part of my fishes regular diet? Now that they are moved to their winter home (no longer out in the pond) they don't have all that many plants to eat like they love to do. Is is okay to give them peas every couple of days? Also any other ideas of foods I can give them to "spice" up their meals? I'm not used to keeping them inside all winter so I'm not sure what else they'll eat (other than my pond plants...they love those water lillies). Thanks for any info.

As far as I've heard, it's perfectly fine to give your fish frozen peas (properly thawed of course ) once a week. In fact, it's something that I'm going to adopt into my own fishes' diets as it promotes regularity.

Frozen peas are fine - and you can feed more often than once a week if you want to - I use them for variety along with..

Flake (that's their staple diet in my tank)
Frozen sweetcorn
Daphnia (live)
Prawns
Lettuce
Spinach

- As long as you thaw the peas and boil them for a minute or 2 to soften them. Exactly the same with sweetcorn. Last night, I fed mine on peas again - they're only small, but it was so funny to see Bam Bam - a 2 inch common - zooming around the tank with a pea inside his mouth, and another hanging from his lips - trying to find a place to stop and eat.

With prawns, I tend to soak them in cold water for 10 minutes and then rinse them under running water for a moment or two - this gets rid of much of the salt that is packed with them as a preservative. I chop them into very small chunks, and let them sink in the tank.

Live Daphnia, you should strain before putting in the tank, as the liquid they are suspended in normally contains foodstuffs for the daph, which will just lead to extra ammonia in your tank. When I feed mine the daph, it takes them a few seconds to realise that they are there - then one will look like it's accidentally swallowed one, and then the hunt begins.

Lettuce - I have a clip to put a leaf of lettuce on, which just gets nibbled. And the same with spinnach.

Other people here use loads of different foods, and I'm sure each will tell you something new. I find that my fish love the variety and different types of food - my next adventure with them will be orange or lemon. A small segment chopped in half floating around is apparently good for the colour - but you have to be careful how much, as the acid in the fruit may affect your pH level in the tank.

A small aside - does it not seem slightly ironic or cruel to anyone to float a wedge of lemon in the tank? I mean, surely, chips will be next!

Peas are fine and are a favourite of most fish, just make sure you pop them out of their shells first as these are indegestible.
Any fruit or vegetables are safe to feed too. Just use common sense and cook them if they are hard like swede, potatoe etc and never add salt or sugar.
Favourites of my fish are swede, romaine lettuce, orange (a slice cut off and floated on top), grapes, banana and pear but they will have a go at most things. They didn't like peach though and spit it out with disgusted looks on their faces!

Don't leave the fruit or veg in the tank for too long though as it will decompose quickly.

They like oranges? I never would've thought about giving them those. They do already get some romaine lettuce as my snails also love it. Thanks for all the suggestions. I just know that I"d get bored eating the same things all the time.

Peas are a great food too give too your fishies. I personally like the green giant brand since they are larger. I never blanche or cook them, I just let them defrost in some water. Why cook the vitamins and minerals out of them? It seems like the koi will eat them regardless if there is a shell on them but the goldies will not touch them unless they are skinned first.

Thanks everyone!

Rob, my Koi aren't real picky about anything they eat, they just like to eat period.

you could give them fruit as well

I like too add fruit to their diet as well but only as a treat. Maybe once every couple of weeks.

My goldfish look like man eating sharks when I add an orange piece, they really dig that!!

Jessica