Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Change in food and other questions

I have a few questions about feeding fish. First a short background - I bought some koi pellets off of Amazon just to see if I could get some fish by my dock to start eating (on a small lake that is ~20 acres). They were very slow to start, but after reading somewhere else on here that wetting the food first could help - they finally started and now I have a crowd of fish that follow me when I walk my shore to my “feeding spot”. All was great until I ran out of the koi food and I bought some bream/bass/catfish food at Tractor Supply. When I threw some out - most of the fish turned up their noses to it... it is a larger pellet and is a slightly different color - could this be why they did not readily eat it? Will they adjust to it or are fish really that picky? I could try to wet it again and see if that helps. To be transparent - I’ve only thrown it out twice so far so maybe they just need a little more time. The pellets are not too big for these fish, but they are about 3x the size of the other pellets (there are also some smaller pellets mixed in the feed). Has anyone experienced this before? Also - does feeding a small amount of feed each day (for entertainment purposes only) make the fish lazy (not doing their normal “hunting”) or dependent on pellets? Thanks.

LTL, the fish reaction is probably pretty normal. Different size, color, and taste will throw them off for a while, but eventually they should get used to it. If not, try a different feed with high quality protein, like Aquamax MVP or Optimal.

I feed moderately, but haven't noticed my fish getting lazy. It is easier to catch them right before feeding than right after, however!

Keep trying to feed and you should be ok.