How much food?

[hacnp]

I just received what I hope is my seasons worth of food from Petco, 160 lbs. of Drs. Foster and Smith economy Koi staple. I'm curious how much food do others go thru in a season and what you are feeding. Best wishes to all!

[fly4koi]

1-2% of body weight daily, warmer water = feed more, <55F do not feed.

[Orlando]

3% of body weight daily except when the water is below 50* or 84* or higher at those times just a 3rd of the normal amounts every other 2 or 3 days, and I go thru 120 pounds per year that's just me.

[aquaholic]

3% of body weight daily except when the water is below 50* or 84* or higher at those times just a 3rd of the normal amounts every other 2 or 3 days, and I go thru 120 pounds per year that's just me.

How do you work out fish body weight? And food weight? And what about fish dominance in the pond? Do you spread food out as widely as possible? Several smaller feeds during the day?

[Orlando]

Aquaholic, am constantly sorting my fish by size I don't have a pond I have above ground tank's. If look on the top of the home page there's an approximate weight calculator by size. Hope this helps one more thing the 3% is spread out thru the day.

[UnkleTim]

A half a pound a day.

[cottagefog]

I typically go thru 40 pounds of Mazura Platinum Ogata Nuggets (made in the USA)

10-15 pounds of Kenzen sinking food.

The sinking food is a great tool used to separate the herd, and the very aggressive feeders.

I feed from April until late November depending on weather, water temp, and begging koi.

[aquaholic]

Aquaholic, am constantly sorting my fish by size I don't have a pond I have above ground tank's. If look on the top of the home page there's an approximate weight calculator by size. Hope this helps one more thing the 3% is spread out thru the day.

Thanks for the tips.
I looked at the weight calculator - approximation that relies on guessing fish length. I have a drop in ruler to help me measure fish length. I have 200kg digital platform weighing scales that lets me tare off water & container so dropping a fish in gives me accurate weight. I feed by observation which may be tricky to new fish keepers.

Out of curiosity, I weighed some of my fish and their food to discover a 3% food regime is almost double what I would normally feed. I suppose the fish food - density would affect things a lot too.

[Orlando]

Thanks for the tips.
I looked at the weight calculator - approximation that relies on guessing fish length. I have a drop in ruler to help me measure fish length. I have 200kg digital platform weighing scales that lets me tare off water & container so dropping a fish in gives me accurate weight. I feed by observation which may be tricky to new fish keepers.

Out of curiosity, I weighed some of my fish and their food to discover a 3% food regime is almost double what I would normally feed. I suppose the fish food - density would affect things a lot too.

Your thoughts could be on the correct direction but stay firm with the regiment for atleast 6 months and then add your observations

[Artemis]

I feed from April until late November depending on weather, water temp, and begging koi.

One of mine will still be begging even when the water temp drops below 55*F. He(she?) just does it v e r y s l o w l y.

3% of body weight daily except when the water is below 50* or 84* or higher at those times just a 3rd of the normal amounts every other 2 or 3 days,

Interesting and potentially useful, I live in the south, and while my pond is shaded, I'm not sure what water temps are going to look like over the summer (I retrieved the koi from my parent's pond back in September).

[Matt24]

... I looked at the weight calculator - approximation that relies on guessing fish length. I have a drop in ruler to help me measure fish length. ...

I take a 4-5 foot black ABS pipe and wrap a ring of white electric tap around it every two inches. (The reverse colors would also work.) I weight it down so it sinks to the bottom. At first the koi think it's weird and stay clear of it, but after a couple of days, they'll swim right by it. I set my phone camera on zoom and video them swimming by, then pause it and count the stripes on the pipe to get the length. I keep a spreadsheet with all the latest lengths in one column and put the weight formula in the next column so it estimates all the weights, and I sum it up at the bottom.