Less desirable floating sticks

We have two 25 cent comets in an outdoor 100 gallon rubbermaid drinking trough.

They were tiny when we purchased them in March 2008. They are quite large now!

The first year we fed them Tetra floating goldfish sticks from PetSmart (green canister). They loved this food and ate a lot! They readily recognized that they were being fed.

We just ran out and a family member brought home a bulk bag of floating pellets from our local garden center. The fish don't seem to know that it is food. I use my hand to agitate the water at the surface to get their attention but the one fish chases the other trying to figure out where it got food. They often take the food in and then spit it out as if it isn't food.

Was I feeding them the equivalent of candy bars the first year?

We occasionally feed shelled peas, zucchini, etc.

Thanks for suggestions!

tetra pond is quality food.. i feed mine "KOI VIBRANCE" and wardleys pond mix and alternate them.

Same exact thing happened to me. I fed for 2 years with tetra pond floating sticks and just switched to a big bag of "pond fish food" and the fish hate it.

Cool.

I bought the Tetra Koi Vibrance today. They knew it was food!

No more starving for them!