Bindi wrote:
Hi! My name is Bindi.
I have been lurking for awhile and learning heaps. :-)
I did post a few times ages ago on the unmoderated
group but left fairly quickly.

I am from Oz and as we are now in Autumn and heading
into Winter I was wondering when to slow down and stop
feeding my pond fish? Goldfish mainly with a few baby koi.

I don't get really cold weather here. It might go down to 1o C
overnight sometimes and around 14oC daytime average
mid-winter but apart from that it is fairly mild.

What sort of changes would you make to your feeding routines
at this time of year if you were me?

Any help would be great!


Cheers
Bindi

Bindi

There are lots of things you could do - probably the most important is if
you have moving water in the pond (aerator, pump with waterfall, fountain or
filter) ensure that you lift the pump or airstone away from the bottom (the
deeper the pond the better). Water is at its densest at 4 degrees
Centigrade (39 F) and it is best to leave as deep a layer of this on the
bottom of the pond as possible since most fish will survive well at that
temperature, but do not like less. It also means that if you do happen to
get a really low temperature it will only be the surface that freezes. If
the pond is not deep enough to do this safely, don't do it - if there is no
filtration just turning the circulation off at night is probably safer than
getting the fish cold!

As for food it would be best to feed only in the morning and then very
sparingly, fish rely on the water temperature to assist their digestion. If
you feed them late in the day their rate of digestion will be, at best,
reduced. I don't think you would have a major problem with the temperatures
you quote, but better safe than sorry!

There are spcial easily digested fish foods available, but I have no
knowledge of what is available in Oz! Try looking for foods containing
Spirulina or just ask your local dealer for easdily digested foods.

Peter

--
Peter & Elizabeth Corser
Leighton Buzzard, UK