We had about 22 goldfish and ghost koi in our pond last year but we seem to
have lost a lot to the big freeze and I've only seen 6 up to now. The pond
has been established for about 10 years and we never feed the fish over the
winter - there's plenty of live crawly-type things in there if they get
hungry :-)

Anyway, now that the warmer weather is here I was expecting to see the fish
swimming around and I've bought a new tub of fish flakes in readiness of
feeding them (they never liked pellets for some reason, only flakes, but
that's a different story). I know that they're in there because I saw them
flitting about when I was getting some debris out of the pond, but they
don't appear to want to be seen anymore - spent 3 hours sitting by the pond
and never saw one of them.

I don't want to just throw flakes in and hope they eat them because that
causes problems if they don't eat it and it rots down, but I don't want them
to get hungry enough that they start to see the tadpoles and froglets as a
food source. Plus, of course, we just like to see them. So, how can I get
them to come and show themselves and to feed as they have done for years
previously?

"Brian" wrote in message
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We had about 22 goldfish and ghost koi in our pond last year but we seem
to have lost a lot to the big freeze and I've only seen 6 up to now. The
pond has been established for about 10 years and we never feed the fish
over the winter - there's plenty of live crawly-type things in there if
they get hungry :-)

Anyway, now that the warmer weather is here I was expecting to see the
fish swimming around and I've bought a new tub of fish flakes in readiness
of feeding them (they never liked pellets for some reason, only flakes,
but that's a different story). I know that they're in there because I saw
them flitting about when I was getting some debris out of the pond, but
they don't appear to want to be seen anymore - spent 3 hours sitting by
the pond and never saw one of them.

I don't want to just throw flakes in and hope they eat them because that
causes problems if they don't eat it and it rots down, but I don't want
them to get hungry enough that they start to see the tadpoles and froglets
as a food source. Plus, of course, we just like to see them. So, how can I
get them to come and show themselves and to feed as they have done for
years previously?


They are probably scared. You may have a predator working your pond.

Sounds as though they may be scared. Could you have had a predator
visit? Especially likely if they have been in the habit of coming to
you when you approach the pond (thinking you will feed them). If they
are scared, it may take a few days before they show themselves.

What is your water temp? They don't eat much if it is too cold...and
they will eat when it is still too cold for them to digest the food
well. I think most folk look for the mid-fifties before feeding.

Phyllis and Jim wrote:
Sounds as though they may be scared. Could you have had a predator
visit? Especially likely if they have been in the habit of coming to
you when you approach the pond (thinking you will feed them). If they
are scared, it may take a few days before they show themselves.

What is your water temp? They don't eat much if it is too cold...and
they will eat when it is still too cold for them to digest the food
well. I think most folk look for the mid-fifties before feeding.

Thanks folks. Rigged up a webcam and it appears that one of the
neighbourhood cats has been drinking the pondwater, maybe even hoping for a
snack as well as a drink!