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Thread: Can I feed in the dark?
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15-10-2018, 08:27 PM #1
Can I feed in the dark?
Pond temps are 16 degrees C in Kent currently. However, it is dark when I go to work and dark when I come home on the days when I am not at home. I don't have an autofeeder. Is it OK to feed in the dark at each end of the day? Or do I need to embrace automation?
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15-10-2018, 08:33 PM #2
You can feed in the dark so long as the koi see it well enough to eat it. I often feed mine in the evenings, but only when the lights over the pond are on at this time of year. Chuck some in and see what they do.
2016 new 6000 gallon pond
https://www.koiforum.uk/pond-construc...ghlight=feline
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15-10-2018, 11:01 PM #3
I have fed mine in the dark for many years now with no issues at all. Their sense of smell is better than their eyesight!
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anne Thanked / Liked this Post
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15-10-2018, 11:19 PM #4
Wow!
Mine, all of mine are QUITE happy to eat in the dark. I'd go as far to say that they're just as hungry as during the day, and possibly hungrier at dawn and dusk!
Yes. 100% yes!
Going further, google 'On demand koi feeder'.
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anne Thanked / Liked this Post
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16-10-2018, 06:27 AM #5
Thanks all.
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16-10-2018, 11:14 AM #6
eyes come very low in the sensory ability to feed for carp, so feed away, though they will have become accustomed to food arriving in the light so go sparingly to start and see how it goes.
the slow pond build thread
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16-10-2018, 05:03 PM #7
Hi my fish just associate ME with food no matter what time of day or night it is. As soon as they see any movement in the garden they think it's food time & it is most times.
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16-10-2018, 10:10 PM #8
Koi can feed in the dark, as it isn't ever that dark. Anyway they can "taste" with their pectoral fins, so they can find food.
"The information's out there,
You only have to let it in." (Jesse Stone)
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17-10-2018, 12:23 AM #9
I just tried this with a few pellets and they gobbled them up Though in truth there was very dim light coming from the kitchen window..
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17-10-2018, 04:26 PM #10
It's a funny thing this, as all the feeding threads I have read suggest that people only feed during the day. Why not schedule feeds evenly over 24 hours if automatic feeders are being used?
Anyway, I have started feeding in the evenings when it is dark. They go just as mad for the food as in the daytime. I do have pond lights (switchable) and so I put them on when I feed, to make sure all is well, then turn off when I go in.Last edited by AJB; 17-10-2018 at 04:33 PM.
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17-10-2018, 06:32 PM #11
Indeed.
I also don't understand not feeding your fish because it's too cold. If my koi want food, they get food!
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01-11-2018, 02:29 AM #12
I am new to this Koi keeping but on this point of feeding in the dark, all I will say is, if fish do not eat in the dark, all those blokes and ladies going out night fishing have been wasting their time.
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01-11-2018, 10:35 AM #13
That’s where I’ve been going wrong all these years...no wonder I don’t catch anything lol
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01-11-2018, 03:14 PM #14
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Yep carp feed all day round, they dont sleep lol. Its actually quite amazing to find that they still scoop all the food even in pitch black
Theres something therapeutic anout sitting by the pond later on with the garden lights on and feeding. Its a very tranquil setting and mist of the noisy hustke if a daytime is gone and only peace and quiet with the sound of running water and the fish gracefully swimming about and taking food i love sitting out by mine at night
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkIts always a work in progress
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12-11-2018, 07:06 PM #15
Just to go against consensus here, mine don't come up to the surface for food in the dark.
After a few minutes they do seem to realise food is there, but they don't come up for it in the 5 minutes I stand around waiting. Its gone by morning though so maybe they come up after I've gone.
My indoor fish are mainly blind, and they bolt right to the top corner of the tank as soon as the lid moves, day or night. So darkness is unlikely an issue, more likely my Koi are just scared.
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lee63 Thanked / Liked this Post
The Daily pond temp thread
Still at around 17C, know what you mean about getting the covers off though :D it will be really...