My Koi are PIGS.....

[jagan314]

Hey All

I was just wondering... Along with my koi in my pond I have a couple of large channel catfish... Initially I figured they'd eat what koi eat, or pick up what falls to the bottom.. but now I'm concerned cause NOTHING gets left behind during koi feeding... I feed my koi a specific amount and that's it... and its all gone in 1-2 minutes.. (serious)

Every so often I'll treat my koi to oranges, crickets etc... I bought feeder fish today (minnows and small goldfish) and released them into the pond near dark... I'm pretty sure the koi ate MOST of those little guys, I'm hoping the catfish got something....

Is this normal/healthy? People say koi don't eat fish.... but I gotta tell ya.. MY KOI EAT EVERYTHING! They chased after and gobbled up those feeder fish like there was no tomorrow. I'm thinking since catfish are active at night.. Next time I'll let the feeder fish loose during the evening hours.

I won't even tell you how they respond to live crickets. Here's a list of some of the things I get for my koi as a special treat every now and again: from the garden: caterpillars, beetles, bugs, snails (we don't put out poisons)... from the store: live crickets, silkworm pupae (freeze dried), minnows, mosquito fish, feeder goldfish, night crawlers, meal worms, wax worms, red worms, oranges, leafy lettuce, raw & cooked shrimp, freeze dried krill etc.... They LOVE all of these things... and eat them up like its their last meal on earth.

Do you're koi behave like this? And are they up to eating these things? I can't even consider a floating planter in my pond cause they'd eat the plants...

What should I avoid feeding my fish? (their normal dry food is Saki Hikari)

 

[fishin4cars]

What should you avoid, Any feeder fish or fish that could bring parasites, fungal, and bacterial infections into your pond, this is by far the worse possibly way you could bring in something bad for your fish. As for food, Koi are primarily vegetarians, so veggies and should be the bulk of your treats, but the Freeze dried krill, wax worms, and meal worms should be good supplement foods as well, all those are good for the catfish as well. keep in mind a good healthy growing koi can eat 10% of it's body weight in a day. So if your feeding only one feeding and what they can eat in 1-2 minutes, yes they will eat anything they can find. This can be a good thing though, lot less chance you'll over feed, less chance the fish will get belly fat and the back bends, ( caused by obesity) and less likely you'll fowl the water out, But you'll trade off by slower growth and possibly the fish not getting as large as they would if feed 10% body weight daily. I try and hit a happy medium, I don't care about huge growth and not looking for fast growth but try and at least feed them a couple of times a day when I can, right now my water temps are so high I'm reducing my feedings to very small feedings and they are really pigs right now but to much food could be disastrous right now. Once the water starts cooling but not to cool I'll be pumping the weight on to get ready for winter.
BTW, you can consider a floating ring with netting underneath to protect them from getting to it, there is a neat idea in the DYI section that seems to work really good. Some things mine like to eat that are easy to get, Canned green beans, and baby lesure green peas right out of the can. Seriously my herd can eat a half can in two to three minutes and still be looking for more. .

 

[KennethO]

Ours loves watermelon. So do I! I leave a little on the rind and toss them in for a day. By morning there is nothing left but the skin.

They go crazy for earthworms. Duckweed too.

 

[koiguy1969]

is there such a thing as a koi that isnt a finned garbage disposal? mine will eat pretty much anything you toss in!!

 

[taherrmann4]

Mine will eat very little other than their food. I have tried cheerios with mixed results, lettuce they won't touch, no worms, no grubs.

 

[Nakish66]

What should you avoid, Any feeder fish or fish that could bring parasites, fungal, and bacterial infections into your pond, this is by far the worse possibly way you could bring in something bad for your fish. As for food, Koi are primarily vegetarians, so veggies and should be the bulk of your treats, but the Freeze dried krill, wax worms, and meal worms should be good supplement foods as well, all those are good for the catfish as well. keep in mind a good healthy growing koi can eat 10% of it's body weight in a day. So if your feeding only one feeding and what they can eat in 1-2 minutes, yes they will eat anything they can find. This can be a good thing though, lot less chance you'll over feed, less chance the fish will get belly fat and the back bends, ( caused by obesity) and less likely you'll fowl the water out, But you'll trade off by slower growth and possibly the fish not getting as large as they would if feed 10% body weight daily. I try and hit a happy medium, I don't care about huge growth and not looking for fast growth but try and at least feed them a couple of times a day when I can, right now my water temps are so high I'm reducing my feedings to very small feedings and they are really pigs right now but to much food could be disastrous right now. Once the water starts cooling but not to cool I'll be pumping the weight on to get ready for winter.
BTW, you can consider a floating ring with netting underneath to protect them from getting to it, there is a neat idea in the DYI section that seems to work really good. Some things mine like to eat that are easy to get, Canned green beans, and baby lesure green peas right out of the can. Seriously my herd can eat a half can in two to three minutes and still be looking for more. .

Fishin, I didn't know you should feed less if the water is too warm. I thought it was only if it's really cold. Please explain because it gets SUPER hot here. Thanks.

 

[jagan314]

Larkin... you are so right.. I quarenteen EVERYTHING I put into my pond, plants included (If the plant shares the water, its quaranteened).. I don't mix waters either... But the idiot me didn't even think about the feeder fish quaranteen. They just don't last long enough in my pond... I often see peoples ponds with the fry in with the larger fish.. That won't happen in my pond. My fish will eat ANYTHING I put in the pond.. and they aren't skinny fish either.. they're very robust without being obese..... The warmer the weather the MORE my fish will eat... the colder the less... the ecosystem in my pond is very sensitive to over feeding... so I don't do things like that... The planter box full of hyacinths are GINORMOUS and overflowing the planter box... All this cause the fish waste and nitrogens are plentiful... (I'm thinking).. Though my fish are currently doing VERY well and I'm not seeing any stress or issues with the water and quality. I need to post a current picture of that planter box I did a month or two ago.... Thanks everyone.. the watermelon is a good tip and Larkin, your absolutely right about the feeder goldfish. If its any consolation, I'm picky about those too... but only time will tell if my fish come down with anything.. I've been doing this for a couple of years now... and so far no issues with my fish. (perhaps I've just been lucky.)

 

[fishin4cars]

Fishin, I didn't know you should feed less if the water is too warm. I thought it was only if it's really cold. Please explain because it gets SUPER hot here. Thanks.

If water is warm fish have a higher metabolism, when they eat more they waste more. By watching how much you feed you can watch and keep better control on the ammonia and nitrite that is produced. Not saying not to feed but as waters warm up keeping a close eye on water conditions is the best way IMO to keep excess waste to a minimal.

 

[sgrawunder]

Hmmm...I have several large Koi and Plecos that live happily along side Mollies. I have never seen any of the big fish dining on the little ones, even the molly babies that are teeny tiny. I feed my fish twice a day, breakfast is a good brand of koi food, and dinner is veggies. I discovered that the bags of frozen mixed vegetables (succotash where I'm from LOL) provides all the fish with something yummy. The Koi gobble up the green peas, limas and corn but won't touch the carrots or green beans. The plecos snarf up the carrots and green beans during the night. And special treats for all is slices of squash or potato.

 

[sissy]

mine love everything fruit ,veggies and anything they can get there mouths on .I watched aggie take a bird under water the other day and I had to rescue the poor little thing .

 

[jneg]

I feed mine only Koi food, I will some more veggies with your ideas. I also have a pleco and some fancy guppies. The Koi don't seem to bother the guppies that I put in just to make sure no mosquitos are produced. In the begining the Koi did eat some of the guppies but they seem to have outgrown that stage now.

 

[Joseph Dragon]

Ours loves watermelon. So do I! I leave a little on the rind and toss them in for a day. By morning there is nothing left but the skin.

They go crazy for earthworms. Duckweed too.

 

[Joseph Dragon]

Duckweed is a wonderful food for Koi.I've grown it in a separate 20-30gallon container with a small scoop of fertilizer thats meant to dissolve in water.Once a week I net out a 6x8net full of duckweed and the Koi gobble it up like madness.It is 50% protein by weight and is easily digested by Koi.They leave a tiny bit left over but come back to it later.My Channel Cats and my Bullhead won't touch it.The next day the catfish are the first to the top to get that dry Koi Food.After there done stuffing themselves the Koi eat an average portion of the same.If you keep anacharis in the water with your larger Koi,They suck it in and spit it out-minus most of its leaves.I just put it in the same type of separate container w/fertilizer and the leaves grow back fast.I also cut the anacharis in half and it regrows in length in that container.Both it and duckweed are very much renewable and easy to grow veggies for your Koi.Also the anacharis absorbs waste and CO2 while in the pond and returns food and oxygen.A great deal as far as I can figure.

 

[Faebinder]

Duckweed is a wonderful food for Koi.I've grown it in a separate 20-30gallon container with a small scoop of fertilizer thats meant to dissolve in water.Once a week I net out a 6x8net full of duckweed and the Koi gobble it up like madness.It is 50% protein by weight and is easily digested by Koi.They leave a tiny bit left over but come back to it later.My Channel Cats and my Bullhead won't touch it.The next day the catfish are the first to the top to get that dry Koi Food.After there done stuffing themselves the Koi eat an average portion of the same.If you keep anacharis in the water with your larger Koi,They suck it in and spit it out-minus most of its leaves.I just put it in the same type of separate container w/fertilizer and the leaves grow back fast.I also cut the anacharis in half and it regrows in length in that container.Both it and duckweed are very much renewable and easy to grow veggies for your Koi.Also the anacharis absorbs waste and CO2 while in the pond and returns food and oxygen.A great deal as far as I can figure.

I find submersible plants in general to be useless.... essentially you are adding Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus to the pond in the form of a plant and it gets eaten and becomes fish poop.... So no major benefit to the echo system.

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
Cat fish are mainly bottom feeders so any food for them needs to sink and sink fast.
If the cats are used to you may be you can Put the food on a stick and feed them that way.

Ruben