Feeding fish in winter

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Daisy

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Feeding fish in winter
« on: December 24, 2011, 08:45:20 AM »
Does anybody know how often I should feed my fish during winter?
In England, it was simple. I simply stopped feeding completely, when the cold weather started.
Here though, I am not sure.
During the summer and autumn, I fed them every day.
Now I am feeding them every other day.
But, it is difficult to tell if that is too much, or too little.
Daisy :)
Amateur gardener, who has gardened in Surrey and Cornwall, England, but now has a tiny garden facing north west, near the coast in north east Crete. It is 300 meters above sea level. On a steep learning curve!!! Member of both MGS and RHS

David Bracey

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2011, 09:53:11 AM »
Not very often..I would suggest no more than once a week.  If it is cold....or v cold.there is no need to feed as they will hibernate or whatever fish do.
MGS member.

 I have gardened in sub-tropical Florida, maritime UK, continental Europe and the Mediterranean basin, France. Of the 4 I have found that the most difficult climate for gardening is the latter.

ezeiza

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2011, 02:41:44 PM »
Fish just can not stop (resist) eating and the industry is based on this fact alone. That is they eat excessively and die to be replaced ad on a on. At the beginning we found them fragile and weak until we met a commercial grower. They fed their fish once A WEEK and what they could eat within a couple of hours and his were incomparably better than ours overfed. In winter while they were dormant nothing was fed. We followed his advice and had great fish since wit lots of new ones each spring. They are free range fish in a big pond with access to additional livng food provided by the pond ecosystem itself. Not aquaruim fish.

Daisy

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2011, 07:56:39 AM »
Thank-you. I have now put the fish on a strict diet. They will be fed no more than once a week until the warmer weather returns.
I have renamed the fish "The Frolicking Fornicators" as that is all they seem to do. ;)
I started with 12 assorted goldfish 7 months ago. There are now over 40!!! :o :o :o
Daisy :)
Amateur gardener, who has gardened in Surrey and Cornwall, England, but now has a tiny garden facing north west, near the coast in north east Crete. It is 300 meters above sea level. On a steep learning curve!!! Member of both MGS and RHS

ezeiza

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #4 on: December 28, 2011, 06:46:50 PM »
Daisy, remember to place a mesh box (a cage) in one corner of the pond in spring to provide shelter for the newly hatched. Adult fish do not make any difference between his own or others'.

Perhaps it is not clear enough but we do not our fish AT ALL during winter when they are "dormant".

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Fleur Pavlidis

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2011, 03:36:13 PM »
I've never fed the fish in my garden ponds, neither the goldfish nor the mosquito fish, and they have bred and multipled and grown until eaten by clever cats in the case of the goldfish.
MGS member, Greece. I garden in Attica, Greece and Mt Goulinas (450m) Central Greece

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JTh

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2011, 05:21:19 PM »
I have no fish pond, but I have had an aquarium for more than 30 years, I know it is much worse to give too much food than too little, they can manage for quite a while on the algae in the aquarium. I have been taught that fish in ponds should not be fed at all when the temperature drops below 10 °C.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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John J

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Re: Feeding fish in winter
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2011, 06:01:50 AM »
I'm with Fleur on this one. I only have mosquito fish in my pond and tanks but I've never fed them and the original 12 have multiplied beyond counting.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)