Best Koi/Goldfish food?

[CT]

I want to increase the variety of foods for my fish next spring. What brand or type of food do you prefer? What do you do to increase their nutrition?
Do you use special foods in the spring and fall? Snacks? Special treats?

[frloplady]

wheat germ in spring and fall for sure.  I also use mandu fu as a treat..great food to teach hand feeding.

Summer there is so much they can have out of your garden or grocery store.  Peas, watermelon, cantelope, lettuce.

baby shrimp, crab, krab, earthworms.   Rice, pearl barley (cooked please!)

I just try to feed a high quality food.  I don't look for the cheapest stuff anymore as it is often a lot of filler.  You ask 10 ponders what brand they feed and you are liable to get 10 different answers!!

[CT]

Thanks frloplady    Why do you feed wheat germ in the spring and fall? I don't even know what Mandu fu is  or where to get it..
What do you consider when looking for high quality food? Amount of protein? What about color enhancers, good or bad?

[frloplady]

Thanks frloplady    Why do you feed wheat germ in the spring and fall? I don't even know what Mandu fu is  or where to get it..
What do you consider when looking for high quality food? Amount of protein? What about color enhancers, good or bad?

Wheat germ and Mandu Fu are both easily digested foods.  In spring and fall (here at least) the water is cooling or warming from being cold.  That is when the koi and goldie digestive system is at a slower pace.  Food that is more easy to digest is better for them at that time.  You will see it sold as spring/fall food.

Mandu Fu I've gotten through online dealers.  Looks like chunks of pink styrofoam!  Fish think it's great.

I have food I've bought in group orders online.  I go by advice of others and their experience.  I just don't use the tetra and haggen type stuff.. Others may think it's great.  Hikari is a brand I've used others are  Chengro, Azoo, Dainichi, rangen is one many use, Saki-Hikari. 

I don't feed color enhancing foods.  They can do weird things to koi  and goldie colors.  If I think I need something I'd use more koi clay than any other type of food additives.

Right now I have a 30lb box of food so I won't be buying any for awhile!

[CT]

Thanks for the recommendations and explanations

[lorraine1960]

they love bellpepper,watermelon,papaya,if u look on ebay for koi treats you can get dry mixed fruits and veggies i give it to my goldfish and koi and they love it,,,,looks and smells like fruit loops lorraine

[CT]

Bell pepper? ..who would have thought. Heading to ebay looking for the fruit loops 

[tranquility]

Kay Drs. Foster and Smith has fruit flavored treats really cheap---I buy Fred and Ginger the mixed fruit ones and they LOVE them...I think I give $2.99 for a large container....so far they have gone thru 3 containers this summer....

[Yashin]

For the Summer I feed my fish a mix of Sho Koi, Hikari Gold and Hikari High Growth formula. it realy enhances the color and I get nice growth out of the smaller koi. I have about 13 that are 30" + now so they arent growing much anymore. but when I want to get them a snack I feed them watermellon and Cherrios (I made the mistake of giving them honey nut which your not supposed to do but now they wont even eat regular cherrios unless they are honey nut )

[jw]

So when you say wheat germ do you mean just plain ole wheat germ from the grocery store bulk dept? And the goldfish like it too? Won't it swell up when they eat it?
                                                              Janice

[Yashin]

They are talking about a wheat germ based food. Since koi and goldfish dont have stomachs they need something thats easy to digest especialy during the colder months. So anything thats wheat based is easy for them to digest hence why its fed between 50 and 60 degrees. after that you can switch to a high protiene food for growth or color enhancing. but if you feed them something too high in protine during the colder months Koi and Goldfish can bind up their intestines kinda like Cholic <Sp> in a horse.  A good Wheat germ food is actualy the regular Cherrios, or you can go to your local pond store and pick up something thats a spring fall diet. Hikari, tetra, Sho Koi, Microbelift all have a wheatgerm food you can purchase.

~Yashin

[jw]

So I can just feed them Cheery little O's in the fall and spring when the weather is 50 or 60? I have never fed them anything except I've thrown in some earth worms in the summer sometimes. They seem to get enough to eat on their own but I'd like to fatten them up a bit in the fall so that they have a better chance of making it through the cold winter. Is this a mistake? What I mean is should I be feeding them all through the summer or just not feed them at all. They are goldfish and there are 22 of them and my pond is 2300 gals.
                                                                                              Janice

[Yashin]

I feed all through the summer but to be honest if the pond is established then they really dont  need to be fed at all. The main reason we feed is for our enjoyment and to get the fish up where we can look for illnesses but it also promotes growth and there is really nothing like having koi eat out of your hand. As far as what your feeding them it all depends on how much you wanna spend. I feed an expensive wheat germ put out by hikari during the 50-60 degree phase but if I want to give them a treat, I throw in some unsweetened cheerios. Cheerios being wheat based are easy for the fish to digest just make sure that if they have small mouths that you break them up so they can eat it before it gets saturated and becomes waste.

~Yashin

P.S. sorry for the delay in the reply been working alot 

[jw]

Thanks Yashin, I think I will just feed my goldfish in the spring to get them going and then in the fall to prepare them for the winter cold. I bought some Spring/Fall food yesterday with wheat germ. Says it's ideal for colder months above 39* water temp. I lost some of my very small fish during the -06* weather we had. Wondering if they just didn't have enough stored up energy to keep them alive? This is the first year that we had weather that cold since I've had a pond.
                                                              Janice