Goldfish feed on both plant and animal foods in their natural environments. This may include live algae or plants, zooplankton, insect larvae and small crustaceans such as crabs or shrimp.
Frozen foods are easily available at pet stores and provide a perfect complement for the diet of goldfish. Examples include brine shrimp, daphnia and tubifex worms.
Contents
1. Pellets
Goldfish are predominantly herbivorous but require some meat in their diet, especially younger fish. Frozen treats like whole bloodworms or brine shrimp make an excellent treat option.
Omega One makes an excellent goldfish food based on spirulina flakes or pellets, boasting vitamins and minerals without disintegrating in water, as well as natural beta-carotene from salmon skin extract for extreme color enhancement.
Repashy Super Goldfish gel food is another effective option that’s specifically formulated for fancy goldfish (rather than round-bodied common or singletail varieties), making it easy for all types to digest. Regular feeding will help your goldfish develop excellent body condition and beautiful colors; just remember not to overdo it, as overfeeding can be one of the leading causes of aquarium death; spread their meals throughout the day to mimic how they would feed naturally and avoid digestive issues, bloating, and swim bladder issues later.
2. Live Food
Goldfish require at least two meals daily to achieve proper growth, color and health. As they lack the digestive strength to process an entire day’s worth of food in one go as is typical in nature, small portions of varied foods should always be offered within two minutes, which ensures optimal growth, color and health in their tanks.
Goldfish in their natural environments are omnivores, feeding on insects, plants, crustaceans and eggs from other creatures. Their mouths have evolved accordingly with hard plates known as pharyngeal teeth which serve to grind up food into small bits that separate easily from substrate.
Frozen foods like spirulina, brine shrimp and daphnia make excellent food options for goldfish as they offer both animal and plant proteins. Furthermore, Xtreme gel foods designed to sink below the water’s surface are another popular choice that are available from most pet and fish stores.
3. Vegetables
Goldfish fish aquariums enjoy feedings of fresh produce such as vegetables and fruit; however, due to the high protein content they should only be offered occasionally. Their diet normally consists of algae and greens as plant matter while animal foods include insect larvae, zooplankton, tadpoles and crustaceans as part of its animal component.
Fresh vegetables like peas or blanched broccoli make an excellent healthy snack to supplement gel foods, and can also provide added nutrition. Other food that may help include rhubarb slices (but avoid sugary varieties), spirulina flakes or other types of seaweed and alfalfa.
Repashy offers fish food containing inverts and vegetables such as this product made up of krill, whole menhaden and spirulina for example. Such diets tend to be healthier than generic fish meal (the ground up waste products of fish processing for human consumption used in most flakes and pellets), which over time can cause health issues in goldfish. They also tend to float at the surface more easily so fish can access it more readily.
4. Fruits
Goldfish possess special teeth called pharyngeal canines that allow them to break down their food easily. Since goldfish only possess limited stomachs, it’s essential that they receive a variety of foods throughout the day.
Foods designed for goldfish include flakes and pellets with minimal by-products from fish byproducts as well as an appropriate balance of plant and animal matter, along with low raw ash content to help decrease aquarium pollution. If you wish to introduce other foods like fruits and veggies into their diets, blanching may soften them beforehand for easier consumption. Just ensure that two to three small food distributions a day is enough.
People may feed goldfish crumbs of bread, which should not be done since this food source is too rich and may cause bloat. Furthermore, mammalian fats (e.g. beef heart and offal) cannot be digested well by fish and should therefore not be fed as food to your goldfish. Gel food offers another great solution as this unique form of nutrition contains inverts and plants like Spirulina that is readily available from pet stores.
