A Guide To How Much Fish Food To Feed To Koi And Goldfish

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How much fish food to feed pond fish

The amount of food eaten by your pond fish will depend upon the species and the water temperature. In warmer water temperatures the metabolic rate is higher and fish are constantly searching around for a morsel to eat. A Koi carp is capable of eating three times as much fish food as an equivalent sized goldfish. As the water temperature gets colder the metabolic rate slows down, and with it the fish’s appetite.

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The following list is a rule of thumb that can be used as an approximate guide, as to how much you can feed your pond fish. It is based upon a single fish living in a pond water temperature of 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) ... please do not take these figures as gospel; rather use it as a guide.

  • For a 6 inch fish that weighs 2 ounce or 50 grams - feed 1% of this weight per fish per day in total.

  • For a 12 inch koi that weighs about 14 ounce or 400 grams - feed 1% of this per Koi per day in total.

  • At about 15 Celsius (59 Fahrenheit) you should reduce the amount of food fed by 1/3rd.

  • At about 10 Celsius (50 degrees F) reduce the amount of food fed to about 1/10th.

  • Remember that a fish can quite easily survive for about a week without artificial feeding. They will eat small insects and plants etc.

Fish Feeding Considerations ...

  • When it comes to feeding pond fish it is always better to feed little and often. By feeding 4 smaller meals, 4 times a day instead of 1 large meal a day you will reduce the amount of fish food wasted. Excess food will only sink to the pond floor and rot. This causes potential ammonia and carbon dioxide problems.

  • It is better to use a floating pellet food rather than a sinking fish food. This again helps to prevent excess food from decaying on the pond floor. It also gives the fish more time to eat. If you have bottom feeding fish then you will of course need to use a sinking fish food. Koi and goldfish are top feeders, but are opportunistic and will eat food wherever they can find it.

  • If you have mixture of large and small fish grind the food up into smaller particles to give the smaller fish a chance to eat before the bigger, greedier fish eat everything. Self preservation is Keeley the Koi and Goldy the gold fish’s perspective on life.

The reason for all of the above 3 tips is that the amount of fish food fed has an almost immediate and direct impact upon water quality and biofilter load.

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