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  1. #1
    Member Rank = Nisai AJB's Avatar
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    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?



  2. #2
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    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.

  3. #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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  5. #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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  7. #5
    Member Rank = Nisai AJB's Avatar
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    Thanks all.

  8. #6
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion bowsaw's Avatar
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    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

  9. #7
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Hassai koinewbie's Avatar
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    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.

  10. #8
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion Doghouse Riley's Avatar
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    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)

  11. #9
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Gosai Ryda's Avatar
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    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..

  12. #10
    Member Rank = Nisai AJB's Avatar
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    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.

  13. #11
    Indeed.

    I also don't understand not feeding your fish because it's too cold. If my koi want food, they get food!

  14. #12
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Dudley's Avatar
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    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.

  15. #13
    That’s where I’ve been going wrong all these years...no wonder I don’t catch anything lol


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  16. #14
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Grand Champion lee63's Avatar
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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 Can I feed in the dark?
    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 Can I feed in the dark? i love sitting out by mine at night


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    Its always a work in progress

  17. #15
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    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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