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

"Peter Corser" wrote in message
...
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!

Hi, Peter.
Thank you for that info.
I have 2 ponds at the moment.
I have submersable pumps to filter barrels that runs back to their
waterfalls.
I am putting in airstones in the ponds and filters next week when the pump
gets here.
I can put the pumps up on a couple of bricks to leave the bottom layer of
water alone.


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!

I am getting a pond thermometer in the next couple of days. That will help
me a lot to be more accurate
with feeding, I think.
We don't get ice on the water here. Maybe a couple of heavy frosts now and
again.


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.

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 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

"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.

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.

Bindi,

Have you any pics of your pond?

Jim

"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 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