Feeding Koi

[blacksmith37]

I have 5 fish about 2' long . They eat a lot if they can . So I am on the lookout for new(cheap) food. They like green peas and lima beans . Today I added Cheerios, they liked them. And I don't need to worry about the Koi having high chloesterol; a win/win.

[flounder]

Quite feeding them Cherios, there's no protein in it. If you're gonna be cheap then at least feed them koi food.

[PlanB]

There's actually some soluble plant protein in Cheerios, and they're low in nitrogen which makes them a pretty useful winter food because they won't put a strain on your dormant biological filters. I wouldn't exclusively feed koi Cheerios, but supplementing Honey Nut Cheerios throughout the year is pretty good way to fatten them up.

Other things I've tried are peeled, cut-up citrus with the membrane removed and frozen salad shrimp. I don't really know how cost effective these are compared to koi food in bulk. I do it more as occasional treats to vary their diet.

[blacksmith37]

I will try citrus.
They are confirmed vegatarians so I don't give them meat. Rice crispies and puffed rice go fast but summer squash is not popular. I am just thinking bread should be good . Long, long ago , we fed bread to trout- they loved it. They were big enough to swallow a whole slice without biting it.
PS: they took 2" squares of bread after looking it over a few minutes. They also get all the duck weed from about 6 aquariums; and water hyacinth roots.