Goldfish are omnivores that feed on many different kinds of foods, making betta food an unwise long-term solution that may lead to intestinal gas, swim bladder infections, and ultimately kidney failure.
Fish food is usually labeled for specific species for this simple reason – fish have vastly differing nutritional needs that no single food product can fully fulfill.
Contents
Protein
Your local pet shop likely sells goldfish food that contains more vitamins and minerals than what betta fish require, but may not contain enough protein for optimal health. Betta fish need high-protein diets; giving them goldfish food could shorten their lives.
While betta fish can eat bloodworms from time to time, their ideal source of protein should come from other sources like insects and invertebrates; otherwise they’ll suffer from malnutrition and end up suffering from health conditions as a result.
As an alternative, you can supplement your betta fish’s diet with freeze-dried or frozen foods designed specifically to meet their species. Such products often include fish meal, krill meal and dried seaweed products that supply proteins essential to their wellbeing. You can also feed fresh or frozen vegetables like peas with shells removed and blanched pieces of zucchini, cucumber or oranges as part of its regular feedings.
Carbohydrates
A proper diet for goldfish will contain sufficient proteins, in addition to various other essential nutrients that contribute to their development and overall wellbeing. These include vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Diets that lack protein may slow the goldfish’s metabolism and cause malnourishment with reduced immune systems and abnormal behavior; leading to malnourished, malnourished fish which lack energy and show strange behavior. This could also result in poor health for these aquatic creatures.
Betta food typically consists of high levels of protein to meet their carnivorous diet needs, and is usually smaller in size to make consumption easier for bettas. Furthermore, its ingredients promote healthy digestive tract function; in comparison with goldfish which require balanced diets consisting of both proteins and vegetables. Furthermore, unlike many food such as flakes or pellets which contain fillers which make digestion more challenging or result in bloat symptoms; Bettas usually can process these fillers better and are therefore unlikely to bloat symptoms.
Vegetables
Goldfish are omnivores and thrive when fed a varied diet, including vegetables. Vegetables provide vital sources of fiber, vitamins, and minerals essential to good immune system health, organ functioning, and growth.
Your betta fish is safe to consume a range of vegetables, such as peas with shells removed, broccoli and small pieces of oranges, zucchini and cucumber – however these must all be boiled first to reduce bacteria that could make your goldfish sick.
Your Betta Fish should receive plenty of calcium, vitamin C, and iron-rich leafy vegetables like lettuce as a meal supplement. Egg yolks should make up only a small part of their meals as boiling may kill bacteria that cause sickness – also make sure it comes from sources with proper hygiene standards to avoid contamination in their water environment.
Live Food
Though goldfish and betta food share similar ingredients, feeding goldfish betta food regularly may not be recommended. Goldfish don’t live in tropical environments and their digestive systems weren’t intended to digest such high protein diets – leading to constipation or even slow death as a result.
Instead, betta food should only ever be used as an emergency measure if their regular feed runs out, and should always revert back to feeding their goldfish-specific diet as soon as possible.
Your goldfish’s diet shouldn’t just consist of food flakes; to add variety and fiber-rich treats like peas with shells removed and blanched broccoli as part of its regular meal, try giving some freeze-dried bloodworms or brine shrimp as treats every once in awhile.
