Cold water food. Wheatgerm..cheerios.. or ???

[Tish]

Hi all, I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find a thread. I am happy ,and a little jealous to see that some of you have ponds coming alive with spring! It is still getting below freezing most nights here but my fish should be waking up soon. I would love to hear what people feed their fish in the cooler times of spring and fall. Most of the information I have found recommends buying a wheatgerm fish food. A little expensive. I have read one article online stating it isn't really necessary, that a food high in fish based ingredients is better. I think I recall someone on the forum saying that they feed cheerios for spring and fall. Last fall I sprinkled some wheat germ from a bag along with their usual food and they did eat it.

 

[Lisak1]

I myself would never actually eat Cheerios so I would hesitate to feed them to my fish. (Of course I won't eat fish food either, but I want the ingredients to be things that fish might actually find in nature.)

We pretty much feed the same food all year round, but we really don't bother feeding the fish until the water temp stays above 50 consistently. They do fine with what they find in the pond.

 

[Mgessert]

What Lisak1 said. Same here.

 

[Tish]

What Lisak1 said. Same here.

That makes sense to me.

 

[GBBUDD]

Agree with most as @Lisak1 said short of the cheerios i grew up on them and frosted flakes so the cheerios were the healthy of the two

 

[Tish]

Agree with most as @Lisak1 said short of the cheerios i grew up on them and frosted flakes so the cheerios were the healthy of the two

Haha. The wheat germ fish food is priced so much higher than other foods so I suspected the food companies could be taking advantage of a commonly held belief that it is necessary.

 

[Lisak1]

They say it's easier to digest when the water is cold. So just wait for the water to warm up - problem solved!

@GBBUDD - same here. Plus Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Boo Berry... you name it. If they sugared it up and put it in a box, my mom called it breakfast! But when we know better, we do better. My own kids used to beg for cold cereal - sorry kiddos. Eat your eggs and bacon!

 

[addy1]

My lil fishes, get nothing from Nov until April. They are all fat and sassy. This year they got a tiny bit of food, they were begging (our winter has been darn warm) . The pond water was 53 so they got a handful, it was gone in seconds.

Usually though nothing.

 

[Tish]

My lil fishes, get nothing from Nov until April. They are all fat and sassy. This year they got a tiny bit of food, they were begging (our winter has been darn warm) . The pond water was 53 so they got a handful, it was gone in seconds.

Usually though nothing.

Yes, I stopped feeding at 50 degrees also but I left some floating plant in until freeze up.

 

[SarahT]

It was probably ME who said I feed Cheerios to my koi and goldfish. I started when we lived in Chicagoland and in spring and fall, when the water was 50 degrees or warmer, wanted an easier to digest (a billion kids under 4 years old can't be wrong) low protein food. The fishies all love Cheerios and love them even better when slightly moistened with orange juice (this started before we moved to Florida). Now that we're in Florida, they get regular koi food most of the the year and Cheerios as treats.
(@Lisak1 I'll confess to SHARING my Cheerios with the fish.)

 

[Tish]

It was probably ME who said I feed Cheerios to my koi and goldfish. I started when we lived in Chicagoland and in spring and fall, when the water was 50 degrees or warmer, wanted an easier to digest (a billion kids under 4 years old can't be wrong) low protein food. The fishies all love Cheerios and love them even better when slightly moistened with orange juice (this started before we moved to Florida). Now that we're in Florida, they get regular koi food most of the the year and Cheerios as treats.
(@Lisak1 I'll confess to SHARING my Cheerios with the fish.)

HAHA, Yes I know they like them and don't see the harm on an occasional or short term basis. I also ordered a small bag of wheat germ fish food. I think that algae tabs and bug bites are supposed to be easy to digest as well. I so envy you and your fishes for living somewhere with a year round warm climate. I cannot wait for spring!!!!