Feeding

[Beanlm]

I have an established pond, 12 years. My Koi and golf fish will not surface eat. I put in flakes and they won't come up to eat. If I can find sinking pellets they will eat them. Any solution

 

[DrCase]

They will come up when they are hungry

 

[Lisak1]

A little more about your issue - have they ever come to the surface for food? How long have these fish been in your pond? Any recent events that may have spooked them? Any new fish? What's your water temperature?

 

[Dave 54]

Try to stick to the pelleted food over that of flake food, you may well find they take the food much better ,

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Beanim. Welcome to GPF! My only thought is they are too scared to come to the top. Maybe putting something in the pond that they can hide behind or find cover in will help. Also have you tried dropping some flakes in and then walking away?

 

[Beanlm]

A little more about your issue - have they ever come to the surface for food? How long have these fish been in your pond? Any recent events that may have spooked them? Any new fish? What's your water temperature?

I've had these fish about 12 years. I've never had a problem until late last year when they weren't eating surface food. I tried sinking pellets which helped. Just started feeding again with the same results. Will continue to try pellets. They have plenty of places to hide.

 

[Lisak1]

Hmmm... well either something really bad happened and they are still spooked, or they just prefer the food that sinks to the bottom. Having places to hide is great, but that doesn't mean they can't get spooked - it just means they didn't get poached from your pond! (And that's just a theory. Your fish may have gotten shy for some reason unrelated to a predator.) Have you tried dropping the floating pellets in and then walking away? You standing there could be freaking them out. Just a thought...

OR...you could treat them like toddlers - just keep giving them what they SHOULD eat and refuse to give them anything else. Eventually they'll get hungry and eat!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Try to stick to the pelleted food over that of flake food, you may well find they take the food much better ,

Dave

I couldn't agree more, Dave. Uneaten Flake food will quickly adversely affect water quality.