On Thu, 3 May 2007 04:20:27 CST, "Bindi"
wrote:

I am feeding a mix with spirulina in it now. Can you feed All Bran people
cereal? The little stick kind.
I was told that wheat germ is good for feeding in cold weather but I have
trouble getting it here so I
was thinking that All bran might be ok.

I wouldn't feed bran or corn seed, too much will not be digested and
wind up on the bottom rotting slowly. Not good in a liner pond,
probably worse in an ice covered liner pond.

There is some controversy over feeding carbohydrates to fish at all,
even though some Japanese pond keepers have been doing it in colder
weather for centuries. Koi don't find cereals at the bottom of a mud
pond, but live things and algae. I'm a dummy and don't know which
side of the argument is right, so I continue to feed the same diet in
winter as summer, just not as much of it. It seems to me, the algae
seems to change a bit in winter, but crustaceans, mollusks and worms
living in the mud bottom of a pond (The natural habitat for carp
fish.) are the pretty much the same year round.

Regards,

Hal

"Peter Corser" wrote in message
...
Bindi wrote:
I am feeding a mix with spirulina in it now. Can you feed All Bran
people cereal? The little stick kind.
I was told that wheat germ is good for feeding in cold weather but I
have trouble getting it here so I
was thinking that All bran might be ok.


Peter

--
Peter & Elizabeth Corser
Leighton Buzzard, UK


Once again, thank you, Peter!

Cheers
Bindi.
Bindi

I've never tried All Bran on fish, but I doubt whether it would give them
much nutrition (not sure whether they need fibre in exactly the same way
we
do!) and may be a bit slow to work through their system. It may be worth
trying some different cereals in small quantities to see if they are
palatable to the fish, but I would suggest leaving experimentation until
spring since you will have a better chance of recovery in pond water and
fish health if something doesn't work.

The advantage of the specialist foods is that they reduce pollution of the
water directly from breakdown of the food (rather than fish waste) to
minimum levels. Since you are filtering the water you may find that the
fish will take bread - it's not an ideal food because it does cause some
pollution if they don't eat it all, but is a lot better than many people
think. When I used to keep marine fish (now in the dim & distant past!)
we
used to be able to get vitamins formulated for fish - may be worth seeing
if
your local supplier has anything similar - adding this to bread can be
useful.

Does your local supplier stock live food (or frozen food) for aquarium
fish?
If so, this can be a useful supplement if used sparingly. The sparing use
is required for several reasons, but the two major ones are cost and the
fish will gorge themselves given half a chance!

Peter
--
Peter & Elizabeth Corser
Leighton Buzzard, UK


Hi, Peter!
I will try some little bits of bread sometimes as well then.
I don't have a local supplier. I am a bit far north and in the sticks here.
I got my fish food off eBay.
I am going to try and breed my own brine shrimp soon and feed them that if
it works out.
They are all in good condition so I guess it won't hurt them to get fed less
now that it is getting cooler weather.

Thanks!

Bindi.

"Phyllis and Jim" wrote in message
ps.com...
Bindi,

Have you any pics of your pond?

Jim


Hi, Jim!
There is one here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s/roundponda.j
pg

It is not a good pic. The pond holds just under 2000 lts. It has a vegi
filter (half barrel 100ltrs) and behind that a mechanical filter with onion
bags as medium ( full barrel 200lts) as its filtration. The pump is a
submersible 2400ltrs hour.
It is a liner pond. I had the bottom half of an old water tank so I buried
it and lined it. I left its lip just above the ground level to stop run off
water from getting in to the pond.


Bindi.

On Thu, 3 May 2007 08:35:12 CST, "Bindi" wrote:

I will try some little bits of bread sometimes as well then.
I don't have a local supplier. I am a bit far north and in the sticks here.
I got my fish food off eBay.
I am going to try and breed my own brine shrimp soon and feed them that if
it works out.
They are all in good condition so I guess it won't hurt them to get fed less
now that it is getting cooler weather.
Bindi.

Bindi, you want to take them off feed for a good month during the winter
regardless of temp. This fasting helps females absorb eggs that were not
spawned during the season, reducing egg impaction come spring. So, imo,
when you get into that frosty weather, chose that month for them to fast.

You can also feed, frozen thawed peas and oranges. Easily digested and high
in Vit. C. ~ jan :-)
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 3 May 2007 08:35:12 CST, "Bindi" wrote:

I will try some little bits of bread sometimes as well then.
I don't have a local supplier. I am a bit far north and in the sticks
here.
I got my fish food off eBay.
I am going to try and breed my own brine shrimp soon and feed them that
if
it works out.
They are all in good condition so I guess it won't hurt them to get fed
less
now that it is getting cooler weather.
Bindi.

Bindi, you want to take them off feed for a good month during the winter
regardless of temp. This fasting helps females absorb eggs that were not
spawned during the season, reducing egg impaction come spring. So, imo,
when you get into that frosty weather, chose that month for them to fast.

You can also feed, frozen thawed peas and oranges. Easily digested and
high
in Vit. C. ~ jan :-)
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us


Thank you, Jan!
I will do that.
Thanks for the great advice.


Cheers!
Bindi.