We feed Tetra PondFood -- labeled -- for Koi and goldfish. Different sizes of fish, number of fish, cold or warm weather, etc., will change the amount of food. Experts say to feed them the amount they will eat within about 5 minutes. Some people feed once a day or up to several times a day. Our routine is to feed them approximately the amount they will eat one time per day and the skimmer is shut down about 2 hours. After that time any remaining small amount will get skimmed off. The part of the year from cold to warm, and vice versa, is more challenging. Suggest you start small then increase when necessary.

I feed 2Xs a day but only as much as they can eat in less than ONE minute - they also eat algae and bugs. I feed them a floating food that I get from koivet.com, recommended by Doc Johnson - a combo of the big and small pellets (GREAT food!). I'm going to have to switch to all big pellets next bag around!

They definitely eat more in the summer. I start of small in the Spring and actually am doing 2 weeks of Medi-Koi to start w/ for the first time this year. Had some weird red streaking in one of my boys fins so didn't want to take any chances.

By the way, I also have bluegill in my pond so they take care of anything that the koi miss! :) (16,000ish gallons)

I am new to koi and I havent nailed down a true schedule yet. I wake up and through in a bunch and they go nuts, eating everyone. I come home and feed again and they go nuts again.. I could feed them all evening long and they wouldnt stop; but for now just twice a day, I would think you would need to keep some sort of consistant schedule, but I am a newbie so I might be wrong.

with feeding, it depends on a lot of factors. temps, number of fish, age of fish and quality of your filtration. If you are overstocked and have a small filter, then heavy feeding could create a toxic environment. Feeding a high quality food without a lot of fillers means less waste in the water and better health for the koi. sorry, but that Petsmart Tetra food is crap and should not be used. I like Danichi and Hikari...both use only premium ingredients. even if you have pond quality fish, still feed a quality food. It will mean less maintenance on your pond, and you will get more color and better growth out of your koi.

as for how often, again that depends on the temps, number of fish and the size of your filter. assuming you have a big enough filter to handle any bio load produced by the fish, then 3-5 small meals per day is best. Just like humans, one big meal a day is not healthy, it slows the metabolism. smaller meals several times a day increase their metabolism and you will have healthier/happier fish. To determine how much food your bio filter can handle start out feeding slow, and monitor water quality a couple times a day. if no ammonia shows up after a week then increase the amount of food and test again for another week. You can continue to increase the amount of food until you start to see ammonia. Once you see ammonia that means your filter cannot handle the bio load and you need to step it back by at least 25%.

Also, water temps plays a huge role in the metabolism. as the water cools their metabolism slows so food needs to be reduced. Never feed below 50*. feed lightly (2-3 times a week) between 51 and 55*. above 60* you can feed once daily. Once you hit the upper 60's and above then you can start the 3-4 feedings a day. But once you hit the mid to upper 80's then unless you have really good aeration you need to step it back. (more then just a waterfall...I'm talkin airstones and diffusers) In warm water the O2 is reduced in the water and the bacteria in your bio filter is completely dependent on that oxygen. So that means the bacteria is less effective and cannot handle as large of a bio load.

Surfhead, You say never feed below 50 degrees. I do not know where this number ever came from and why it gets quoted so often but I can tell you for a fact that it is wrong. This last winter I kept about 10 4 to 8" koi in an aquarium in my office and the heat in the building was kept at 45 degrees all winter and the water temp was 45 degrees. This was too warm for the fish to slow down enough not to swim around. With no natural food in with them I had to feed them all winter to keep them alive. Most of the time they ate a little bit every day most of the winter with no problem.

Earlier I said I didn't know why koi shouldn't be fed below 50 degrees but I do know so why does anyone think that number came about?
Mike

The business about not feeding in cold weather is because the fish digestive system slows as temperatures fall, and when it's very cold food won't pass through the gut, but may rot inside the fish.

My Tetra Koi Vibrance food package says to feed only above 50° F, but it says between 39° F and 50° F you may feed with their spring and fall formula. Some people feed Cheerios during the cooler weather. The main thing about cool weather food is that it has a lower protein content.

Even in the coldest weather fish probably eat a bit of algae, but it's not necessary nor advisable to give supplementary food then.

Sharon

50 degrees is a "safe" number. It does depend greatly on the situation. Their metabolism begins to slow and they cannot digest food as easily below 50. So if you feed below 50 its a gamble. if one of the koi happens to eat too much, then it gets colder, it can cause problems. Most outdoor ponds have algae and bugs so if the koi want food its there so no need to feed them. In your situation with an indoor poond, some very light feeding might be called for, but 45 is pretty cold, if it were me I probably would have either warmed the water a bit or not have fed them.

You are both very close to being correct. Koi can handle 36% protien all the way down to 40 degrees with no problem. But outdoors the temp could drop 10 degrees in one night and that could be a problem. That is why the 50 or 55 degree temp came about. Back before I started to heat my koi pond I have seen the temp drop from 48 degrees to 38 degrees overnight and that is 18,000 gallons of water cooling off that fast. The nightime temp in the air was just above 10 degrees. The fish I fed during the winter actually ate Mediciated food all winter. They were in the aquarium because they had small infections starting. They healed up beatifully beening on that food all winter.
Mike

I was feeding wheat germ pellets since end of March. 1 feeding every few days, then increasing to daily. Some days I soak the pellets in orange juice or garlic. I am going to mix the wheat germ pellets with Hikari staple pellets in a 50/50 mix for the next few weeks. Fish are being fed 3 times a day now. I started giving them worms in April to supplement their feedings. They won't eat (spit out) watermelon, oranges, steamed broccoli, or lettuce.

Sounds complicated and expensive. I buy two-20pound bags a year of Mazuri Koi Platinum Ogata food from the local Purina Feed dealer. It is quite inexpensive. From mid-April to December, every morning and every nite (if I remember) I throw a handful in each pond. If a half hour later, there is some still floating, they get a smaller handful next time. The Ogata is large, about the size of a pea. Smaller sizes are available. I like the large size as it allows the large koi to eat enthusaistically. As the food softens, the smaller ones can pick away at the floating pieces. I have two overstocked ponds, about 1000 gallons each with bio filters made from plastic garbage cans and a bog area into which the water is returned. Each pond has about 30 fish ranging from 24" down to 5". I use septic tank bacteria in the filters with lava rock and the water quality is excellent. I would recommend calling your local feed dealer for fish food. I have even heard of ponders using trout food.

I use medicarp M from Japan 15-30cm, I am in 8a so temps will go down to 20's in the winter but pond will sometimes hit 32. Is 50 degrees the cut off or not.. if so that only means about 3-4 months out of the year I dont feed the fish, guess I should get a temp gauge for the water? Also mike, pond at its deepest is ony 38 inches.. couldnt get any deeper, you see that as any problem? Some of my koi will get quite large as all are imported japanese from the best breeders and their some of their parents are nearing 3 ft..

This time of year I feed the koi 5 times a day plus treats. I'm feeding Hikari and Hi Silk. The treats are veggies, shrimp and oranges.

I use Danichi and Hikari depending on availability, or how far I feel like driving. Here in So Cal. I feed twice a day 365 days a year. Eventhough I live in Riverside, it doesn't get that cold where the fish slow down for the winter. I also give my Koi a treat once a month, steamed white rice. yes the same stuff you get a chinese resturants. I figured that Koi comes from Japan, Japanese people eat rice....I bet the fish would too.