Koi Feeder

[sundan]

Just got my koi feeder and must say impress with workmanship, function. Koi learn less than 2 hours to get the food. No batteries, no electric, just koi power. Any one interested here is info:
http://www.kichisystems.com

[Bob Winkler]

Nice looking piece of kit! Is the wood finished? or raw? If not finished, what will you finish it with, if at all?

[sundan]

Wood is finish already and sealed.Made in Vietnam with fine wood, maybe teak and magahoney.

[matt]

I don't get it.

I checked the company site, but it did not explain, how does this koi induced trigger actually work?

[JasonS]

Matt, it is a 'pull string' demand feeder.

Demand feeders are asking for overeating, IMHO. Fat koi.

[matt]

Get Out!

Koi can actually learn to pull on a string to ask for food?

Crafty little buggers, ... i wanna see that.

[gregbickal]

I have a pendulum demand feeder that I got from Aquatic Eco Systems. About the same price. It holds 20 pounds of feed (but they have larger). I got it last year. Its AWSOME. The koi bump a little rod that dangles in the water (it has a ball at the end). And it dumps out pellets. Its very adjustable to get as many or as few pellets with each bump. I was feeding my koi 1 1/2 pounds a day over 4 feedings. After I installed the feeder, they ate 4 pounds a day. I have since reduced my herd from 120 to 83 and this year they are eating about 3 pounds a day. They seem to eat most at night, very little during the day.

I have really noticed much better growth rates, even out of the larger koi. No fat bellys and no overweight koi.

Only downside is now the koi totally ignore me. Throw in pellets and they dont even care. Once I get them all up to monster size, mabye I'll go back to hand feeding and put the demand feeder on the grow-up pond.

[MikeM]

My concerns with such feeders have always been (1) too much consumption leading to fat fish, (2) ants/ water/ other vermin getting into the food, and (3) missing out on the feeding time. Seems no need to worry about #1 from your experience, and #3 is something of an issue. But, what about #2?

[Mike T]

I've read that koi will eat as much as you feed them, hence wouldn't they feed themselves too much with this feeder on demand???

V. Vaughn, of UofG, made a presentation re: koi nutrition...two of the slides shown were of what looked like healthy koi... However, when examined after death, both showed a white mass of fatty tissue where the liver was supposed to be... Conclusion: The Koi were overfed... The recommendation: feed small portions over 7-8 feedings...

To accomplish this I would think you'd need a mechanical time release feeder...

Aloha! Mike

[markgardner]

A number of small feeds over a long period offers a number of advantages over a couple of big feeds.

If they gorge themselves on food they just end up dumping it unutilised.

Also, spreading the food out over a longer time leads to a more even release of ammonia thus minimising any risk of peaks in Ammonia.

With regards to vermin in food etc, i've generally always just loaded the feeder up with that days food ration in case of any malfunction resulting in the unit dumping the lot in the water. This also minimises risk of the vermin.

Mark