Winter Feeding

[Elton]

How should your feeding routine change for pond fish in the winter?

[greg long]

Rarely feed mine anyway unless I want them to come up and play...there's plenty of food in my pond, lift up silt and it crawls

[Bradford Angler]

I have given up on wheat germ based food, they just leave it floating around till it sinks and then it goes furry . .

 

I feed them little and infrequent on maggot . . about 100 per day for all the fish . . . there not cheap you know . .

 

go on . . watch BB say this is probably the worst thing I can do . . then I will go to the pond and find them all belly up . .

 

so far it is always the ide/orfe that are first to the grub

[peter mccue]

I go out to the pond most days & just put a small amount of food out for them, then guage my feeding levels by how quick they eat it.

 

If they're slow to clear it up, I leave it a few days before I put anymore in.

 

If they mop it up (which this winter they have been doing) then they'll continue to have a regular supply till their feeding tells me otherwise.

[jerrydog]

Stop feeding mine when water temp drops below 10C. Have read many articles stating that digestive system can not cope at colder temperatures. If they do want food there is always plenty in the shape of algae or suchlike.

Regards..

[Hereford_angler]

At 8oC+ my carp feed on wheat germ but below that i dont feed. Sometimes i drop a red worm in for tench on warmer days.

[fisherman]

Hereford_angler:

At 8oC+ my carp feed on wheat germ but below that i dont feed. Sometimes i drop a red worm in for tench on warmer days.

Sorry H.A. but I should have thought that at 80C. your fish should be well cooked and ready for eating. Hope you mean 80F.

Stop feeding my fish by the end of Nov. as everyone else says if they want more let them earn it in the pond.

Dave

[chris]

I dont feed mine in the winter full stop and rarely in the summer either,except perhaps a few pellets,maggot etc.

chris

[John S]

I stop feeding them almost entirely, only giving a few low protein pellets in the morning if the weather is going to be warm for a few days. If they are hungry there will be enough natural food in the pond anyway.

[Nick South East]

As a rough guide if the tempreture is below 50f then feed a low protien, quality wheatgerm based feed, the fish will let you know how much they want if they don't clear it all within about five minutes then feed that much less the next time. Between 50f and 60f feed a medium protien food and over 60f a high protien feed. Natural protiens are fine in the winter, such as worms maggots etc but the protien in fish foods is normally fish meal or animal protiens which can be harmful when fed at low tempretures. Also your fish will like the occasional treat, most fishing baits are fine as are oranges, lettuce, brown bread spread with honey or marmite! peeled prawns, the fish get fed better than I do!!!

 

[ 06. January 2003, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: Nick South East ]