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

You can continue to feed as long as they are coming to the top to eat
and the water temp is at least 12-13oC. Below that when they come to
the surface I feed mine freeze dried krill and daphnia. that is the
kind of critters they would be grazing on in the wild. Ingrid

On Tue, 1 May 2007 06:31:25 CST, "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

On Tue, 1 May 2007 06:31:25 CST, "Bindi"
wrote:

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!

I'm in Middle Georgia USA and have a similar winter, sometimes I get a
sliver of ice on top of the pond and it goes away in a few days. I
reduce feeding, but don't find it necessary to stop feeding every
year. When the water temperature gets below 40F the fish will stop
coming to the top for food, so I don't feed them, but that doesn't
last but a few days..

I understand big changes have to be made where the pond is covered
with ice for sometimes 3 or 4 months. Some think I'm a cruel pond
keeper and rant about food rotting in the fish gut, but it never
happened to me and many of my local friends who feed all winter.

I run pumps and use the filter all year too. The filter becomes
useless when the water temperature gets into the 50's, but I have no
better place to keep it. I do add .1% salt during the coldest part
of winter, just before it warms up and allow it to disappear over the
summer. Theory behind the .1% salt is to stimulate the slime coat on
the fish and help them shed parasites that wake up before the fish's
immune system as the temperature climbs.

Regards,

Hal

"Hal" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 1 May 2007 06:31:25 CST, "Bindi"
wrote:

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!

I'm in Middle Georgia USA and have a similar winter, sometimes I get a
sliver of ice on top of the pond and it goes away in a few days. I
reduce feeding, but don't find it necessary to stop feeding every
year. When the water temperature gets below 40F the fish will stop
coming to the top for food, so I don't feed them, but that doesn't
last but a few days..

I understand big changes have to be made where the pond is covered
with ice for sometimes 3 or 4 months. Some think I'm a cruel pond
keeper and rant about food rotting in the fish gut, but it never
happened to me and many of my local friends who feed all winter.

I run pumps and use the filter all year too. The filter becomes
useless when the water temperature gets into the 50's, but I have no
better place to keep it. I do add .1% salt during the coldest part
of winter, just before it warms up and allow it to disappear over the
summer. Theory behind the .1% salt is to stimulate the slime coat on
the fish and help them shed parasites that wake up before the fish's
immune system as the temperature climbs.

Regards,

Hal


Thank, Hal!
The salt sounds like a great idea.

Cheers
Bindi.

wrote in message
. com...
You can continue to feed as long as they are coming to the top to eat
and the water temp is at least 12-13oC. Below that when they come to
the surface I feed mine freeze dried krill and daphnia. that is the
kind of critters they would be grazing on in the wild. Ingrid



Thank you, Ingrid!

Bindi.

On Tue, 1 May 2007 06:31:25 CST, "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

I am beginning to wonder as well. perhaps food with undigestible
grain might be a problem. but if the fish are looking for food and
they get fish appropriate foods, like itty bitty critters in small
amounts I dont see the problem.

0.05% is better to shoot for, but salt wont disappear unless the water
with the salt is removed. OTOH, evaporation during winter will
increase salinity unless ponds are topped up. Ingrid

On Tue, 1 May 2007 07:53:07 CST, Hal wrote:
Some think I'm a cruel pond
keeper and rant about food rotting in the fish gut, but it never
happened to me and many of my local friends who feed all winter.

I do add .1% salt during the coldest part
of winter, just before it warms up and allow it to disappear over the
summer. Theory behind the .1% salt is to stimulate the slime coat on
the fish and help them shed parasites that wake up before the fish's
immune system as the temperature climbs.

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 1 May 2007 06:31:25 CST, "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


Hi Bindi,
Glad to see that you have joined us here on r.p.m
I see that you're using aioe
I'm still trying to get through to Bigpond but I'm ready to give
up. They actually rejected two of my emails! I still have 1 or 2
options left.
It may be necessary to wait a year or so, and then try to get
BigPond to add rpm. Maybe they won't consider adding it until it has
a proven "track record".
(I'm also having trouble getting a couple other isp/nsp's to add
rpm).

But anyways, as I said, I'm glad you got here!

ron schompert


Thanks, Ron!
I am sorry Bigpond was rude to you.
I appreciate your efforts.:-)
aioe is ok but there is a big time lag from posting to the posts showing up.
It's all good though, I can read and post now!

Cheers
Bindi.

On Tue, 1 May 2007 11:57:06 CST, wrote:

0.05% is better to shoot for, but salt wont disappear unless the water
with the salt is removed. OTOH, evaporation during winter will
increase salinity unless ponds are topped up. Ingrid

Water changes over the year bring my salt levels down to small
amounts, and I do it again next winter.

Regards,

Hal

Bindi,

Some of the time lag may be the moderation process. The moderators
(of which I am one) try to review posts as often as possible...but are
irregular in the rate of review. If you post just before someone
reviews posts, it may go through very fast. If your post hits during
a break, it may wait a while. The delay is the price we pay for a
moderaterd group.

I am sorry for the frustration that the delay causes. I hope your
posts will hit at 'good' times. We are all glad tohave you post here
on rpm.

May your pond winter well!

Jim

Phyllis and Jim wrote:
Bindi,

Some of the time lag may be the moderation process. The moderators
(of which I am one) try to review posts as often as possible...but are
irregular in the rate of review. If you post just before someone
reviews posts, it may go through very fast. If your post hits during
a break, it may wait a while. The delay is the price we pay for a
moderaterd group.

I am sorry for the frustration that the delay causes. I hope your
posts will hit at 'good' times. We are all glad tohave you post here
on rpm.

May your pond winter well!

Jim
May I take this opportunity, being on topic, to say that the time lapse for
moderation is surprisingly, and pleasantly small. Well done mods.
--
ßôyþëtë
London, UK

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

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

Some of the time lag may be the moderation process. The moderators
(of which I am one) try to review posts as often as possible...but are
irregular in the rate of review. If you post just before someone
reviews posts, it may go through very fast. If your post hits during
a break, it may wait a while. The delay is the price we pay for a
moderaterd group.

I am sorry for the frustration that the delay causes. I hope your
posts will hit at 'good' times. We are all glad tohave you post here
on rpm.

May your pond winter well!

Jim


Hi, Jim!
I didn't think of that.
This is my first moderated group.
Now I know it is not the server I have no problem with a time delay.

Thank you very much moderators!

Cheers
Bindi.

"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

Bindi,

Have you any pics of your pond?

Jim