How to feed your fish!

Many of the common illnesses that can affect the health of your livestock as well as the water quality conditions of your pond, are often caused by your fish being fed incorrectly.

This can be caused by the type of food that is offered to the fish, or food that is being left uneaten and left decomposing within the pond.

Observing your fish whilst they are fed paramount to ensuring that your livestock is getting the adequate amount of food and reduces the risk of the fish being under fed or food being left over and spoiling in the pond.

Feeding your koi fish successfully all year round can be achieved by maintaining a thoroughly balanced and nutritious diet.

In the spring months your koi fish should be fed a low protein-based food, due to the colder weather a low protein diet is easier to be broken down by the fish’s digestive system. The fish’s metabolism cannot function to its fullest capacity in the colder months of the year and should be fed at least once a day.

In the summer, your koi fish diet should be high in protein. This will allow for your fish to grow and gain weight to help them survive the winter months where they are unable to thermoregulate, and the metabolism is unable to digest the food efficiently.

During autumn, the fish should be weaned of the high protein with a mixture of low protein and high protein feed, the ratio of high protein should decrease as winter approaches.

During winter when the temperature of your pond is below 4 degrees Celsius it is not recommended that you feed your fish due to the metabolism being ineffective with the breaking down process, this can make your fish ill and, in some cases, can cause the death of you fish.

However, with sturgeons, they do not require a change in diet all year round and it is recommended that you feed your sturgeons away from your koi fish as their diet should be a zero-plant protein diet.

There are concerns with overfeeding but underfeeding your fish is just as dangerous and has its own problems.

Your fish should on average grow approximately ½ an inch per month, but if your fish is not being fed adequately, they will suffer from stunted growth and weight loss.

If your fish appear to not be growing this is a large indicator of being underfed or it can be a sign of your pond is too small and overcrowded for your livestock.

Underfed fish can exhibit some of the following symptoms:

  • The head is wider than the body of the fish and appears to be too large for the fish.
  • The eyes appear to be sunken.
  • They may develop a kink at the base of the tail due to weight loss.
  • The colour of your fish appears to be changing and does not look to have a healthy complexion.
  • The fish appear to be lethargic and have little to no energy to swim and eat.
  • The fish has signs and symptoms of constipation, white tube-like faecal matter.

To prevent over and under feeding of your fish we can implement these changes:

  • Feed your fish only what they can eat in three to four minutes at a time.
  • Do not feed your fish more than three times a day in warmer weather.
  • Do not feed your fish more than once a day in wintry weather.
  • Do not feed your koi fish when the temperature of your pond has reached less than three degrees Celsius as your fish’s metabolism is not going to be able to effectively break down the food.
  • Store all food appropriately and dispose of if the food shows signs of decay.
  • Ensure that your feed is nutritious and correct for the fish that you have in your pond.
  • If your fish are fed on pellets, please ensure that they are the correct size for your fish they should be small enough to be swallowed whole.
  • Do not feed near your pond skimmer if you have one as the food can be collected by the skimmer and not eaten by your fish and this will lead to decomposing food.
  • Do not keep food for lengthy periods of time. At most the food should not be kept for a period longer than one season.

If you are in doubt, please call the pond medic for further advice.