I've got a small pond (about 570 L, 125 UK gal, 150 US gal) with 4 goldfish
(about 5-6" in length).

The pond hasn't been established very long (only a couple of months) but I
got a reasonable number of potted plants established along with water
hyacinths and duckweed to provide cover for the fish.

Water testing hasn't picked up any significant quantities of nitrate,
nitrite or ammonia but the pH is on the alkaline side (8). Whilst not
clear, the water is by no means opaque. I have a home made bio/particulate
filter that does a fair job of removing algae but I don't think the bio
filter side of it hasn't been established long enough to really work well
yet.

I'm currently feeding my fish with TertaPond floating food sticks that they
seem to love and I'm ensuring that I'm not feeding them more than they can
eat in a few minutes. TetraPond recommend feeding 2-3 times a day and they
have no problem putting away 2-3 sticks each 3 times a day. I suspect that
they could eat more.

So (deep breath), my question is, is this a reasonable rate of feeding for a
new pond of my size? I'm sure the fish could eat more (and have done some
days when the children feed them) but I'm not sure whether a pond of my size
could cope with the extra nitrogen input.

TIA

Tim
--
Remove the obvious to reply by email.

"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...
I've got a small pond (about 570 L, 125 UK gal, 150 US gal) with 4
goldfish
(about 5-6" in length).

The pond hasn't been established very long (only a couple of months) but I
got a reasonable number of potted plants established along with water
hyacinths and duckweed to provide cover for the fish.

Water testing hasn't picked up any significant quantities of nitrate,
nitrite or ammonia but the pH is on the alkaline side (8). Whilst not
clear, the water is by no means opaque. I have a home made
bio/particulate
filter that does a fair job of removing algae but I don't think the bio
filter side of it hasn't been established long enough to really work well
yet.

This is the key part of your question. You can feed your goldfish every 17
minutes if you like, but you need proper filtration. I have heard for years
that fish will eat until they burst, so you can overfeed them, but in my
experience, my fish eat and then go away, often leaving food on the surface.
Anyway, back on topic, when you feed, the fish eat. When the fish eat, they
poop. When they poop the water gets dirty. As long as you take care of your
water, your fish will take care of themselves.

I'm currently feeding my fish with TertaPond floating food sticks that
they
seem to love and I'm ensuring that I'm not feeding them more than they can
eat in a few minutes. TetraPond recommend feeding 2-3 times a day and
they
have no problem putting away 2-3 sticks each 3 times a day. I suspect that
they could eat more.

I feed my fish only when the kids want to see them at the surface. In an
outdoor pond, there is plenty of "food" for them, so don't get hooked on the
fact that you HAVE to feed them.

So (deep breath), my question is, is this a reasonable rate of feeding for
a
new pond of my size? I'm sure the fish could eat more (and have done some
days when the children feed them) but I'm not sure whether a pond of my
size
could cope with the extra nitrogen input.

Just keep checking your numbers if you are concerned. It is the ONLY way to
answer this question accurately.

BV.

The fish will attempt to inform you that they are starving. Don't believe them,
they are con artists!

This is an excellent site
http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/home.html
click on 'care of goldfish' and there is a link there on 'how much food'.


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

It's always been MHO, that we feed our fish way too much, especially fish
that are in a water garden (as opposed to a Koi pond). I feed mine once a
day max. There is plenty of other stuff for them to eat.

Joe

On 6/11/04 3:18 AM, "Tim Downie" wrote:

I've got a small pond (about 570 L, 125 UK gal, 150 US gal) with 4 goldfish
(about 5-6" in length).

The pond hasn't been established very long (only a couple of months) but I
got a reasonable number of potted plants established along with water
hyacinths and duckweed to provide cover for the fish.

Water testing hasn't picked up any significant quantities of nitrate,
nitrite or ammonia but the pH is on the alkaline side (8). Whilst not
clear, the water is by no means opaque. I have a home made bio/particulate
filter that does a fair job of removing algae but I don't think the bio
filter side of it hasn't been established long enough to really work well
yet.

I'm currently feeding my fish with TertaPond floating food sticks that they
seem to love and I'm ensuring that I'm not feeding them more than they can
eat in a few minutes. TetraPond recommend feeding 2-3 times a day and they
have no problem putting away 2-3 sticks each 3 times a day. I suspect that
they could eat more.

So (deep breath), my question is, is this a reasonable rate of feeding for a
new pond of my size? I'm sure the fish could eat more (and have done some
days when the children feed them) but I'm not sure whether a pond of my size
could cope with the extra nitrogen input.

TIA

Tim



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My fish are 13yrs old---the pond is never green ---they eat once a day( Only
what can be consumed in 5 minutes. )
Many of my neighbors have lost fish or had contaminated ponds simply cause
they thought they were hungry!
Patty
http://community.webshots.com/user/pbrown321


"joe" wrote in message
...
It's always been MHO, that we feed our fish way too much, especially fish
that are in a water garden (as opposed to a Koi pond). I feed mine once a
day max. There is plenty of other stuff for them to eat.

Joe

On 6/11/04 3:18 AM, "Tim Downie" wrote:

I've got a small pond (about 570 L, 125 UK gal, 150 US gal) with 4
goldfish
(about 5-6" in length).

The pond hasn't been established very long (only a couple of months) but
I
got a reasonable number of potted plants established along with water
hyacinths and duckweed to provide cover for the fish.

Water testing hasn't picked up any significant quantities of nitrate,
nitrite or ammonia but the pH is on the alkaline side (8). Whilst not
clear, the water is by no means opaque. I have a home made
bio/particulate
filter that does a fair job of removing algae but I don't think the bio
filter side of it hasn't been established long enough to really work
well
yet.

I'm currently feeding my fish with TertaPond floating food sticks that
they
seem to love and I'm ensuring that I'm not feeding them more than they
can
eat in a few minutes. TetraPond recommend feeding 2-3 times a day and
they
have no problem putting away 2-3 sticks each 3 times a day. I suspect
that
they could eat more.

So (deep breath), my question is, is this a reasonable rate of feeding
for a
new pond of my size? I'm sure the fish could eat more (and have done
some
days when the children feed them) but I'm not sure whether a pond of my
size
could cope with the extra nitrogen input.

TIA

Tim



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http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

They are little con-artists for sure! I have about 30 fish in a
300-gal. pond. Everytime I walk by the pond, they come up to see
what's going on, and if I don't feed them, they just go on about
whatever goldfish business they were doing. I usually feed them once
(sometimes twice) a day just so I can play with them. I don't give
them any more food than what they can eat in about 5 min. There's
enough natural food for them that I really don't need to feed them at
all.
Gary

"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

The fish will attempt to inform you that they are starving. Don't believe
them,
they are con artists!

Mine give an excellent impression of being absolutely ravenous. Clearly
I'llhave to be a little less trusting in future. ;-)

Tim

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

Just keep checking your numbers if you are concerned. It is the ONLY way
to
answer this question accurately.

Cheers. Will do. Roughly how often (with a 2 month old pond) should I be
checking the water?

Tim

For a new pond and new ponder, daily tests are good, and as you get the feel
for how the pond and filter is performing, then you can back off the tests.
When the pond starts up in the spring, it needs constant monitoring to know
how much to feed the fish, because they are feeding a filter that isn't
ready to eat. If you significantly change the feeding keep an eye on the
numbers. I routinely check my ponds about every 3 days during the summer
and every week during the winter.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
"Tim Downie" wrote in message
...

"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...

Just keep checking your numbers if you are concerned. It is the ONLY way
to
answer this question accurately.

Cheers. Will do. Roughly how often (with a 2 month old pond) should I be
checking the water?

Tim

well.... because the pump stopped and it was raining really hard here for 3 days and
I didnt feel like it and without the veggie filter I was concerned about ammonia so I
didnt feed the little buggers for 2 days. today I repaired one of the pumps went out
there to swap it and those #$$%^ koi ATE one of my water lilies. ripped it to shreds
the little buggers. ripped the leaves right off most of the plant so either I feed em
once a day or they are going to trash my lilies. sheesh. Ingrid


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