Cold Water Feeding Koi & Shubunkins

OK so I wanted to ask some questions regarding cold water feeding. This is my first year with Koi and Shubunkins and I have brought them into my Garage in a winter tank about 275g. I have not started to warm the water yet and wanted to know a little more about how to feed them if I should allow the water to fluctuate with the weather. Michigan winters can be pretty cold. My garage gets around 32F when the weather outside is at it's average worst case scenario. Currently, my water temp is at 57F(13.9C). I have 2 Koi at about 12"(30.5cm) and about 18 or so Shubunkin from 5-7"(12-17cm). I started breaking away from daily feeding and have gone to every other day. I'm pretty paranoid about not feeding them enough and of course the flip side of over feeding them. Could anyone explain feeding portions in relation to temperatures?

If I were to raise the water temps to a point where I could return to 1 daily feeding; what temperature would that be?

Thanks for any input

 

At the current temperature I would certainly be switching to a cold water feed and not regular. Your standard food will have too much fat and possibly too much protein for fish that are already producing their cold water enzymes. Because of that they are no longer processing food as quickly as they were in summer. Once every other day is fine as activity will decline with the temperature. Once the water drops bellow 50F and holds below that temperature day and night cease feeding all together. Before 50F the risk of overfeeding is not critical but it is a reality. Once it is below 50F overfeeding or feeding much at all is a serious threat. This is because at this point digestion slows to a crawl or stops completely. This combined with the fact that neither koi or goldfish have true stomachs so by extension no way to hold food. They will still happily take food only to have it become stuck in the digestive tract. From their the food rots inside the fish until eventually the bacteria breaches the intestinal membrane causing septic shock and in all likelihood the death of the fish. Once the water temperature breaks and holds above 50F I begin feeding a few plain cheerios and thawed peas the first few days. These are easily processed and passed. From their I use coldwater feed until the temperature breaks above 67F than begin regular staple foods. My one question is if you are not planning on heating the tank than why bring them in from the pond anyway? I hope this helps.

 

Good info thank you. I noticed a sharp behavior difference once the water started hitting the low 60's. More and more the fish seemed to act zoned out schooling nose first into the lite current.
My original thought on bringing the fish in was :
1) To keep the temperatures up and continue feeding my fish so as to have even larger fish in the spring
2) I was skeptical they would have enough water depth to survive the winter. Should we suffer any power outages during the winter I can ensure they get air via backup battery air unit -vs- trying to keep the pond from freezing over and clear of snow drifts. Our winter can be a bit harsh and my area being heavily wooded leads to power outages when we get ice. The power company has started trimming trees but will not get everything this year.
3) Having the fish in the tank will also allow me to do some things like (just in case) parasite treatment.
4) I can also do a complete pond cleaning in the spring without vacuuming up any overly curious goldfish. I have a lot of natural debris due to living at the edge of a forested area. I have hundreds of false cherry seeds and sunken acorns in my river rock on the bottom of the pond. While on vacation this summer I had a raccoon that made a mess of my pond while chasing frogs and fish. All my lilies were shredded as though he tried to climb onto them. Also I had a pretty tough summer of algae growth that will also need cleaning up. I plan on adding a UV filter into the system this next spring.

Not buying the winter tank heaters as originally planned also allows for more spending towards my other water project. I just came into a 75 gallon corner aquarium. It came with a new 300w heater and UV filter and nothing else. After deciding if I want to try Saltwater or do the easy Freshwater I will need to acquire more gear.

 

Jut getting back into hobby , so thought goldfish was a good start . I can not have in ground pond , landlord will not allow . So thinking of other options .
I have 90 setup now with some comets .. how big of preformed pond is sufficient ? I have been offered some shubunkins ,can I put them in with the comets ?
is 2 aqauclear 50 and a 110 enough filtration ..

 

How many comets do you have? The absolute maximum you can put in a 90 gallon is 2 although personally I would recommend more gallons than that.

 

Jut getting back into hobby , so thought goldfish was a good start . I can not have in ground pond , landlord will not allow . So thinking of other options .
I have 90 setup now with some comets .. how big of preformed pond is sufficient ? I have been offered some shubunkins ,can I put them in with the comets ?
is 2 aqauclear 50 and a 110 enough filtration ..

Single tail goldfish need 50 gallons per fish with 150 gallons minimum

 

I agree with both
And second, shubunkins and koi fish need ponds or extremely huge tanks.