fish eating lilies ?

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Hi all...
Hope everything is fine with you and your ponds :)

I'm sure I haven't dreamt... yesterday I noticed my water lilies leaves are all damaged.

Then i noticed the fish were literally attacking the leaves ?

Does it even make sense ? Do they need to be fed ? They've never been fed, there are so many stuff falling in this pond, and still some run off from rainwater that bring in clay that they love...


So should I start feeding my fish ?
 

sissy

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nope just something they do .I will find my biggest koi aggie dragging a plant around ,but they munch on everything .Remember that when the fish eat more they produce more wastes which will cause water problems .Once gunk starts to grow on the liner you will see them do this less .
 

JohnHuff

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My fish have never eaten my water lilies, there's usually plenty of algae around the sides of the pond for them to eat. But yes, feed them by all means. They love to eat.
 

sissy

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This is a new cleaned pond so not much for them to eat ,I usually only feed mine 2 maybe 3 times a week .The more you feed the more water quality problems you may have .So feed them a little but just watch how much Fish will always prefer plants over anything else .My koi love strawberries ,blueberries and watermelon
 
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yeah I was concerned by the water quality... which is still a problem because the job has not been done right.

I'm gonna try to feed them and see, but the pond already has a nice amount of algae, clay/mud, particles due to the run off problem's I've had. And i see the fish are really busy on the sides eating from there... just last year they were not touching the lilies :'( lol
I have watermelon might try and see if it makes them happy lol

thx a lot again for sharing you experience and advises :)
 
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wonder if undersides of lillies have algae or microscopic goodies that they like... lol who knows maybe they are bored
 
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I was wondering but didn't notice anything wrong on the lilies... they looked like they were bored actually... lol cos when they wanna eat they have plenty of rocks, with stuff on it...
 
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I think koi get bored and decide anything in the pond is a play thing or something to eat. They do love to dig.
 

sissy

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yep koi get bored and i put in my pond those extremely large plastic christmas balls and just plug up the hole on the one end with silicon and they like pushing it from when end of the pond to the other .I did get the glass ball that glows at night and thats pretty .

They just love having toys to keep them busy
 
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My fish keep themselves busy pushing the Water Hyacinth around and knocking the stems of the Pickerel Rush. Never thought of putting something of the toy nature in the pond for them to play with! :) Neat idea, but I would be constantly on the deck laughing as I watch them! :)

:goldfish:
 

sissy

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oh believe me the best 25 cents I ever spent at the end of the christmas season .They love playing fish ball and thought of putting them in the fish ball games .








 
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mine aren ot even koi just goldfish and shubunkins... and the lilies look bad and bad lol they pulled almost all the leaves away i just have the strings now lol gonna have to find other plants to provide shade...
 

addy1

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wow mine have never bothered the lilies, they don't bother any of the plants, cept to nibble on the floater roots a little.
 

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