Feeding the pigs

[Shdwdrgn]

Goldfish and koi eat a LOT of food! Since my new pond doesn't have a lot of plants growing over the edges into the water yet, the fish have been digging up all the water plants, so we have been looking for alternative foods. I read about feeding them oranges, but they didn't seem interested. Perhaps because it was something new and they didn't know what to do with it, so maybe I'll try again one of these days. Another thing I've been trying is frozen zucchini. I don't think they like it much, but it does get eaten.

Tonight I was cutting up some fresh zucchini from the garden and decided to throw them the scraps (I was hollowing out the skin so I could stuff them). I threw a couple pieces out, looked back about 15 minutes later and it was all gone! I tossed out a few more big pieces I had left, and that was all gone an hour later. Apparently they really love their fresh greens!

The next problem is trying to figure out how much to feed them. Of course there's the standard wisdom of only feeding them what they will eat in 5 minutes, but mine prefer to wait a bit for the pellets to soften before they eat. If I wait 5 minutes, most of the food is still there, but 15 minutes later its completely gone. And I've also read that many people feed their koi several times a day to help limit their growth. Last night I put out a of food for my wife to throw in the pond this morning (she works a very early shift). She threw the entire cup of food in the pond! And when I got up to look later, it was all gone, and the koi didn't really show any signs of having over-ate. Pigs!!! OK so this makes me think I may not be feeding my fish enough. I guess we'll work out something for the morning/evening feedings through the Summer and see if that helps reduce the destruction of my water plants.

I have also read about feeding the fish bread and rice. I'd love to hear other suggestions of what they can safely eat. A broader diet can only help their overall health and color, and if they'll eat fruits and veggie scraps that I would normally throw away, so much the better.

 

[SE18]

Sounds like my beagles

 

[fishin4cars]

Citrus foods take some getting used to, They DO NOT not need to eat any seeds of any type. the citrus they need the pulp only no skin, it took several feedings before they really started going after it but now they will eat two or three oranges or grapefruits in one feeding. They love it! Zucchini was the same way at first they would nibble on it, now they gobble it down. I found I don't like bread at all, water always looks like stuff floating around in it for a day or so after feeding wheat bread, I don't not feed anything but wheat. I've seen watermelon eaten by other koi but mine don't really eat it, others that are suppose to be ok but my koi don't seem to like much, cucumbers, yellow squash, cantaloupe. Foods, mine REALLY like Lesure baby english peas right out of the can, honey nut cheerios, can green beans,citrus zucchini, and rice.
The best way to monitor heavy feeding is monitor the water. the ammonia and nitrites start to climb back it down. My heard can and will eat 1# of koi pellet, and large handful of Cheerios, and a full can of veggies in one sitting, NO PROBLEM! and that's all in a 15 minute if I let them. BUT, I do this and within about a 12 hour stretch I'll see ammonia and nitrite spikes that are very detectable. Now if I cut that feeding to 1/3rd in the morning, 1/3 around noon, and 1/3 around night fall. The readings stay far more stable. Growth wise, I can grow a 4" standard koi to 10-12" in a single season. Now, here is what I had to ask myself, WHY do I want to grow them that big that fast? I'm not showing them, I don't need the massive amount of those size fish as the more they grow the more I'll have to cull. and the more I have to clean and maintenance. If I cut the total feeding by 1/2 and then feed 5 days out of a week, my food bill went down, the pond stays cleaner and far more stable, less maintenance, and the fish slowed there growth down and maybe I'll have the room to keep three or four of them for a extra season to see how they develop.
In the 300 gallon, I'm doing a little different, There are 7 5"-7" koi, I feed them pellets only right now. They get what they can eat in five minutes once or twice a day, 4 days a week, I don't feed them every other day. I'm getting even slower growth rate, BUT Better color and better body confirmation. I'm talking noticeably stockier bodies, and blacks that look like INK dyed on to the fish and Red that are deep red, Oh, I do feed these about 25% more freeze dried krill than I do the main pond. Just wanting to see how it effects them. Now some of this is done intentional to see how they grow and re-act, some has to do with the main pond has lights, is closer to the house, and gets more attention than the small pond. I need the ones in the small pond to grow slower or they will out grow it, The ones in the big pond as they get to big I have to cull down so not to over stock.
So the bottom line is, InMyOpinion how much growth and and much maintenance do you want to deal with. If your wanting to keep clear water and low maintenance, but slower growth slow down your feeding, if your wanting to get good growth, be prepared to do more filter backwashing, more water testing, and more spring and fall maintenance on the pond in general as what goes in must come out. Now I'm getting a better idea of why I see how the show folks are growing massive koi, cause they have to maintain massive and expensive equipment to handle all that poop!

 

[DrDave]

Ours love bread, any kind, they eat it as fast as my wife can break it and toss it in. I guess not all koi are predicatable on what they eat. Mine also eat rice but ignore oranges. I have to work at it to get them to eat watermellon.
The bottom line is to make sure that after 5 minutes, you remove whatever they are not eating, so you don't contaminate the water.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with what they recognize. Over the last 4 years, all of my fish have been raised on a steady diet of pellet food, and probably eating the moneywort that has grown into the water. Since I have been tossing in different types of food this year, they seem to be getting more curious about checking things out, and practically inhaled the zucchini last night. I've thrown in a few baby peas a couple times, but I'm concerned about the skins on those.

I've heard that krill really brings out the color in cichlids, so it wouldn't surprise me that the same applies for koi. I wonder what else we can feed them that would be common around the house, but would help enhance their colors?

 

[Steve knight]

one really fun thing to feed them is cooked noodles. you get tugawars and all kinds of fun antics.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Haha I bet that's fun to watch!

 

[fishin4cars]

I found some Laquna citrus koi treats. I tried them out and they are about 3" long, I can hold one end and the big guys come up and pull them out of my hands. they love them but they are hard to find around here. the last time I found them I bought all the store had, Both boxes.

 

[HARO]

I was given a half-dozen samples of those koi treats by the sales rep. I don't hava koi, but my turtles just love 'em! John

 

[fishin4cars]

Goldfish love them too, just have to break them into smaller pieces.

 

[jupiter1]

"mine REALLY like Lesure baby english peas right out of the can"

fishin,

no peeling of the shells on the peas , no problem ?

 

[koiguy1969]

tetra pond makes a good citrus treat as well....they look like orange flavored pork rhines....and my fish love em! honey nut and whole grain cheerios,canned peas,canned french cut green beans, watermelon (altho it has no nutritional value for them), steamed or cooked broccoli, ornge slices, grapefruit slices, canned carrots.to name some others

 

[fishin4cars]

"mine REALLY like Lesure baby english peas right out of the can"

fishin,

no peeling of the shells on the peas , no problem ?

Leseur brand baby peas in the silver can, NO PROBLEM, all other brands I have had to peel the shells. I tried frozen peas and they were a pain to peel and then the fish didn't eat them very well. With Lesuer brand I fix about 3/4 of the can for us and save 1/4 of a can and feed the fish. Even small fish ( Over 4') seem to eat them no problems and the big guys will pass up regular food if they know there are peas. I haven't tried the carrots but thinking about trying can ones and see how well they eat them.