Sinking food required

[l113892]

I have a goshiki I acquired in the Spring. I didn't notice it right away, but now I see that the goshiki will rarely come to the surface to eat. She will browse around, one foot under the surface but she doesn't want to eat food floating on the surface. I keep and feed sinking food in addition to floating pellets so she does get some food but I know right away, as a nisai female, soon to be sansai, she will never be a large fish with her eating habits.

[MikeM]

My male Goshiki much prefers feeding off the bottom, but does grab a few floating pellets when that is all that's available. A couple of my gals are normally eager for any food, but when water temps are much above 80F, they stop eating floating food ... but are quick to go for sinking. When the temps go down in October, they are eager for the floating pellets again.

Good luck... Hikari sinking wheatgerm has become a staple this summer. The 'slow sinking' available at AES gives about one-third floating pellets, which go straight into the skimmers while all the koi are on the bottom getting the ones that sink. It's a pain, but I've been using it for variety on weekends when I can hang around to clean the skimmers.

[l113892]

My AES sinking food sinks- maybe 90-95 percent and the remaining pellets since within a minute. I don't really know about the quality of the food but I like the pellet size and sinking food is the right food this time of year with this kind of water temperature.

[KoiCop]

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM The 'slow sinking' available at AES gives about one-third floating pellets, which go straight into the skimmers while all the koi are on the bottom getting the ones that sink. It's a pain, but I've been using it for variety on weekends when I can hang around to clean the skimmers.

Mike . . .

If you have your skimmers on a separate circuit, plug them into a wireless remote control (like this one for $15.99 from Target; only available on-line; not available in stores):

Target : Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Remote Control

It has a very small clicker which I carry in my pocket along with a second one (on a different frequency) that turns off/on the air in the pond.

Handy gizmos, eh?

[MikeM]

Interesting gizmo. Got home about 6:45pm. So hot I didn't want to sit by the pond! Tossed in a few floating pellets. Only the "previously tosai" came up. The rest just swam around waiting for 'dessert'. I grabbed a cup of sinking pellets, tossed it in and they went wild for the meal. Kinda reminds me of a North Carolina trout pond. When it got warm, the trout would not even come up for a tasty beetle. ...Then I came in for the air conditioning. Miserable heat.

[schildkoi]

A well designed koi pond will remove solids (sinking or floating) fairly quickly. Now Don points out one way of controling the amount of food to get into the skimmer. the same method would work for the bottom drain by having that system's pump on a remote. Personally, my bottom drain system is pulling from 360 degrees (as most do) and will remove sinking solids much faster than a skimmer located on one end of the pond. By feeding floating pellets in an area where it takes the longest to get to the skimmer, I minimize any wasted pellets where as sinking pellets end up in my filters much faster. I guess that is 1 drawback of an efficient system design.

I'll stick to my floating pellets.

Steve

[KoiCop]

Quote: Originally Posted by schildkoi I guess that is 1 drawback of an efficient system design. Steve

True, so true. LOL

[MikeM]

Well, with two skimmers, it takes less than two minutes for floating pellets to be skimmed.

[schildkoi]

38 secoinds to my vortex through the bottom drain.

Steve

[Billy]

I solved my skimmer food problem by cutting a 1" piece of Styrofoam to fit over the weir entrance. It's about 2" wider than the weir with beveled ends.
When in place it is about 1" under water. If I'm busy and forget to remove it no problem. The koi will knock it loose or it's still there for the next feeding,