Trout Food

[laurence]

How many of you guys feed your koi on a diet of commercial trout food as available from your local farm and feed depot? I do, and have for years. There are some who think this is detrimental to the fish in one way or another.Some (including a local supplier) claim the fish are rendered sterile by something intentionally put in the food , the thought being the purpose is to grow trout and not to reproduce them. I'm here to tell you this is a "crock" and can prove it by my yearly harvest of new-born koi.The other story ,and I've seen it proclaimed by so-called experts (what the heck is a Koi vet, anyways? Is there a Koi veterinary college somewhere?) is that the over-rich ingredients in trout food causes fatty build-up in the organs, proving fatal in a relatively short time. We have hundreds of fish and ,aside from winter-kill (and we lost only one adult fish last winter) we've been very lucky. We've never witnessed a "fatty organ" die-off. I suspect both these stories are simply "opinions" that became fact after being posted in print a couple of times. What do you think?

[Celia]

Very good to see this article.  Yes, I use it, I have been getting the "Catfish Chow" version of it at our local farm supply for .42 cents a lb.  I know it is a high protein food.  I know they have a Trout Chow also, I used to sell it when I had my shop, but I didn't see it at our local store, yet.  I also have been feeding  Tetra Pond Vibrance, trying to help the color.  I had never heard about the making them infertile, that would have worried me.  Glad you put that rummor to rest.  Thanks for posting this, I am anxious to hear others comments as well.