"Judi9000" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the info. I was just curious because birds fly off with pieces
of
our dogs food and sometimes they drop it in my ponds. The fish seem to
love it.

## All I can tell you Judi is I'm feeding catfish food mixed with some
(around 30%, I'm not exact) more expensive koi/goldfish pellets and the
difference is AMAZING! They are not fat, they grew longer and their colors
are rich and beautiful. I see no need to spent $10 or $15 a lb for food
when they're thriving on the catfish/koi mix. This is the 3rd summer
they've been on this feeding regime and we haven't had one sick fish, or one
death.
The bottom of the pond has a thin coat of clean gravel where they koi
emptied a few plant pots. :-) There is no mulm or trash (poop and plant
matter) buildup since the filter return doesn't allow anything to "sit" on
the bottom and go sour. I don't seem to have the problem Ms Solo mentioned.

I also have a friend that knows someone who feeds his koi cat food. Is it
ok to
sometimes give the fish dog or cat food or to avoid it altogether? Also my
fish
love oranges and lemons. Judi

## I also have friends who own ponds and feed cat food as treats. One guy
gives his koi those soft-moist dog patties that look like worms
(Ganesburgers perhaps ?). His fish go insane for them! Everyone here is
feeding catfish food to their koi and goldfish. That's where I learned
about it. After seeing these ponds and the healthy fish, I switched. I
haven't heard of any problems whatsoever. Why pay $10+ a lb when you can
get a 50lb bag for the same money?

Let me add.... if you do feed catfish food you don't need to feed huge
amounts for them to grow rapidly and reproduce. :-)

--
Carol.....
Don't go for looks; they can deceive.
Don't go for wealth; even that fades away.
Go for someone who makes you smile,
because it takes only a smile to
make a dark day seem bright.
Find the one that makes your heart smile.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~