Keep goldfish in garden ponds is increasingly popular as they’re easy to care for and keep healthy. To prevent wasteful feeding practices that tax biological filters and waste food resources, proper feeding protocols must be employed.
As temperatures heat up in summer months, fish metabolisms increase rapidly and high protein foods are necessary. When autumn and winter come along, wheatgerm-based low protein foods should be recommended instead.
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Spring
If your pond contains multiple goldfish and you are feeding them multiple times daily, gradually reduce the amount of food each time as the temperatures decrease. Only give an amount that the fish will consume within several minutes – anything leftover could rot in the pond and increase ammonia and nitrate levels in your water source.
As temperatures cool off and days grow shorter, your pond fish may require less food. At this stage, their metabolisms tend to slow down so excessive feeding could actually have negative consequences for them.
Autumn and winter fish feedings should continue using low-protein wheatgerm food if the water temperature stays consistently above 10 degrees. Regular monitoring is important so you can be certain your pond fish are eating appropriately for weather conditions.
Summer
Goldfish’s metabolisms work overtime during warmer times of year – they require high protein food to fuel their energy needs. By autumn when temperatures begin to decrease it is advised that you switch over to wheatgerm-based feed as this provides easier digestion in cooler environments as well as fiber/roughage needed to prepare them for winter. It is essential only feed your goldfish a small amount every day as excess food has nowhere to go and could harm water quality, raise nutrient levels, create unpleasant odors or attract unwanted flies into their environment.
Once your pond reaches temperatures of approximately 5C / 41F, you should stop feeding altogether and allow the fish to go into torpor in order to conserve energy and conserve energy reserves. At such temperatures, feeding can actually backfire, since their stomach bacteria are no longer working effectively and any food they ingest will just sit in their stomach until temperatures change again.
Autumn
As temperatures cool in autumn, pond fish metabolism begins to slow. At cooler temperatures they cannot digest protein based foods so anything they eat sits undigested in their stomachs causing infections or even death.
At this stage, it’s crucial to gradually switch out growth foods such as koi krinchies for wheatgerm-based ones. When making the switch, monitor their appetites carefully; only feed what will be eaten quickly by your fish; any excess should be netted off before spoilage pollutes your pond.
Once water temperatures drop below 55 degrees, it is best to stop feeding entirely. Koi and goldfish have enough fat reserves stored up in their bodies that they should survive without food for at least part of winter; in addition, natural microscopic foods in their environment will provide plenty of nutrition during this period.
Winter
As temperatures decrease, your fish will start to adjust their metabolism and become less hungry. This is part of their seasonal cycle and feeding them at this time won’t benefit them at all – in fact it may even be harmful – since under extremely cold water temperatures their metabolism becomes virtually nonexistent and food they ingest can’t be digested and simply piles up in their stomach or rots (bad for your water quality).
If you decide to continue feeding during colder weather, then use specially formulated winter foods that will be easier for your goldfish to digest. However, once temperatures consistently stay below 55 degrees it is best to stop altogether as fish may enter torpor and will only awaken once spring arrives.
