Pond Food →
Pond food comes mainly as floating sticks or pellets, and the main choice is less about brand and more about matching the food to how much your fish are actually eating through the year, which changes a great deal between summer and winter.
Sticks versus pellets
Floating sticks, like Pets Choice Pond Sticks or Tetra Pond Fish Food Variety Sticks, sit on the surface and let you see exactly how much is being eaten, which makes it easy to spot if fish have gone off their food.
Pellets, whether floating or sinking, work well for a pond with fish that feed at different levels, and a variety pack that mixes both formats suits a pond with a mix of species and sizes.
Feeding through the seasons
Pond fish eat far less as the water cools, and most stop feeding altogether once temperatures drop enough that their metabolism slows right down for winter. Continuing to feed heavily through cold weather does more harm than good, since uneaten food simply fouls the water.
In warmer months, feed only what fish clear in a few minutes rather than a fixed amount every time, and remove anything left floating after that to keep the water clean.