On Jul 11, 7:40*am, chris French
wrote:
In message , Stephen
Wolstenholme writesOn Sat, 7 Jul 2012 12:37:02 +0100, "D. T. Green"
wrote:

Trying to give the pond goldfish a more varied diet and using things like
tinned peas is proving wasteful, because the peas sink and the fish miss a
lot. *The bottom of the pond is very soft mud and i don't think the fish can
retrieve them once they are in the mud.

Is there any crafty way to arrange something to float the peas etc in, and
yet enable the fish to get at the food ?

Fish never know when to stop eating so you have to assess how much to
give them. They will eat everything they find even if it's in mud.

Ours do,if you give too much food, it is just left floating about,until
eventually sinks. Ditto the tropical fish in the tanks (which is why
they tell you to sparing with feeding fish in tanks, as the breakdown of
uneaten food isn't good for the water quality.

I am confused. Have tried searching the internet for an answer but
with no luck. In most cases it says give fish food they can eat in a
few minutes but my fish hide when I go to feed them and take a while
to reappear to eat the food so its difficult to judge. OTOH if I leave
loads of food floating about they will usually eat it all within 24
hours. Now I am trying not feeding them at all for a day or two but
they still hide when I go to feed them and therefore do not appear to
be particularly hungry.

Probably the firms that supply fish food on the internet want us to
feed them regularly so its difficult to get impartial advice on
feeding. So, how long can I leave my fish without food in the summer?

Doug.

On Jul 14, 10:20*am, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-07-14 07:28:38 +0100, Doug said:









On Jul 11, 7:40*am, chris French
wrote:
In message , Stephen
Wolstenholme writesOn Sat, 7 Jul 2012 12:37:02 +0100,
"D. T. Green"
wrote:

Trying to give the pond goldfish a more varied diet and using things li
ke
tinned peas is proving wasteful, because the peas sink and the fish mis
s a
lot. *The bottom of the pond is very soft mud and i don't think the f
ish can
retrieve them once they are in the mud.

Is there any crafty way to arrange something to float the peas etc in,
and
yet enable the fish to get at the food ?

Fish never know when to stop eating so you have to assess how much to
give them. They will eat everything they find even if it's in mud.

Ours do,if you give too much food, it is just left floating about,until
eventually sinks. Ditto the tropical fish in the tanks (which is why
they tell you to sparing with feeding fish in tanks, as the breakdown of
uneaten food isn't good for the water quality.

I am confused. Have tried searching the internet for an answer but
with no luck. In most cases it says give fish food they can eat in a
few minutes but my fish hide when I go to feed them and take a while
to reappear to eat the food so its difficult to judge. OTOH if I leave
loads of food floating about they will usually eat it all within 24
hours. Now I am trying not feeding them at all for a day or two but
they still hide when I go to feed them and therefore do not appear to
be particularly hungry.

Probably the firms that supply fish food on the internet want us to
feed them regularly so its difficult to get impartial advice on
feeding. So, how long can I leave my fish without food in the summer?

Doug.

If you can approach your pond from all around it, go up to it where
your shadow falls behind it. *And if you feed them at regular times of
day, I find they come looking for you!

Been there tried that and it doesn't work. They sometimes come out
when I approach but quickly hide again and the question of how much to
feed if at all still remains unresolved.

Doug.

In message
,
Doug writes
On Jul 11, 7:40*am, chris French
wrote:
In message , Stephen
Wolstenholme writesOn Sat, 7 Jul 2012 12:37:02
+0100, "D. T. Green"
wrote:

Trying to give the pond goldfish a more varied diet and using things like
tinned peas is proving wasteful, because the peas sink and the fish miss a
lot. *The bottom of the pond is very soft mud and i don't think the
fish can
retrieve them once they are in the mud.

Is there any crafty way to arrange something to float the peas etc in, and
yet enable the fish to get at the food ?

Fish never know when to stop eating so you have to assess how much to
give them. They will eat everything they find even if it's in mud.

Ours do,if you give too much food, it is just left floating about,until
eventually sinks. Ditto the tropical fish in the tanks (which is why
they tell you to sparing with feeding fish in tanks, as the breakdown of
uneaten food isn't good for the water quality.

I am confused. Have tried searching the internet for an answer but
with no luck. In most cases it says give fish food they can eat in a
few minutes but my fish hide when I go to feed them and take a while
to reappear to eat the food so its difficult to judge. OTOH if I leave
loads of food floating about they will usually eat it all within 24
hours.

Or does it sink?

Leave it half an hour or an hour or so and see what is left, they will
have probably come and eaten all they want.

Probably the firms that supply fish food on the internet want us to
feed them regularly so its difficult to get impartial advice on
feeding. So, how long can I leave my fish without food in the summer?


We don't worry about feeding ours when we go away, they seem fine.
Tropical fish are fine left for a week with no feeding.(getting someone
to feed them is more of a problem, as they tend not to believe how
little food they need and so over feed, which isn't good for the tank
conditions).
--
Chris French

On Jul 16, 11:00*am, chris French
wrote:
In message
,
Doug writes









On Jul 11, 7:40*am, chris French
wrote:
In message , Stephen
Wolstenholme writesOn Sat, 7 Jul 2012 12:37:02
+0100, "D. T. Green"
wrote:

Trying to give the pond goldfish a more varied diet and using things like
tinned peas is proving wasteful, because the peas sink and the fish miss a
lot. *The bottom of the pond is very soft mud and i don't think the
fish can
retrieve them once they are in the mud.

Is there any crafty way to arrange something to float the peas etc in, and
yet enable the fish to get at the food ?

Fish never know when to stop eating so you have to assess how much to
give them. They will eat everything they find even if it's in mud.

Ours do,if you give too much food, it is just left floating about,until
eventually sinks. Ditto the tropical fish in the tanks (which is why
they tell you to sparing with feeding fish in tanks, as the breakdown of
uneaten food isn't good for the water quality.

I am confused. Have tried searching the internet for an answer but
with no luck. In most cases it says give fish food they can eat in a
few minutes but my fish hide when I go to feed them and take a while
to reappear to eat the food so its difficult to judge. OTOH if I leave
loads of food floating about they will usually eat it all within 24
hours.

Or does it sink?

Usually they float until the next morning if they are not all eaten
and then sink later. The fish seem to be able to eat vast amounts
though, or maybe they are helped by the newts and frogs.

Leave it half an hour or an hour or so and see what is left, they will
have probably come and eaten all they want.

They don't seem to want to eat the pellets dry but wait a while until
they have become a bit soggy.


Probably the firms that supply fish food on the internet want us to
feed them regularly so its difficult to get impartial advice on
feeding. So, how long can I leave my fish without food in the summer?

We don't worry about feeding ours when we go away, they seem fine.
Tropical fish are fine left for a week with no feeding.(getting someone
to feed them is more of a problem, as they tend not to believe how
little food they need and so over feed, which isn't good for the tank
conditions).

Thanks for the good advice. I am beginning to get a grasp on the
problem at long last.

Doug.

On 11/07/2012 07:05, Doug wrote:

How do you prevent the young amphibians moving from the excluded area
into the fish area? I had a similar system but it doesn't seem to have
worked. Also, frogs and newts often migrate from elsewhere and don't
necessarily grow up in a pond.

Doug.

Sorry Doug, I missed your reply/question.
The pond is large enough to have several sections. 4 different levels
and the submersible pump in the lowest (deepest section) delivers to the
top level. I only have fish in the bottom section and the water weirs
and filters through stones which exclude the fish from the upper levels.

Of course a few tadpoles end up feeding the fish, but basically they
have enough space to prosper, until they are big enough to compete.

Al