What, When, Where, and How to Feed Your Pond Fish (but not necessarily in that order!)
When to feed the fish
Feed the fish when the water is consistently at 50 degrees or warmer. If there is ice on the pond, we are not there yet!
Did you know that fish (koi and goldfish) are cold blooded? They are! That means that as the temperatures drop, their metabolisms slow down. In fact, once the water temperatures reach below 50 degrees, they cannot digest food. Winter food can be fed between 45 and 50 degrees, but they should be fed very little. If they are fed too much and go into the winter, the food can rot in their bellies causing illness or even death that might not show up until later winter or even early spring.
That’s right – we don’t feed fish in the winter. They go into an almost hibernation referred to as “Torpor.”
HOW to feed the fish
Before we move on to what to feed the fish, it is critical that we know HOW to feed them!
How Much
There is no exact measurement of feed per fish. It depends on the size and number of fish. Temperature also affects how much they will eat. Feed them what they can eat in about 4 minutes without the food sinking or ending up in the skimmer.
To find out how much this is, you will need to feed them and stay to observe.
If you are worried that you may be over feeding them, but aren’t sure, take a net with a handle, set it up right in front of the skimmer opening before you feed them. After feeding them take it back out. Is there food in the net? Then you have fed them too much!
Koi and Goldfish will over eat if given the chance! Too much food can actually make fish unhealthy and can even cause them to die.
Blue Ridge Koi offers a variety of fish food. Click HERE to check it out.
How Often
Everyday is pretty normal. Some people choose to feed once a day and some even do it twice. Fish have the most growth the first 3 years of life. So if you want large fish, you’ve got to feed them!
Remember that the more you feed them, the more they poop! If you are having excessive algae issues there are several things to consider. One of them is to cut back on how much you are feeding the fish.
Fish will come up to you every time you feed them IF you feed them consistently! They will even eat right out of your hand if you work towards it!
If you can’t feed them for a couple of days, don’t worry – in a natural ecosystem pond with healthy living water fish can go without being fed a couple of days.
If you have a concrete pond with absolutely no algae, you do need to feed them.
What to feed the fish
Fish food that comes in pellets works best in a pond. Flake food is good for aquariums, but not ponds!
During cold weather
If you feed the fish early in the spring or late in the fall make sure to use a cold weather fish food. This type of food contains a lower protein content so that it can easily be digested. If you see that the weather is good today but tomorrow it will be much colder, (45 degrees or lower) then do not feed them.
Later Spring and Summer
Use good quality fish food with a high protein content. You don’t have to spend massive amounts of money for koi food. I’ve used Aquascape premium fish food, Blue Ridge Koi fish food and others.
Where to feed the fish
Put food in closer to where the waterfall or stream comes into the pond so that as the food floats, they have time to eat it before it gets sucked into the skimmer.
Feed them consistently from the same place. They will come up to you better when you do this.
Have you heard about sinking fish food? Read about floating versus sinking fish food HERE.
Here is one brand of sinking fish food that we like.
* This blog was NOT written by AI. This was written by me. I am not a professional writer, I am a pond person. Therefore, if you see a typo, please forgive me!
*No koi were harmed in the making of this content.