Fantail goldfish are opportunistic omnivores that scavenge for food throughout their days in the wild. When kept as aquarium residents, however, these fish typically consume fish flakes, pellets, brine shrimp, daphnia and bloodworms as food items.
Feed them small portions of flakes or live food treats two to three times each day to reduce overfeeding; uneaten food decomposes quickly into harmful ammonia and nitrates that could pose health hazards to both you and your fish.
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Pellets
Fantail goldfish feed on a range of foods, from flakes and pellets to freeze-dried items, so it is essential that their tank contains an assortment of tasty treats for them to consume. They scavenge at the bottom of their tank for any uneaten food, so providing an assortment of foodstuffs is paramount for their wellbeing.
At minimum, fish should be provided with both sinking and floating pellets as well as vegetables and fruit for nutrition, including blood worms, tubifex worms and daphnia for increased protein. Furthermore, weekly treats of live brine shrimp should also be fed.
Saki-Hikari pellets are extremely popular for their combination of probiotics to aid digestion, as well as several color-boosting ingredients like astaxanthin, spirulina and lutein to increase red coloring without diluting white areas.
Flakes
Fancy goldfish can be fed a variety of food including flakes. These floating foods float on the surface of the water surface and are consumed by fish at all levels within their aquarium environment. Some aquarists opt to soak flakes first in order to make digestion simpler for their fish.
Flakes may contain high concentrations of protein but should not be the sole food source for goldfish, as an inadequate diet will lead to serious health issues for your aquatic friends like sarcosporidiosis, swim bladder disease and rotting tail fins.
Fantail goldfish should be fed a diet consisting of pellets, flakes, live food and frozen treats to ensure optimal health and development. Fantail goldfish should be given two feedings daily of as much food as they can consume within two minutes and any uneaten portions should always be removed immediately.
Daphnia
Daphnia are filter feeders like most crustaceans. They consume unicellular algae, bacteria, organic detritus and similar particles of similar size through their beating legs creating a constant current that draws in particles through their carapace and into their digestive tract before leaving through anus located on their postabdomen.
As aquatic ecosystems are of immense significance to Daphnia, they have been studied from ecological to genetic perspectives. With an unusual reproductive mode involving parthenogenetic cycles resulting in extraordinary phenotypic plasticity – or their ability to adapt quickly and readily in different environmental conditions – Daphnia are considered key component species and thus draw much interest.
Feed your fantail goldfish meat-based foods such as blood worms or tubifex worms to provide energy and essential nutrients they require for healthy lives. Flakes and pellets are also widely available at most pet stores.
Bloodworms
Fantail goldfish are omnivorous in their natural environment and feed on detritus, vegetation, insects, leeches, crustaceans and fruit. If fed sub-par foods, however, digestive issues and swim bladder disease could occur.
Feeding your fish a diet consisting of meat-based food such as blood worms, tubifex worms, daphnia and brine shrimp alongside plant-based items like lettuce, zucchini and blanched peas will ensure its success.
Frozen, thawed and crushed bloodworms, mosquito larvae or krill provide your goldfish with protein-rich protein sources, while dry pellet food should always be soaked first before feeding it as dry food that has not been properly hydrated can expand in their digestive tract and cause blockage and constipation. You may also use floating dry flakes but please be wary as your goldfish could gulp air while chewing these treats, leading to swim bladder disease in fish.
Vegetables
Some fantail goldfish owners feed their fish vegetables such as peas (without the skin), zucchini and lettuce to help remove waste from their bodies and prevent swim bladder disease and dropsy. Vegetables offer plenty of fiber that helps release this waste through digestion – something which may otherwise lead to swim bladder disease and dropsy for their fish.
Fantail goldfish should include some frozen and freeze-dried food in its diet for variety. Frozen foods offer an easy way to provide variation without the additional effort of cultivating live food, with bloodworms or brine shrimp serving as treats from time to time – good sources of carbohydrates, proteins and vitamin C respectively – though overfeeding may result in lethargic fish that develop diseases more quickly.
