To feed or not to feed?

[schizm]

I am a little unsure about feeding the goldfish during the Winter. Instructions say to stop feeding when the temperature goes below 39 degrees F. Does that mean to stop feeding for the season? At times the temperature during the day goes above 39 degrees and freezes during the night. Should I feed them when it is above 39 during the day? They look like they want to be fed, but I'm just not sure if I should or not.

 

[addy1]

Go by the water temperature. Mine get no food once it drops below 55f.
Not air temps

 

[j.w]

55f water temp is the rule and they will nibble on algae from the side of your liner all winter when needed and bugs, worms that fall into the pond. They don't need much over winter as their metabolism slows way down and it might be harder for them to digest food in their slow guts.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Yep, water temperature.

 

[sissy]

yeh they clean their own home .About time they do something besides poop and eat

 

[GBBUDD]

Many here don't feed at all , and like in nature the fish forage for food . koi are grazers you'll see them suck up rocks and clean off the available food / algae and microorganisms. And they still grow like a weed.

 

[Tombstone]

My pond in southern Arizona, I feed year around. Much less in winter. I think the bigger the pond the less problems. My water temp was 40 today and my water is very clear.

 

[barryian]

I am a little unsure about feeding the goldfish during the Winter. Instructions say to stop feeding when the temperature goes below 39 degrees F. Does that mean to stop feeding for the season? At times the temperature during the day goes above 39 degrees and freezes during the night. Should I feed them when it is above 39 during the day? They look like they want to be fed, but I'm just not sure if I should or not.

I stop at 50F. My waters temps don’t go below 45F, usually 49-50F as they’re heated. Long Island gets cold. I’ve been doing this for 28 years. Since my pond rebuild in 2012, I’ve maintained the above every winter. Haven’t lost a fish in probably a decade. Feeding under 50F is more of a detriment to the fish even though you feel like you’re doing them good. With no stomach and only intestines, the cold water slows down digestion and the food can rot causing bacterial infections. If it were pure carb food with zero protein, I’d say once in a month, no harm would come if you hit a 50F water temp. But that is for you, not the koi or goldfish.

 

[Relic]

I don't feed anymore. Slows the growth of the fish, taking longer to mature and seems to have stopped the spawning in the adults and the ever increasing number of fry...but I do miss the chaotic frenzy that ensued when the pellets hit the surface.

 

[addy1]

I feed occasionally. Which is really very seldom.

 

[MajorDan]

I stop at 50F. My waters temps don’t go below 45F, usually 49-50F as they’re heated. Long Island gets cold. I’ve been doing this for 28 years. Since my pond rebuild in 2012, I’ve maintained the above every winter. Haven’t lost a fish in probably a decade. Feeding under 50F is more of a detriment to the fish even though you feel like you’re doing them good. With no stomach and only intestines, the cold water slows down digestion and the food can rot causing bacterial infections. If it were pure carb food with zero protein, I’d say once in a month, no harm would come if you hit a 50F water temp. But that is for you, not the koi or goldfish.

How are you heating the pond?

 

[barryian]

How are you heating the pond?

Might sound hard to believe. I have 2000 gallons. My Alpha One Biofilter, UV, Prefilter, maindrain etc are all drained and off. I run my Savio skimmer to to the waterfall. I have all valves etc built into the system to divert to the the skimmer/waterfall scenario for winter. Directly in front of the weir of the Savio, I have a floating 1000 watt deicer. I built a temp controller several years ago as in this link. >>>

The above is in my pool filter shed about 25 yards from the pond. My deicer is plugged into this overriding the automatic built in temp control in the deicer which keeps the electric bill at bay as it goes on at 32F and off at 37F. It's a small margin but it heats well with the water circulating directly through it. I'm also at a 48" depth so the ground temps help too. A short time before Christmas, we had some temps down to about 12F-14F and it was a cold snap for a few days and it still maintained 46F. Someone on the forum did the math and said it didn't add up, made no sense. It really has worked perfectly for all the years I have it setup like this. The temp controller now keeps the temp sometimes lower at 45F as when I hadn't had it yet, the temps were up around 50F since the deicer was on longer and wasting electricity. Probably some algorithms in the equation the our forum friend missed.. Any questions, feel free.

This is the deicer but 1500 watt is overkill as I have the 1000 watt .... https://www.amazon.com/API-1500-Flo...s=floating+pond+deicer&qid=1578973155&sr=8-24

 

[jesh]

I am a little unsure about feeding the goldfish during the Winter. Instructions say to stop feeding when the temperature goes below 39 degrees F. Does that mean to stop feeding for the season? At times the temperature during the day goes above 39 degrees and freezes during the night. Should I feed them when it is above 39 during the day? They look like they want to be fed, but I'm just not sure if I should or not.

Hi, I have observed they eat very less in the winter, so I started feeding them once a week in Winter and every alternate day in summer. Also I generally feed them early morning so that any left over they can enjoy all day.