Fancy and common goldfish should be fed a diet consisting of flake and pellet foods as well as fresh vegetables, fruits and freeze-dried foods to promote optimal health and coloration. A combination of goldfish specialised food with these other items will promote overall good health and enhance coloration.
Example: Prep green peas quickly by peeling off their tough outer skins and cutting each chunk into smaller portions, so fish can consume them more easily as snacks once every week.
Contents
Pellets
Goldfish need a varied diet in order to remain healthy, starting off with flake food before moving onto frozen treats such as bloodworms. Unfortunately, too much reliance on one type of food may cause stress-inducing ammonia build-up and even death in its absence.
Frozen foods such as brine shrimp, daphnia, tubifex worms and mosquito larvae are readily available at better pet stores all year round and offer valuable sources of protein and other nutrients, including high amounts of carotene which help create beautiful contrast in goldfish colors.
Pellets food are five to ten times denser by weight than flake foods, providing more nutrition per bite. Unfortunately, pellets contain 75% or more water by weight; to avoid overfeeding a tank with these, washing and target feeding frozen food are often better solutions; although pellets or flakes work just as well for broadcast feeding into an aquarium or pond.
Fruits & Vegetables
While flakes and pellets are the go-to foods for goldfish, it’s important to give them other foods, like fruits and vegetables, for added roughage and nutrients in their diet.
Commercial brands now provide frozen food cubes designed to feed goldfish. These frozen meals can either be dropped directly into their tank, or defrosted before feeding. It provides an easy way of providing nutritious nourishment when away from home.
Keep ash content low to help reduce pollution levels in the aquarium and avoid foods containing high percentages of fish by-products and fillers, such as foods formulated specifically for goldfish with more plant matter and lower protein contents than tropical varieties; this is especially important for growing young and developing fish. Hikari Blood Red Parrot Plus offers premium colour enhancing food which includes chili pepper, phaffia yeast marigold flowers astaxanthin canthaxanthin and lutein to enhance color enhancement.
Freeze-Dried Food
Frozen food products come in many varieties that combine fresh ingredients with freeze-drying to maintain quality and freshness, creating items that look just like non-frozen items, such as apples that resemble real apples and brussel sprouts that resemble real brussel sprouts!
Goldfish food typically comes in the form of floating pellets with fish and vegetable ingredients. To prevent air trapping on the water surface (which could potentially lead to swim bladder disorders), these flakes should be allowed to sink rather than floating at the surface so that goldfish can search the gravel bed without becoming trapped on top.
Other frozen goldfish foods consist of a mix of kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, shelled green peas, and broccoli – generally more expensive than flake or pellet foods but packed full of beneficial probiotics such as wheat germ and spirulina to improve digestion and support immune system health.
Live Snacks
Goldfish prefer fresh food sources that contain essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients for good health. Being omnivorous species they enjoy consuming both meat-rich diets as well as plant foods.
Frozen foods like brine shrimps, blood worms and daphnia (available from pet shops) can provide your goldfish with additional sources of protein and carotene they require to grow their red pigmentation.
Other frozen foods, like krill, squid and Mysis shrimp are excellent supplements to a goldfish’s diet, and often come packaged in freeze-dried form to minimize risk of transmitting diseases into your aquarium.
Goldfish also enjoy fresh vegetables such as peas (boiled with the shells removed and not canned due to additives) and lightly steamed kale, courgette, and spinach, which you can give by attaching it to a feeding clip and leaving it in your tank.
