Goldfish are omnivorous fish, meaning they will enjoy eating meat, plant matter, algae, eggs and freeze-dried foods such as brine shrimp and blood worms (but only when thawed out).
Frozen foods such as tubifex worms, daphnia, krill or brine shrimp can help your pet meet its protein requirements. You can also feed vegetables but these should first be cooked or softened prior to feeding them to your pet.
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Pellets
Goldfish are opportunistic feeders that will consume whatever fits in their mouths, from plants and insect larvae to zooplankton, tadpoles and crustaceans in nature.
Goldfish don’t have a stomach, so they must regularly consume food to stay alive and require high-quality fish flakes that contain many essential vitamins and minerals for good health.
Feed your Goldfish more than just fish flakes; try feeding it gel food, freeze-dried food or cultivating their own live foods like brine shrimp and earthworms if possible, otherwise purchase frozen tubifex worms, blood worms, krill and plankton from pet stores as a source of protein, carotene and minerals – but avoid overfeeding as too much food may result in stunted growth or illness!
Gel Food
Newly hatched goldfish need a diet consisting of nutrients and low in carbohydrates. Food items should also be small enough to fit easily into their small mouths and easily digestible by goldfish.
Bread can be toxic to goldfish and cause them to feel queasy. Meat and bacon products also often result in digestive upset for goldfish.
Home-prepared gel food made of ingredients like agar-agar or gelatin is an excellent alternative to commercially prepared fish food available from pet and fish stores, since it offers all of their nutritional needs for goldfish without dissolving in water, creating an immersive feeding experience similar to life in nature.
Veggies
Goldfish should be fed a variety of foods, such as vegetables and fruits, which mimics their diet in nature. However, these should not be their main source of nourishment due to high protein concentrations that often appear in plant foods that could potentially prove toxic for them.
Chopping fruits and veggies such as zucchini, peas, apples, carrots celery or broccoli into small pieces will help the fish to consume them easier.
There are also special food products designed for goldfish that can supplement regular flakes and pellets, including freeze-dried food containing natural color enhancers such as chili pepper, phaffia yeast, krill, canthaxanthin and marigold flowers to boost vibrant hues in goldfish.
Live Food
Goldfish enjoy eating aquatic plants like azolla, salvinia and duckweed which provide vital vitamins, minerals and fiber to their diets. After feeding your Goldfish aquatic plants such as these will remain floating in your aquarium or pond for some time to decompose and release nutrients into the environment that promote algae growth – potentially creating ammonia/nitrite build-up that may harm its inhabitants.
Choose a floating pellet food rich in nutrients that won’t disintegrate quickly in the water, to discourage voracious surface feeding that could cause overinflation of swim bladder and constipation in Goldfish. Gel foods can provide an easier food alternative than flakes as they sink slowly over time and can easily be digested by goldfish.
Aquatic Plants
Goldfish in their natural environment often feed on aquatic plants like azolla, duckweed and salvinia – these additions to an aquarium will provide your goldfish with enough sustenance for their vegetarian diet.
Alternately, frozen or live blood worms may provide your goldfish with an alternative food source; however, you should only feed this to them occasionally as this could cause mineral deficiencies in them.
Many owners of Goldfish also feed them peas as an excellent source of fiber, providing an additional supplement to flakes and pellets. Peas make a convenient food option because they sink to the bottom of the tank making them easy for their fish to consume; or you could finely chop peas beforehand using a food processor.
