Treats we feed our fish?

[icsd71]

Wanted to start a thread on what we feed our fish. Not the normal koi food but treats and such. I have been feeding mine sweet corn and water melon pieces from my garden. They love it. I have not given them much but they go crazy over it!

 

[sissy]

strawberries and blueberries from my garden

 

[j.w]

Cheerio's and watermelon rind w/ a bit of the red part still on it and half dead worms...............sorry can't bear to put good strong living ones in there :sad:

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

I bought a large zucchini from the neighbors stand and have cut slices and flipped them into the pond. They go crazy over it....and eat right to the skin. It is funny watching then "chase" the zucchini slices around the pond.

:goldfish:

 

[Mmathis]

Well, do my box turtles count? My goldies & I haven't started bonding yet, so all they get is algae and occas. fish food -- poor, deprived little fishies [not]. The turts get a ration of veggies mixed with turtle food and cooked meats. But sometimes I'll cheat and throw some ears of fresh corn into their habitat. THEY LOVE IT! And sometimes, instead of their standard fare, I'll get mealworms, earthworms, grubs, or the occas. June bug, etc. and hand feed them! Ah, turtle heaven!

 

[JohnHuff]

I used to buy frozen krill, but there are plenty of natural high protein treats around the garden. We've fed them ants, bees, mosquitoes, flies, basically any flying insects, rolly pollies, aphids, caterpillars, worms, spiders. They'll eat anything. If we were small and fell into the pond, they would eat us too.

 

[don't ask]

hmmm... i found a few beetles floating in a metal tub out back and grabbed them and threw in pond and yep they went crazy... was kinda like well if the jap beetles show i know where they are going

 

[brandonsdad02]

lady bugs are deadly to fish. I threw some in last year and the fish the ate it was dead the next day. I did some research online and found out they kill fish.

 

[fishin4cars]

I was just going to post that anyone feeding insects needs to be extremely careful. yes, lady bugs can be toxic, ants can sting long after they have been eaten and can cause serious swelling in the intestinal tract that can lead to further damage if an infection sets in. Krill is a great treat as it also supposedly promotes deeper red beni in some koi. ( Not sure if that is a fact or not but some claim it is true.) ?? I stick to melons, dew, cantaloupe, watermelons, also cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, English peas, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, cheerios, reg. and honey nut, earthworms, and krill. Strawberries and Blue berries I can see where they would enjoy but from what I have been informed they aren't the best of choices. Koi can't digest seeds of any type. The small seeds can actually cause blockage in the intestinal tract and cause to koi to bloat.
My Mom had a stomach condition that the seeds of small fruits, (strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, Etc.) would cause her serious problems and infections. I watched her for so many years try and pick seeds out as she loved eating all of them but eventually she had to stop eating them due to the problems they caused. I guess that's why I'm particularly funny about allowing any seeds in the pond. I sure don't want to see my koi suffer like my mom did when she ate them.

 

[JohnHuff]

lady bugs are deadly to fish. I threw some in last year and the fish the ate it was dead the next day. I did some research online and found out they kill fish.

Thanks for the info. I wasn't able to find anything online about that. Can you pls post some links here?

 

[fishin4cars]

John, I have read it a few times on forums, Now is that 100% fact. ??? Possibly Waterbug may have more fact. A link? I would be digging for weeks to find where I read it and on which forums. As for the ants, Pretty much the same thing except Wildlife and fisheries have had to investigate fish die offs that were attributed to fire ants on bream and catfish is small ponds. So i know they would have some documentations on there findings, SOMEWHERE?

 

[brandonsdad02]

I can't find where I saw it but the local pet stores strongly advise against feeding them to pets. I don't know if they are toxic to fish or they block there digestive system and the fish die from that. I don't want to give false information but I remember reading it online some where and at the pets store.

 

[Mmathis]

I did some research last night, but didn't come up with anything conclusive on the LADYBUG issue. It doesn't look so much like they are killer-toxic, so much as they have that bad taste thing going for them, and the bright colors as a warning. But like ANYthing (medications, food, sunshine), the results are going to be an individual thing. The size & age of the fish, or if it has any stressors already going against it, how many it ate, for example [in general, Black Widow Spider bites aren't killers unless you're very young, very old, or immunocompromised].

Sorry to go off-topic, but I had a dog once that loved to catch toads. Can't tell you how many times he ended up with the foamy mouth. But no matter how bad they must have tasted, he kept catching them. Maybe if he'd eaten one he would have gotten sick or died, but lived a long life.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Cucumbers right now, because I have so many of them coming out of the garden, evey time I slice one up I take the ends and chop them up small and feed them to the fish.

 

[icsd71]

Will have to try that. have a ton of them growing also.