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  1. #1

    Water Temperature and Feeding

    Sorry, really basic question from a first time Koi owner....

    The water temperature in my pond has just dipped to 10C absolute max and probably hovers just below most of the time. Up to now, I've been feeding the fish a handful of wheatgerm pellets each day.

    Is this the time I should stop feeding completely or should I taper the feeding off? As someone completely new to keeping fish, its hard to resist the urge to stop feeding such large creatures!



  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion Ajm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by b-triple-7 View Post
    Sorry, really basic question from a first time Koi owner....

    The water temperature in my pond has just dipped to 10C absolute max and probably hovers just below most of the time. Up to now, I've been feeding the fish a handful of wheatgerm pellets each day.

    Is this the time I should stop feeding completely or should I taper the feeding off? As someone completely new to keeping fish, its hard to resist the urge to stop feeding such large creatures!
    Its all personal preference really few of us feed down to 8 but small amounts and nothing below that . Just gotta watch your fish behavior waste and left over food . Any food left scoop out. Dont want that rotting in the water
    Freddyboy the legend

    "we are water keepers first"

    Johnathan

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  4. #3
    Thanks...appreciate the advice! Mine are pretty fat so I wont stress about feeding then!

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    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion freddyboy's Avatar
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    as AJ said i feed at 8c to 9c . wheat germ osw in winter. any left overs i scoop out. its always eaten though.

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  8. #5
    Koi will survive not being fed over the winter but they will emerge in spring in better condition if they are fed very small amounts of wheatgerm based food whenever they are obviously hungry. I agree with the above; anything that isn't immediately eaten should be removed.

    My thoughts on winter feeding are on this link to my website:
    Winter feeding (mankysanke.co.uk)

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    Senior Member Rank = Nanasai Big nige's Avatar
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    That link was a good read mankey. I do have a question, at present my water is 9c I am feeding a all seasons wheatgerm based food once a day for 4 minutes, does that sound ok?

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  12. #7
    That sounds fine to me, although some people allow a little longer. Personally, I work on the principle that, if a koi is hungry, it will eat food quickly after it lands in the water. The quicker and less timid fish will eat what they want in a minute or so and you can allow a few minutes after that for timid fish to have a chance to decide if they want to eat then remove anything left over.

    We chuck in a few pellets to start with and only throw a few more in more if they are eaten. Experience will guide you as to how long to leave food floating and don't worry about any fish that hasn't made it's mind up within a few minutes, it won't starve over night and will be more enthusiastic the next time you look to see if they look like they're hungry.

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  14. #8
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion john1's Avatar
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    When I go to the pond and they come up looking for food I give them about 1/2 dozen wheatgerm pellets,if eaten they are given another small amount,if not interested they dont get any.
    Sometimes they just play with the pellets so not really interested,at the moment they are still interested and eating as it has been mild.
    John

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  16. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Similar to others, I tend to feed once a day between 12C down to 10C, then up to once a day between 8 and 10C but only if I'm confident it's not going to drop below 8C while the food is still in their guts.

    Below 8C I feed live food or natural foods such as earth worms or mussels, maybe once or twice a week, but no pellets or synthetic foods.

    Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

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