My goldfish pond

[CountryEscape]

I have the same food for koi and goldfish. The koi just get smaller pieces, and the smallest goldfish have trouble getting it into their mouths, so Mama Country Escape, a/k/a Patti, bites the pieces in half at the end of feeding, after all the big fish have had their fill, and the younger ones know to come up to get smaller pieces. LOL I bought a 20# bag of Growth and Color from Foster and Smith, and it's pretty small pieces, so the majority of the goldfish can eat it whole. I just try to help out the younger ones that have trouble fitting it into their mouths. Also have a couple small fantails, although they usually stay toward the bottom, eat what sinks, if anyone misses it. I used to keep it in the freezer, but read where that doesn't help keep it fresh, and actually takes away some of the nutrients in a way. So, now just have the big bag in the basement, and I put some into a smaller zip loc bag upstairs that I scoop out of.

 

[addy1]

I saw the little eyelash babies, then saw one 1/2 size fry, not seeing a ton, but they have a lot of hiding room.

 

[j.w]

@CountryEscape hmmmmmmmmmmm, well I have been keeping my fish food in the freezer. I looked online and can't find anywhere that says it's bad to do so. Where did you hear it was bad to do so CE cuz I don't wanna wreck the food for them.
Ok wait was still looking while typing and found this one:

KOI FOOD STORAGE AND OLD KOI FOOD Proper Food Storage

Sometimes you luck out and get a deal on bulk foods. Or, a manufacturer offers larger containers than your fish can eat in a season. Too bad. I do NOT recommend that you buy big bags of food unless your fish can eat it all in a season. This is because it's necessarily difficult to keep 45 pounds of food in the fridge. Of course, if you CAN, do it! Otherwise, the fish food sits in the bag in a "cool dark place" and weevils hatch in it and the food is lost. Or moulds grow in it, on the condensation-side of the bag and it's lost. Or, the cats tear out the bottom corner of the bag and the food spreads across the floor of the garage like a cancer. Can you tell "I've been there, done that"??

Refrigerate foods, DON'T freeze them. Freezing damages (lyophilizes = freezer burns) the fats in the food and so the fat-soluble vitamins are compromised.

Foods which are packed in nitrogen (no oxygen) by the manufacturer are better than food which is in cans with oxygen. If you can find food which has a bag that allows expression of air from the bag and resealing, that is optimal.

Old Food?

If food begins to smell "funny" or develops a fuzz on it, changes color, sticks together or crumbles down, it's old or "bad" and should be discarded. Feeding "bad" food will land you in a world of hurt with your fish, because much of what grows in fish foods produces what are known as "Aflatoxins" which can cause injury, deficiency, and broken backs, in fish fed these spoiled foods. Truly, fish should go hungry while waiting for you to get fresh food, rather than being fed spoiled food "just for a few days" because it matters.

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It appears that there are differences of opinion on this subject as this place below shows:
http://koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?114526-Storing-Koi-food
Think I will just keep on doing what I'm doing and see how it goes unless of course I change my mind as we women do now and then

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks for finding the answer, JW. Yep, it had something to do with compromising the nutrients, the reason for not freezing it. I keep my bag in the basement, where it's cooler, although it's maybe wetter down there. It's a 20# zip loc bag, so it's hopefully staying fresh. Not going to take up fridge room for it, although my fridge usually is not that full for just me.

 

[j.w]

I don't really know what to do w/ mine now after reading both sides of the story. I have an extra fridge in the garage where it would fit. Might do that instead of the freezer. If storing in the garage I would use a sealed heavy duty container so as not to attract varmints and keep them from chewing through cuz my cats sure love the pellets that drop on the ground.

 

[addy1]

I have some in a freezer, guess it is going to stay there until used un-opened, vacuum sealed.

 

[CometKeith]

CE, I use Tetra Flakes. Is that stuff any good? I don't think my goldfish grow very fast but then it might be because I only give them flake food. Addy yeah for the babies! JW another interesting article!

 

[CometKeith]

Here are a few pics I took this afternoon. Some of the two year old fish have nice colors now. There are 20 of them. The rest are older.

You can see all the black ones in the last picture.

 

[haver79]

Pretty fish! Hope if some of my babies survive they get some good color.

 

[CometKeith]

Haver79, Good luck with your babies. It may take some time to see their true colors. I have three favorites. One with an orange, white and red stripe, another with pretty orange and white spots, and another that is spotted fuscia color that may be a shubunkin. The orange and white one started out all black for over a year and then suddenly turned an ugly salmon color and I really didn't like it at all. It changed again to really strong orange spots on a white background. I have one that is a really strong white with a long tail that I like. Also some of the shubunkin are nice and some of the orange ones have nice color running into their tail and fins.....so I guess I like a lot of them! You never know how they are going to turn out until a few years later so be patient!

 

[addy1]

lol Keith you really love them all

 

[j.w]

I love all mine too but not as pretty colors as lots of you have. Keith your fish are lovely! Most of mine are just oj cuz got them many years ago as feeder fish. Then picked up a few on freecycle w/ some white on them and then bought a few shubbies. Hoping some be'be's show up someday from some nice hookups

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Addy,even though I desire a large pond like what so many other people have on gpf, there are many advantages to something smaller in that you get to really know all your fish and you can see how they develop and change over time. Of my 28 fish 22 were born in the pond and the other 6 i can tell you exactly how I came about getting them,how old about they were when I got them, whether they are female or male etc. My nicest shubunkin with the really long tail started out as a little squirt I got from Petsmart for $1.99. It's fun to see a tiny fish grow into pretty mature fish. The only ones I am indifferent about are the 8 black 2 year old fish but one of them has a gold belly now and several of my nicest ones started out black so I am still hoping some of them change. Thanks jW the fish cost either from $2 to $10 for the most expensive shubunkin for the ones I bought. Did you ever think you would get so attached to the hobby when you picked up your first few fish?

 

[j.w]

Thanks Addy,even though I desire a large pond like what so many other people have on gpf, there are many advantages to something smaller in that you get to really know all your fish and you can see how they develop and change over time. Of my 28 fish 22 were born in the pond and the other 6 i can tell you exactly how I came about getting them,how old about they were when I got them, whether they are female or male etc. My nicest shubunkin with the really long tail started out as a little squirt I got from Petsmart for $1.99. It's fun to see a tiny fish grow into pretty mature fish. The only ones I am indifferent about are the 8 black 2 year old fish but one of them has a gold belly now and several of my nicest ones started out black so I am still hoping some of them change. Thanks jW the fish cost either from $2 to $10 for the most expensive shubunkin for the ones I bought. Did you ever think you would get so attached to the hobby when you picked up your first few fish?

Yes I did! I could taste it before I stuck that shovel in the ground. I knew I was hooked when I was a little kid w/ a goldfish bowl and a prize winning fish from the fair

 

[addy1]

Some of my prettiest fish are the cheapest, never spent more than 2.99 for a fish