Fish observations in a Koi pond

We have a Koi pond here at school, with a larger catchment that holds
about 20 fish, ranging in size from a pound or so up to a couple of 8
pounders. These are pretty big fish, and being a public institution,
they are well accustomed to people. They also get fed all day by
passerbys, although its discouraged, its hard to prevent.

They are definately trained; whenever someone comes to the spot where
they are most easily fed, they gather around and start 'carping'. This
involves swimming around with their mouths open, skimming the surface
and 'inhaling' anything that's floating. They are so used to being fed
that you can pet them as they come closer, and they don't swim off.

Usually, when there is a piece of bread or some fishfood in the water,
you can see that they sight it, swim up to it from about 45degrees, but
lose sight of it in the last few inches. They will 'vacuum' the water
around an area until they get the food, then slip back down with it.
Often, when you toss in a piece of bread, one fish will come closer
which will trigger a frenzy. ALL the fish will come around and for a
moment it will look like a piranha attack or something. The two biggest
ones are most belligerent and bullldoze the others out of the way to
establish the best feeding positions, right in front of you.

The last several months have been the cool, dry season, and the fish
behavior has been very consistent. However, this weekend the drizzly
season has begun, and the fish behavior has changed considerably. I
walked by the pond this morning and saw that someone had tossed a large
handful of bread chunks in. Instead of attacking them with gusto, as
usual, they were ignoring them; swimming below them and not
congregating at all. I thought at first that they didn't see the bread,
but then I saw one of the smaller fish rise up to 'attack' a piece of
bread. It struck out violently, with a loud and quick slurping sound,
then dove quickly to the bottom. The rise on the surface was precisely
what I usually see in a 'refusal', but these fish would have no reason
to refuse the bread, as it is their standard diet and this was the real
deal. Then I noticed that it was only the smaller fish striking, and
usually missing. Occasionally, one would manage to hit the bread, and
quickly drag it down where it would eat it without being bothered by
the other fish. Throughout all of this, the larger fish were ignoring
the bread.

My conclusions:
1) Since every variable was constant (bread, fish, feeding time,
location, amount) except for weather, I can only attribute their change
of behavior to the weather. So it appears that, in Koi ponds with carp
at least, fish feed much less vigorously during overcast weather.

2) Carp can see fine right up until the last few inches, when they lose
sight of the food. In 'slower feeding' situations, they will suck up a
large amount of water to get the food, but in 'fast feeding'
situations, they will strike then retreat quickly. That might affect
how long you should wait before you set the hook.

3) Feeding behavior during overcast weather isn't really contagious.
Whereas the fish will cue off each other and congregate in sunny
weather, a single fish feeding in overcast weather had little or no
effect on the rest.

4) Big fish are much less prone to feed during overcast weather.

Of course, these observations are anecdotal, and can only be said to
apply to these particular fish in this particular pond. But its very
educational to watch these guys.

--riverman

We have had two ponds with koi for about the last 12 years. I have noticed
that the main thing that effects feeding is temperature, which can be
related to overcaast days.
Koi cannot digest food when the water temperature drops below 40 or 45
degrees. They can only digest certain types of food at temperatures below
60 or 65 degrees. As temperatures drop, their appetite decreases. Since we
live in northern Nevada, we stock two types of food: one for the spring and
fall, and one for the hot summer. We do not feed the fish at all for the 4
or 5 months of winter.
Perhaps what you are observing as an overcast day, or period, is one where
the sun does not warm the water

riverman wrote:
We have a Koi pond here at school, with a larger catchment that holds
about 20 fish, ranging in size from a pound or so up to a couple of 8
pounders. These are pretty big fish, and being a public institution,
they are well accustomed to people. They also get fed all day by
passerbys, although its discouraged, its hard to prevent.

They are definately trained; whenever someone comes to the spot where
they are most easily fed, they gather around and start 'carping'. This
involves swimming around with their mouths open, skimming the surface
and 'inhaling' anything that's floating. They are so used to being fed
that you can pet them as they come closer, and they don't swim off.

Usually, when there is a piece of bread or some fishfood in the water,
you can see that they sight it, swim up to it from about 45degrees, but
lose sight of it in the last few inches. They will 'vacuum' the water
around an area until they get the food, then slip back down with it.
Often, when you toss in a piece of bread, one fish will come closer
which will trigger a frenzy. ALL the fish will come around and for a
moment it will look like a piranha attack or something. The two biggest
ones are most belligerent and bullldoze the others out of the way to
establish the best feeding positions, right in front of you.

The last several months have been the cool, dry season, and the fish
behavior has been very consistent. However, this weekend the drizzly
season has begun, and the fish behavior has changed considerably. I
walked by the pond this morning and saw that someone had tossed a large
handful of bread chunks in. Instead of attacking them with gusto, as
usual, they were ignoring them; swimming below them and not
congregating at all. I thought at first that they didn't see the bread,
but then I saw one of the smaller fish rise up to 'attack' a piece of
bread. It struck out violently, with a loud and quick slurping sound,
then dove quickly to the bottom. The rise on the surface was precisely
what I usually see in a 'refusal', but these fish would have no reason
to refuse the bread, as it is their standard diet and this was the real
deal. Then I noticed that it was only the smaller fish striking, and
usually missing. Occasionally, one would manage to hit the bread, and
quickly drag it down where it would eat it without being bothered by
the other fish. Throughout all of this, the larger fish were ignoring
the bread.

My conclusions:
1) Since every variable was constant (bread, fish, feeding time,
location, amount) except for weather, I can only attribute their change
of behavior to the weather. So it appears that, in Koi ponds with carp
at least, fish feed much less vigorously during overcast weather.

2) Carp can see fine right up until the last few inches, when they lose
sight of the food. In 'slower feeding' situations, they will suck up a
large amount of water to get the food, but in 'fast feeding'
situations, they will strike then retreat quickly. That might affect
how long you should wait before you set the hook.

3) Feeding behavior during overcast weather isn't really contagious.
Whereas the fish will cue off each other and congregate in sunny
weather, a single fish feeding in overcast weather had little or no
effect on the rest.

4) Big fish are much less prone to feed during overcast weather.

Of course, these observations are anecdotal, and can only be said to
apply to these particular fish in this particular pond. But its very
educational to watch these guys.

--riverman

This probably has to do with temperature or a change in barometric
pressure. Get a thermometer and monitor the water temperature for a few
days to see how it changes. If the pond is small the water temperature
will change faster and as temperature decrease the animals metabolic
rate will decrease and the fish's need for food will decease. Most fish
are ectothermic (their temperature depends on the water temperature).
This is why water temp plays a large role in fish catching. The smaller
fish are probably still trying to feed even though the temperature may
be low. If the larger fish out-compete them most of the time and they
have an opportunity to eat with less interference then they will take
it. A fish's only goal in life is to grow as fast as it can so it can
reproduce at a higher rate then its competitors. I can't give you a
physiological reason for feeding tied to pressure change though. Have
fun observing the behavior. You could start your own observational
experiment where you log feeding behavior with several variables like
water temp., barometric pressure, and weather. Ok that is enough babble
for one post.
Science is great!!!
Dan

--
Remove FishBiologist to email

Someone mentioned carp in large lakes. I have a place on fairly large
lake - maybe 18 miles long. It has a substantial population of carp but
they are hard to catch on a fly. When you catch one, they do their best
to empty your reel. They never jump, but a 15 pounder can rip a lot of line.

Anyway, we started feeding them dry dog food so the kids could watch
them. One day I took some gray wool and made a "dog food fly". They went
right for it. I don't fish for them often because I don't want to scare
them away, but once in a while it's fun to catch a fish that size.

At the lake I have never been able to make a link between normal daily
weather changes and seeing them.