My goldfish appear famished

[Neil]

All they seem to do is forage. They're forever pecking at the
walls of the pool in the stringy algae, at the struts of the
"Safapond" structure** suspended in the water, and on the
underside of the lily pads. I'm not sure what it is they're
eating; I can't see it.

But I like to feed them too, as it's a good way to get them to
come up and perform at the surface. Whenever I put flakes into
the pond the fish immediately eat every scrap. The instructions
I've read on the packet and in my pond book stress not to
overfeed fish, as the uneaten food will sink and decay. That's
certainly not a problem I've had; there is never any uneaten
food. There are six fairly small fish, say about 5cm long now,
though they were probably only about half that a month or so
ago, and they will just hoover up any amount of food I put in,
and then go on to scavenge whatever it is they find in the rest
of the pond.

Is it possible to overfeed fish without them leaving any of
their food? Are the fish missing something from their flakes
which they can only find elsewhere in the pond? The food I'm
using is flakes from Hikari
(http://www.hikariusa.com/goldfish.htm). The ingredients list
looks tasty enough; the thing I was quite surprised to see was
MSG. I've only recently added the fish to the pond, and this is
the first type of food I have tried.

Neil

[Bill Stock]

"Neil" > wrote in message
...
> All they seem to do is forage. They're forever pecking at the walls of the
> pool in the stringy algae, at the struts of the "Safapond" structure**
> suspended in the water, and on the underside of the lily pads. I'm not
> sure what it is they're eating; I can't see it.

Probably pecking at the Algae, but it could be fly larvae.


> But I like to feed them too, as it's a good way to get them to come up and
> perform at the surface. Whenever I put flakes into the pond the fish
> immediately eat every scrap. The instructions I've read on the packet and
> in my pond book stress not to overfeed fish, as the uneaten food will sink
> and decay. That's certainly not a problem I've had; there is never any
> uneaten food. There are six fairly small fish, say about 5cm long now,
> though they were probably only about half that a month or so ago, and they
> will just hoover up any amount of food I put in, and then go on to
> scavenge whatever it is they find in the rest of the pond.
>
> Is it possible to overfeed fish without them leaving any of their food?
> Are the fish missing something from their flakes which they can only find
> elsewhere in the pond? The food I'm using is flakes from Hikari
> (http://www.hikariusa.com/goldfish.htm). The ingredients list looks tasty
> enough; the thing I was quite surprised to see was MSG. I've only
> recently added the fish to the pond, and this is the first type of food I
> have tried.
>
> Neil
Yes, it's possible to overfeed GF, even if they eat it all. You probably
don't need to feed your pond GF at all, but most of us do. I prefer the
pellets to the flakes, as they're less messy. But as long as you don't
overfeed it should not be an issue. GF also like Blood Worms, I used to have
live ones in the pond, but I have not seen them for a couple of years. You
can buy them frozen from your Local Fish Store (LFS). GF are real beggars,
the indoor GF are always doing the "fishy dance" when I walk past their
tank, no matter how much I feed them.