy was said it was his secret weapon for training hand feeding?

 

[Dave 54]

You can buy NTLabs wheatgerm and garlic mix Slick the garlic has two properties in that it
1) stimu,ates your koi to eat again in the spring .
2) protects your fish against parasites , you can chop garlic up and add it to wheatgerm, or you can buy Seachems Garlic extract and add it to the wheatgerm , or last but not least you can make your own extract up .

Dave

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Hi my pond temperature is reading 8*c
the koi are starting to munch on the green stuff round the pond sides,
they are now starting to eat the sinking food thrown in for the two sturgeon ( now thats costings a few quid lol)
So at what pond temp do people start to feed?
Many thanks for looking and reading

I am of the OTHER school of thought. If the fish are hungry (as yours apparently are) then you should feed them. They are in a better position to judge for themselves than an individual of a completely different specie (me or you).

 

[Troutredds]

I am of the OTHER school of thought. If the fish are hungry (as yours apparently are) then you should feed them. They are in a better position to judge for themselves than an individual of a completely different specie (me or you).

I concur, @Meyer Jordan. If they display an eagerness for food, I regularly feed them what they will fully consume within a few minutes daily.

 

[fishin4cars]

I disagree with feeding when they are showing signs of eating. The Koi still can not digest some foods and if temps are below 10c or 50 degrees f in can cause internal problems, Will it always, NO. can it, yes. IMO wait until water temps are over 10c and the ambient air shows no major dips for the next 7-10 days is usually when I start back feeding and then lightly with an easy to digest food. Garlic is easy to digest and triggers more enzymes inside the fish to help build back up the digestion and increase metabolism.

 

[Dave 54]

I disagree with feeding when they are showing signs of eating. The Koi still can not digest some foods and if temps are below 10c or 50 degrees f in can cause internal problems, Will it always, NO. can it, yes. IMO wait until water temps are over 10c and the ambient air shows no major dips for the next 7-10 days is usually when I start back feeding and then lightly with an easy to digest food. Garlic is easy to digest and triggers more enzymes inside the fish to help build back up the digestion and increase metabolism.

Larkin and I are both totally agreed koi cannot digest some foods at such low temperatures so I feel it woud be counter productive to do so, we had 11c in the pond on Saturday and 15c externally it didnt mean we rushed out to feed them no because experiance tells us not too and the temperature soon dropped down bellow that of 11c water temperature as did our air temperature its best to wait for that 10-14 day warm window to appear before starting to feed .
If the koi wish to eat greenery around the pond let them but steer clear of pelleted foods for the time being .

Dave

 

[slick]

Well thank you every one im now much wiser,
ill try and feed stregeon through the bottom feeding tube and let the koi eat the green stuff but the thread pointed out my question when do pond keepers decide how and when to feed again many thanks to all

 

[slick]

I suppose in an ideal world and a bit more resurch I should have just stuck with the koi and not introduced the two big sturgeon,
but that would have been a bit lame and no feeding challenge,
But I do like my two big boys,
when people come and see the pond and koi they think that's nice,
and h
then all of a sudden they see the big sturgeon rise from the depths,
that makes them think a bit lol

 

[teeemkay]

I am running into the same issue. Today when I walked over to the edge to check on things, all three of the koi came up to the surface, mouths open. This is the first time I've seen them do this--they had already gone into fasting mode by the time we bought this house last fall. I'm assuming it's still too early to feed them.... Today happened to be a fluke-y warm day, but next week it will be in the mid 40s most days and as low as 30 at night.

 

[Dave 54]

I am running into the same issue. Today when I walked over to the edge to check on things, all three of the koi came up to the surface, mouths open. This is the first time I've seen them do this--they had already gone into fasting mode by the time we bought this house last fall. I'm assuming it's still too early to feed them.... Today happened to be a fluke-y warm day, but next week it will be in the mid 40s most days and as low as 30 at night.

Dont be tempeted until its been above 10c for a number of weeks and only then start them off on small amounts of wheatgerm and Garlic slowly bulding up from there you dont want to over tax your filters to start with.

Dave

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I disagree with feeding when they are showing signs of eating. The Koi still can not digest some foods and if temps are below 10c or 50 degrees f in can cause internal problems, Will it always, NO. can it, yes. IMO wait until water temps are over 10c and the ambient air shows no major dips for the next 7-10 days is usually when I start back feeding and then lightly with an easy to digest food. Garlic is easy to digest and triggers more enzymes inside the fish to help build back up the digestion and increase metabolism.

It is true that at low temps Koi and other fish are unable to properly digest high protein foods. This is the natural order of things. In northern latitudes, as a pond reawakens after the winter, first, algae growth begins usually associated with a 'bloom' (green water to a pond keeper). This is the first plentiful supply of food available to fish and is easily digested. This 'bloom' also serves as food for the myriad zooplankton that can now proliferate with this plentiful food supply. These zooplankton too become a food source for fish and is their source of protein. All of this is temperature regulated and may vary from location to location with both phyto- and zoo-plankton species differing from site to site. All of Nature is genetically predisposed to conform to these seasonal temperature cycles with only slight variation. The same temperature level that triggers planktonic algae growth also triggers the feeding response in fish. If fish are seen feeding on sessile (attached) algae, then that temperature level for triggering the feeding response has been reached. The fish's metabolic rate is high enough to sustain proper digestion, so feeding them a low protein food will certainly not only do no harm but will actually strengthen their physiology abd consequently their immune system. Whether you feed them supplementally or not, once that natural feeding response is triggered, the fish WILL eat. Feeding them will not induce overfeeding at this time any more than it will induce overfeeding in the middle of Summer. Again, if the fish are actively eating, it is completely illogical for you or I to say that they shouldn't be fed, regardless of what a book, article, website, blog, social media site or tradition may say.