How To Feed Pond Fish
The most important choice when deciding on how to feed pond fish is to choose a quality fish food. Pond fish food made with balanced nutrition and quality ingredients will not only help protect your investment, but will help your fish live longer and healthier lives. You can even reduce problems such as algae growth by feeding quality food, as more food is digested and less waste is generated back into the pond, which helps fuel algae.
There are 3 basic considerations when feeding pond fish. The first involves the correct product, which can vary by supplier. They may include growth formulas, maintenance formulas and even color enhancement formulas. Determine your individual needs and select the best pond foods based on quality, brand, feeding needs and budget.
The next consideration is to determine how much food to feed. Experts agree that pond fish should be fed up to three times per day. They can be fed at any time of the day, but only feed fish enough food for what they will eat in 5 minutes! Additional food can go bad, and will likely just add to other problems such as algae.
Lastly, consider the temperature of the water. There are 3 basic temperature ranges that require changing your feeding habits.
Pond Water under 39 degrees F – Do not feed your fish. Feeding can upset the fish’s immune system, and cause health problems.
Pond Water above 39 degrees F but Below 50 degrees F – Use a pond fish food blended for use in the Spring and Fall. These formulas typically have wheat germ in them. Fish are more prone to disease during these seasons and have a slower metabolism.
Pond Water above 50 degrees F – Use a quality pond fish food during normal feeding season. Begin checking water temperatures again in the Fall. Consider purchasing a thermometer made for ponds and fish feeding.
How Many Fish Can I Put in my Pond?
Experts use the following rule of thumb as a guideline:
"For every inch of total fish length, including the tails, provide at least one square foot of water surface area"
This means that a Goldfish that is four inches long, including the tail, would require 4 square feet of water surface area. This could be thought of as 2 feet by 2 feet. A Koi that is 10 inches long, would require 10 square feet of water surface area. It is also generally recommended that Koi need to be kept in ponds that are at least 1000 gallons.
If you had a pond that was approximately 10 foot long and 12 feet wide, the pond would have about 120 square feet of surface area. Assuming it was deep enough to support Koi, you could safely keep about 12 Koi, if they each measured 10 inches long. The same pond could hold about 30 Goldfish, assuming they were 4 inches long. Always consider the size of your fish when they become fully-grown.
Lastly, it is possible with added filtration to support slightly more fish. Be careful to not overload your pond’s ecosystem, and enjoy your pond fish for many years to come!
