Sinking Pellets

[MikeM]

I like using sinking pellets for morning feedings when I cannot hang around to toss in just a few pellets at a time.... and the skimmers will get most of the food if I feed floating pellets all at once. The koi like feeding on the bottom, as Nature intended. But, the choices available are very limited. My usual source for high protein sinking pellets will not have any in stock for at least 8 weeks... maybe longer. Hikari sinking wheatgerm is available. However, I like to feed a variety of pellets, so having just one sinking pellet available does not please me. I've been trying a "slow sinking" pellet, but about a third of the pellets float. Since the fish head to the bottom to eat, that means a third of the food just feeds the skimmers... making this a very expensive and high maintenance food! (Why anyone makes an 'almost sinking' food makes no sense to me. ...Maybe its for folks who have such filthy ponds the fish could not find the pellets if they all sunk immediately??)

I like using floating pellets, too; but I think the great mass of hobbyists have created a marketplace that does not focus on the koi. If we focus on the koi, their natural feeding habits would play a bigger role in the types of feed available.

PS... please PM if you have any sinking pellets recommendations.



I

[Ronin-Koi]

Floating may be more natural for the koi, but it is more fun to watch them cruise around the surface to eat. Doesn't sinking food also present a problem with food getting sucked into the bottom drain? Do you turn the air on the bottom drain off? With TPRs going, bottom drain sucking, and aeration going, I think the food would get sucked in quite quickly.

I bought a type of food that is suppose to be floating, but most of it acts like slow sinkers. Within a couple minute half has sunken. Also, non of my fish seem particularly interested in it for some reason.

- Wayne, thinks his koi's favorite sinking food is shrimp! But gotta turn the air off because it's too wasteful to let the bottom drain eat it.

[Koimann]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ronin-Koi Floating may be more natural for the koi, but it is more fun to watch them cruise around the surface to eat. Doesn't sinking food also present a problem with food getting sucked into the bottom drain? Do you turn the air on the bottom drain off? With TPRs going, bottom drain sucking, and aeration going, I think the food would get sucked in quite quickly. I bought a type of food that is suppose to be floating, but most of it acts like slow sinkers. Within a couple minute half has sunken. Also, non of my fish seem particularly interested in it for some reason. - Wayne, thinks his koi's favorite sinking food is shrimp! But gotta turn the air off because it's too wasteful to let the bottom drain eat it.

I feed my kois with Hikari Saki sinking pellets.Never have any problems with it..

[paladin_k2]

I have been feeding some sinking foods from HBH with outstanding growth and body conformation results but I still find that I need to interrupt the skimmers for a short period of time to make sure all the food reaches down into the primary feeding zone.

Koi love to graze over large algea covered feeding zones that have lots of high protien morsels that would simulate natural crustaceans in the wild.

[JasPR]

It's a funny thing- Japanese breeders feed floating pellets to get a look at the condition and general well being of the koi. They feed sinking pellets to reduce the predation of the fish. And that is really the only purpose or difference.
It was Hikari foods that first created the floating pellet so that hobbyists could see their koi better in murky and green ponds of the day.
The only difference is how they are extruded and how many air pockets are left in the pellet to make it bouyant. JR

[carolyn swanson]

The Hikari sinking food is like gold to my fish. When fed both sinking and floating at the same time, they will ignore the floating to follow the sinking food to the bottom. I think that it's a good idea to feed a mix so that the small fish and those that prefer not to come up to the top can have their preference.
Also, someone who thinks that they know everything prefers to feed it to the large fish so that they get exercise getting to the bottom and, according to the traditional spin, the higher pressure at the bottom promotes better conformation.

[schildkoi]

As JR points out, if we utilize Hakari WG as a base, with the same basic formula for its floating verses sinking pellets, then the major difference becomes the density of the pellet itself with the floating pellet having more air trapped within. The floating peelt is also more permiable and thus will soften quicker.

Now, as for whether one worries about floating pellets going into the skimmer verses a sinking pellet into the drain and thus in both cases "wasted," If we look at "typical" pond dynamics, the bottom drain puls from 360 degrees where as the skimmer is but 1 point "typically" along the perimeter of the pond. Thus, one has the ability to choose a point to feed on the surface that will yield a much greater time span (as opposed to the floor) before these pellets are wasted. In addition, by feeding less, but more often, the amount of wasted pellets can be reduced even further.

Steve

[Steve Nguyen]

Quote: Originally Posted by carolyn swanson The Hikari sinking food is like gold to my fish. When fed both sinking and floating at the same time, they will ignore the floating to follow the sinking food to the bottom. snipped....

my fish behaved the same way as well. they definitely prefer the sinking pellets. I like feeding them with floating pellets though. it's more enjoyable when feeding them this way. I must confess that I raise my fish for my personal enjoyment so feeding with floating pellets my a world of difference for me.

Steve

[Steve Nguyen]

Quote: Originally Posted by carolyn swanson The Hikari sinking food is like gold to my fish. When fed both sinking and floating at the same time, they will ignore the floating to follow the sinking food to the bottom. snipped....

my fish behaved the same way as well. they definitely prefer the sinking pellets. I like feeding them with floating pellets though. it's more enjoyable when feeding them this way. I must confess that I raise my fish for my personal enjoyment so feeding with floating pellets my a world of difference for me.

Steve

[KoiCop]

I feed floating Hikari WG and turn off the one skimmer in the feeding area with a remote control (Skylink brand, available from Target.com, approx. cost = $15) then turn it back on when done.

During the summer, when I have the FOK auto feeder going 5x per day, I have a digital timer (Intermatic brand -- programmable, outdoor) on that skimmer circuit which turns it off just before the feeder activates and then turns the skimmer back on 15 minutes later.

They're easy to use, inexpensive and best of all there's no food loss.