New house has carp .....what do I feed them?

[PinkFatBunny]

Just moved into a new house, I knew it had a pond but didn't realize it had some carp in it, and some bigs ones too. I have no idea about fish, what do I feed them?? how often do I feed them??
The pond is pretty big and about 8ft deep if that matters.

cheers

[citizensm1th]

i wonder if people will be a bit koi about this thread

[seeby]

This time of year I feed mine about twice a week ,and daily at all other times with morning and evening in the summer.A good handful at a time is enough . You can get pond fish /Koi food from all aquatic supplies . No need to go for the upmarket dearest food unless they are show Koi .;)

[PinkFatBunny]

thanks, funny thing is house has been empty for 12months and it is out in the sticks, no idea who has been feeding them. There looks to be some branches in the pond .....do they eat leaves!?

[TTmonkey]

Seriously, and I'm not being nasty, but why not just google it?

[PinkFatBunny]

TTmonkey said:

Seriously, and I'm not being nasty, but why not just google it?

I did - the first article said 3 times a day other said they don't eat in cold water. If in doubt ask on PH :-)

[BoRED S2upid]

Now I’m no koi carp expert but as a guess I’d say feed them fish food and follow the instructions on the packet. Can’t be that simple an answer surely?

[paintman]

PinkFatBunny said:

thanks, funny thing is house has been empty for 12months and it is out in the sticks, no idea who has been feeding them. There looks to be some branches in the pond .....do they eat leaves!?

If it's an established pond there will be a fair amount of natural food in there from insect larvae & the bigger the pond the more there will be.
http://www.fao.org/fishery/affris/species-profiles...

[Roberty]

This time of the year don’t feed them at all.

Once it starts to warm up you can try a handful of koi pellets, if they show an interest then you’ll have to start stepping up feeding to as much as they will eat from the surface in 1 minute.

I’d suggest you go to an Aquarist supply (Maidenhead Aquatics somewhere like that) and Speak to them about what they recommend for your fish, food type, amount and frequency.

As it’s so damn cold currently I wouldn’t worry too much about going down there straight away. It’ll be another month before they’ll really need any food.

I hope it’s a huge pond/Lake or your next challenge will be filtration. Once the food starts going in, the poop starts coming out!

[otolith]

How big is the pond?
How big are the carp?
How many are there?
How “natural” is the pond?

Depending on the answers, your solution might be “leave them to it”. Carp, though not native, quite happily live wild in the uk in suitable waters.

[SeeFive]

PinkFatBunny said:

I did - the first article said 3 times a day other said they don't eat in cold water. If in doubt ask on PH :-)

They will eat, but in very cold water their digestive system stops working, and the food just rots inside them.

I stopped feeding my small pond completely in this recent cold snap. I started again when it got above 7 degrees, and then lightly once a day. Rule of fish, do not over feed as you will ruin water conditions. I feed mine once a day in summer, in the morning and slightly heavier before a cold snap approaches.

WRT a year without food, they will have lived off the pond. But it isn’t ideal unless you have a very natural large pond like a small lake. I don’t, above ground and bricks with a liner. When I took this place a year ago, I asked what the previous owners fed the fish on, and they said “we dont”... not great.

Carp is within the goldfish / Koi taxonomy. So I would go for floating pellets suitable for that branch or as recommended by your local aquarist supplier (not Pets Are Us style, a proper one) with the odd treat of some chopped freshly dug earthworms or similar meaty treats now and again.

[PinkFatBunny]

orderd some Koi floating pellets, should be waiting when I get home tonight.
Pond is about 25ft by 20ft, previous owner said 10ft deep in the middle.

Its filtered spring water as thats where we get our water from so its surprisingly clear. Probably got 5 or 6 fish - i'd guess size from 6" to 14"

[ciege]

Hold on...

Where's the, "Worst I've a massive spring fed lake in my garden" post?

Here naturally!

[PinkFatBunny]

ciege said:

Hold on...

Where's the, "Worst I've a massive spring fed lake in my garden" post?

Here naturally!

ha ha - although want to keep the fish alive, they've survived the winter alone so i'll feel bad if I kill them now.

[paintman]

Should be plenty of natural food in a pond that size.

[Nightmare]

I have a slightly smaller pond which has several koi, several orfe and some goldfish in. The Koi have now been alive for at least 25 years. I don’t think I’ve fed them in over ten years

[Mothersruin]

I'd leave them be by the sounds of things.

[shakotan]

BoRED S2upid said:

Now I’m no koi carp expert...

Well clearly.

It's just koi, or carp.

Koi is Japanese for carp, so if you say koi carp, you are just saying carp carp.

[Sheepshanks]

shakotan said:

you are just saying carp carp.

Maybe he's Mr Toad?

[otolith]

I think a natural pond that size would have no problem supporting five or six small carp if it has a reasonable amount of vegetation and associated invertebrate life.