Koi and crazy temps in New England - to feed or not to feed?

[Lamacklosky]

Hi everyone - I have a small koi pond (3500 gallons)with several large beautiful koi and I’m curious what others are doing about feeding them this “winter”. We’ve had cold temps but now are having 50 and 60 degree temperatures during the day. I’m concerned they are going to be looking for food and potential stress this is putting in them. Looking for thoughts. Thanks!

 

[poconojoe]

It's all about water temperature, not air temperature. The water temperature levels take a lot longer to fluctuate relative to the air temperature.

Once my pond water drops to around 49F, I stop feeding until Spring.
There's plenty of algae, other plants and organisms in the pond for them to snack on if necessary. However, they do slow way down at those temperatures and don't need much, if any food. They are already hibernating.

You don't want their bellies full when their metabolism has slowed down so much. It's not healthy.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I agree with poconojoe - once the water temp gets below 50 degrees, I really don't feed until Spring (and honestly the fish don't even come up looking for food at that point) I do see them swimming around slowly, sucking on rocks, etc... but they don't 'beg' like they do when the water's warm.

My one exception to the above is when we do have a prolonged, warmer than usual spell (it happens here in NC) that gets them coming up & asking for a snack, I *might* toss them a few plain Cheerios. But that's it.

 

[j.w]

@Lamacklosky