Fish in the wild somehow are able to find enough to eat, and it certainly doesn’t arrive at dawn like manna from heaven. If you have an established natural pond with plenty of plants, turtles, frogs and various flying insects, your fish, too, will likely have a virtual cornucopia to feed on: tiny crustaceans, insects and their larvae, snails and duckweed to name a few. In fact, it’s often better not to feed these fish because excess food could pull the pond out of balance as it decays. If you like to serve up the occasional treat, though, consider offering tiny bits of sweet potato, banana, rice, or other food in their natural (chopped up) state. Just make sure you only offer as much as they’ll eat within a few minutes (3-5).
Even if you have a managed pond with a regular feeding schedule, your fish could go a surprising amount of time without being fed, perhaps as much as a couple of weeks! Assuming your pond and your fish are in good health to start, most fish won’t be hurt by a few days without feeding. In fact, breeders will sometimes withhold food as sort of a fishy “cleanse.” Keep in mind though, if you’re considering putting your pond on a fast -- much like children, smaller, more active fish require food more frequently than larger, older or more sedentary fish. So if your pond is well established and healthy, and you don’t have a batch of youngsters hanging out unsupervised, you’re free to go on vacation without fear of a Donner-style tragedy on your return. Just be sure to keep them fed when you get back, lest they start sizing you up for breakfast!
