One of the most common questions I’m asked by my customers is when you should start feeding your fish after winter, so thought I would write an article so read on to find out or watch my video on YouTube below.
As you know the fish in your pond are cold blooded which means the amount of food they need depends on there activity and their activity is based around temperature, as you may have noticed in the summer your fish eat more food as they are moving around more. But in) winter as temperatures drop the fishes metobolic rate slows down, which in turn means they their movements are more slower, also they are more down the bottom of the pond as the temperature lower down are warmer than on the surface.
So as spring approaches and temperatures increase your fish start coming more to the surface and are more active and you may think this is the right time to start feeding, but you really need to keep an eye on the temperatures first. You may have a pond thermometer to get the exact temperature of the water, but this isn’t really necessary, air temperature is good enough indicator.
First of all I get some customers that are worried when they stop feeding there fish in the winter that the fish are going to starve, well this isn’t the case as I have said the fish go into a kind of hibernation which means they don’t need as much food, and in your pond there is enough food within the pond for them to survive over winter without you feeding pond pellets etc.
I always get asked what month should you start feeding, well as we know being in the UK our weather is all over the place so I can’t say the exact time to start feeding as this can change from year to year, but first let’s talk about type of fish first: koi carp, goldfish, shubunkins etc start to become sluggish below 8 to 10 degrees , though bottom feeding fish like tench, rudd, orfe this is slightly higher.
So keeping this in mind you shouldn’t really feed your fish if the daytime temperature is below 10 degrees for a few days. Don’t worry too much if the temperature is slightly below this as they may not eat the food you put in. Though if you are feeding when the temperature is well below this in some case the fish can develop digestive problems.
So now you know what the best temperature is keep an eye on the forecast, at the moment of filing this last week we had some reasonable temperature but this week the temperatures are a lot lower, so if this happens just stop feeding for that period and start feeding again when the temperatures in crease
So how much should you feed, well this depends on how many fish, types of fish size and age etc, you will normally know how much you put in, but if after around about 10mins after feeding and there is still food on the surface, drop the amount down by about that much, until all the food as gone within that time, if you think you aren’t feeding as much add more and if still food on surface drop down again.
Also remember that as the temperature gets warmer they will eat more. So when this happens increase by a bit. So as each pond and your fish are different I can’t give you the magical amount for your pond, if this is the first time of having fish you will get to know your fish over time. Some people find that you may only need to feed your fish once a day but others twice a day. In the summer it is best to feed in the morning or evening, if we have hot days don’t feed midday as your fish can get stressed in high temperatures and also oxygen levels are lower
You also have to remember that any open eaten food just breakdown down in your pond which in turn can add more nutrients to the water, which means this can increase the amount of blanket weed or the growth of algae. Also if there is too much this can add to the build up in your filter. Make sure you subscribe as some of the next pond tip videos is how to maintain your filter for optimum performance, also dealing with low oxygen levels in the summer.
On a last note if you are really worried that you want to start feeding and temperatures are slightly lower you can get special food for feeding in lower temperature though that isn’t something I’m going to go into this time.