Thread: Gaining confidence to feed in single figure temps.

In my early days of pond fish keeping in the late eighties Winter feeding was something which just didn't happen.
All the advice (mostly in magazines at the time) warned of the dire consequences of feeding in cold conditions.
With the rise of the internet the story didn't really change.
It very much reminded me of car road test write-ups.
Someone well known does a review then countless others plagiarise to some degree and before you know it one person's opinion appears to be supported by an entire industry unchallenged.
We find ourselves with an "everybody knows" practice without actually knowing where it comes from.
Sometime around the new millenium, as my experience grew, I would cautiously feed small amounts in Winter if the fish appeared to be looking for food. For me "looking for food" is when fish are at 45 degrees and nibbling the walls at the water surface - however slowly.
I was always apprehensive though.
It wasn't until I stumbled across Manky Sanke's comments reminding us of the oh so simple, yet irrefutable logic of natural behaviour moulded by millenia of natural selection that I finally felt comfortable watching the fish rather than the thermometer.

So what do I do now?
I watch the fish in Winter and if they are looking for food I feed them.
Small amounts of wheatgerm based food.
The fish have taken food at temps as low as 6C in my in-ground, uninsulated, uncovered pond in which the heating only kicks in a 4.5C.
It is interesting that they can be looking for food one day and not the next, even if it's slightly warmer.

Winter feeding is now firmly established in our pond and the new feeding system has made it super easy to control and monitor (https://youtu.be/Cl3vluGy6DE).
Now it's colder I have swapped out the airlift pump for a smaller one with less flow and luckily the food still makes its way to the fish.
It's 7.5C in there today and they've had breakfast and are already looking for more (thermometer accuracy checked regularly).

I do intervene.
It's a closed system so I provide food when they look for it. I agree that selective breeding does tend to reduce overall robustness/resilience but if the fish want food, eat the food and come back for more the next day I feed them.
I have been Winter feeding in some form for over 20 years.
With regard to low temperatures, I kept Koi in uninsulated and unheated ponds for nearly 30 years before building in "emergency heating" in my latest pond.
I am definitely not an expert and I'm not saying to anyone they should feed in Winter or should not bother heating their ponds. I just sometimes share what I've done and why.
I know I'm not a "proper" Koi enthusiast to some in that I don't keep the pond warm all year, don't give them expensive food or do everything to maximise growth and my Koi tend to be cheaper Israeli examples.
The only way I "cosset" the fish is by managing the water chemistry very carefully, but this takes very little effort now the system is mature.
Other than a spate of "nuke-proof" Trichodina outbreaks a couple of years ago I've clearly been very lucky!

... I too have learned. I just to watch the window. If they're active, I lift the cover in 'the feeding corner'. If the all the fish appear they get a proper feed. If it's just the usual suspects appearing (chag, karashi and ochiba) they'll get half a feed.

Usually it's at least 8deg or over when they're hungry, but there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to it other than that. Just seems sometimes they want it, sometimes they don't.