| you'll find those that have a hard rule aren't doing the most with the fish they have....
Once a day will keep em alive with no problem...might even be healthier for them than other feeding parameters.
The better way to feed your koi (if you want em as big and purty as you can get em without getting em looking fat) is to check em at the beginning of each hand feeding..and I suggest two hand feedings, early and then late in the day. On top of that, a mechanical feeder is used the rest of the day.and in my case NIGHT. I judge what to put in the mechanical feeder based on the activity during the hand feeding times and the water temperature.
So how do I check em to determine how much to feed them?
Well there are many things to look for..
I look to see how many are already at the feeding area in the pond when I go out there, this tells me if there is anything worth grazing on in the lake.
I watch to see how hard they hit the food when they first show up...this tells me if they are getting high-quality protein in the 'grazing food" or if they are just eating algae.
I notice if some koi are missing (In my lake some koi don't notice I am feeding if they've found something they like doing.).
I notice how quick the fish start getting full ( My clue here is not really feeding speed because the temp will affect that, but if the koi start to tail-slap the water after I've been feeding fro awhile it lets me know they are about full.. Tail-slapping at the beginning tends to just be done if they are nervous.).
I get so picky as to note when my shy koi are feeding still. If they are, and the piggies are full then i keep feeding till the shy koi start backing off (it could have been that good quality natural food was avaialble that day but in a small yet constant flow; thus the more aggressive koi get wellfed, and no others.). |