The best thing about the pond is not only to sit by it, listening to the splashing and enjoying the oasis in your own garden as a place of recreation, but also to feed the fish and establish direct contact with the animals. After all, in addition to numerous insects, there are always new inhabitants and plants to discover.
You may ask: “What’s so good about automated feeding from a machine?"
If you look at the JBL PROPOND food series feeding recommendations, and also those of other manufacturers and experts, you’ll see they talk about several feeding times per day. The temperatures and the age of the animals are also significant.
Total quantity vs. feeding quantity
In general, as with us humans, it is better to eat little and often than one big meal. This avoids putting too much strain on the body and provoking an increased demand for oxygen, which can become a problem at high temperatures. Due to its anatomy, the koi carp experiences constant hunger and is always on the lookout for food. This instinct is still present in our breeding forms and that’s why the food needs to be divided into small portions.
Ideal intervals are 3-4 hours between each feed, to be scheduled throughout the period of daylight.
A daily feeding quantity, which depends on the size of the fish, is given on the JBL PROPOND foods. You simply need to add this to the number of fish and their different sizes. Then divide the amount by the number of feeds per day. Again, make sure that no food remains on the bottom for more than 3-5 minutes. Otherwise reduce the amount and schedule an additional feed.
Can you maintain the same feeding interval throughout the year? The short answer is: NO!
Low temperatures of 5 - 15 °C require not only a special food ( JBL ProPond Winter M ), but also longer feeding intervals per day/week. With rising temperatures, we recommend increasing the feeds from 2x to 7x per week.
At temperatures from/up to 15 °C, resort to spring and autumn foods ( JBL ProPond Spring M & JBL ProPond Autumn M ) and feed 1 - 3 x a day. Young fish can be fed up to 6 times a day in small amounts. Please make sure that the total of the daily feeds does not exceed the total amount of the daily ration (More about this in the following blog post: The Right Food Quantity - Complete or Combined Food ).
At temperatures of 20 °C and above you can switch to a dedicated summer food ( JBL ProPond Summer M ) and maintain the feeding intervals. From 30 °C water temperature onwards, feeding should be discontinued, as the koi are struggling with the temperatures anyway. An additional increased oxygen requirement for digestion is not conducive and swimming to the water surface in strong sunlight can cause "sunburn".
Automatic feeding
A definite yes! If you have a job, other commitments and other hobbies, you won't be able to cover the feeding intervals yourself seven days a week. This is where an automatic feeder like the JBL PROPOND AUTOFOOD proves a reliable help, even when you’re not on holiday. You will also notice some behaviour in your fish that you’ve never seen before. A few minutes before the feed is due, the fish will gather in front of the ejection point and "wait".
Feeding several times a day will increase the activity of the animals and give you more to observe. The smaller daily portions will also result in a decrease in the pollution level of the pond, even though the amount of food remains the same.
© 02.06.2021
