On 10/23/11 3:35 AM, David Wright wrote:
I stopped feeding the pond goldfish a week ago after the first frost.
Since then it has got warmer and fish have risen to the top of the pond.
Should I resume feeding or leave it till Spring. Also Ive taken the pump
and filter out as I have been told its safe to do so in Winter. Any
advice welcomed

Give the fish a small amount of food. If they take it, give them a
little more. When they stop eating, you stop feeding. Their metabolism
drops in cold weather; then they need less food. However, they might
still need some even through the winter. If you do continue to feed
them, then you must continue to use the pump and filter.

The public gardens where I am a docent also gets night-time frosts in
the winter. It has a large koi pond, and only the docents feed the koi.
During a cold winter, the koi might decline to take food for as long as
two weeks; but eventually they will eat.

The koi pond starts with a small cascade. Exiting the pond, there is a
stream with rapids leading into another cascade and ending in a smaller
pond. Three pumps with filters take the water from the lower pond and
return it to the upper cascade. At least one pump runs continuously (24
hours a day) even when the gardens are closed; all three pumps run when
the gardens are open. The cascades and rapids aerate the water so that
the main pond can hold more koi than a still pond. Even when they don't
eat, the koi still excrete metabolic wastes, which the filters remove.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary