Don't overfeed your goldfish! Overfeeding goldfish is the leading cause of
death among goldfish! Bad! Bad! Bad!

Okay, so I give them just the amount they can eat within 3 to 5 minutes. But
they eat all the time! The bugs that are in my pond and the water lettuce
made the little pond a buffet table. But the fish are happy!

I don't understand. Why is my feeding them potentially lethal, but not them
grazing all day and night?

m

On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:57:15 GMT, "M&K" wrote:

Don't overfeed your goldfish! Overfeeding goldfish is the leading cause of
death among goldfish! Bad! Bad! Bad!

Okay, so I give them just the amount they can eat within 3 to 5 minutes. But
they eat all the time! The bugs that are in my pond and the water lettuce
made the little pond a buffet table. But the fish are happy!

I don't understand. Why is my feeding them potentially lethal, but not them
grazing all day and night?

m

Man made products have more calories and take less work to eat? Kind of
like us buying/eating white bread, instead of going out and grinding the
wheat and putting together a whole grain bread before eating. ~ jan
-----------------

Also ponding troll free at:
http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium

"M&K" wrote in message
...
Don't overfeed your goldfish! Overfeeding goldfish is the leading cause of
death among goldfish! Bad! Bad! Bad!

Okay, so I give them just the amount they can eat within 3 to 5 minutes.
But
they eat all the time! The bugs that are in my pond and the water lettuce
made the little pond a buffet table. But the fish are happy!

I don't understand. Why is my feeding them potentially lethal, but not
them
grazing all day and night?
======================
It's not lethal to my goldfish. They're fed twice a day. They're breeding
like rabbits again this year.
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

3-5 minutes is too much. one mouthful is more than enough.
the problem is GF and koi have two nutritional requirements, protein and fat. and
the stuff that is in the water is digestible while "land based" stuff is not or not
nearly as digestible. in China where they raise lots of fancy GF they power feed
them grubs and worms found in the water that they raise, like blood worms. the GF
still have to work to find the food but they eat itty bitty amounts all day long.
the other problem with too much food is too much at once and they got no stomach so
it moves along their GI tract without being properly digested and absorbed.
usually it is only fancy GF that get floaty from the wrong type or amount of
commercial "fish" food. Ingrid

"M&K" wrote:

Don't overfeed your goldfish! Overfeeding goldfish is the leading cause of
death among goldfish! Bad! Bad! Bad!

Okay, so I give them just the amount they can eat within 3 to 5 minutes. But
they eat all the time! The bugs that are in my pond and the water lettuce
made the little pond a buffet table. But the fish are happy!

I don't understand. Why is my feeding them potentially lethal, but not them
grazing all day and night?

m




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

I stopped feeding for about one month this summer beacause the fish disappeared following some suspected heavy heron raids, my pond is WELL planted and must be crawling with insect life and natural food because a there were no emaciated fish when they finally emerged. I guess there is anywhere between 70 and 150 goldfish in 1450 UK gallon. My heavt crop of blanket weed also disappeared during the nonfeeding month and I have concuded from that that the undigested food was fertiliser for the BW. My fish LOVE live food like mosquito larvae and I have some water barrels set up to grow them but it has been a poor crop this year. In previous years I have been able to feed the fish for one month on live food, the big advantage is that live food doesnt promote BW growth.

Very interesting read as I recently thought about putting a few more fish in my small(ish) pond (1000 litres) but after advice from my local fish shop, they told me it's not the best idea. My nitrates were up and asked how many times I fed the fish.

At the time I did this 3 times a day (although small amounts) and they suggested making it once a day. I've done this but have to admit that I've been away on an emergency holiday for 3 days and nobody has fed them. I guessed that there is enough stuff in the pond to keep them going for a couple of days?

cheers

admittedly, the water is cold, but most northerners have goldfish that arent fed for
6 months or so. it is much better to not feed fish when the owner is on vacation
than having somebody come in to feed them. Ingrid

AlecTPR wrote:


Very interesting read as I recently thought about putting a few more
fish in my small(ish) pond (1000 litres) but after advice from my local
fish shop, they told me it's not the best idea. My nitrates were up and
asked how many times I fed the fish.

At the time I did this 3 times a day (although small amounts) and they
suggested making it once a day. I've done this but have to admit that
I've been away on an emergency holiday for 3 days and nobody has fed
them. I guessed that there is enough stuff in the pond to keep them
going for a couple of days?

cheers



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

wrote:

admittedly, the water is cold, but most northerners have goldfish that
arent fed for
6 months or so. it is much better to not feed fish when the owner is on
vacation
than having somebody come in to feed them. Ingrid

Amen! Most people who _know_ their fish will overfeed them - imagine what
will happen if you get someone who doesn't have a clue.

I've never met a fish that couldn't handle a long weekend without
feeding :-)
--
derek