Goldfish Care Tips and Guidelines

A Free Monthly Resource For Goldfish Enthusiasts
August 2015
Issue #020

In This Issue
Goldfish Feeding

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After providing fresh clean water for your Goldfish, the next most important factor in their care is feeding.
And the fancier the variety you have, the more important proper feeding becomes.

Goldfish Feeding

If you go on YouTube, you will see many videos of Goldfish floating upside down, or having difficulty swimming normally. In extreme cases the fish will be bouncing around the aquarium like a cork.

The owner often explains that this usually happens after feeding, and it is caused by the Goldfish being greedy and gulping down its food. The problem is never caused by poor quality food fed by its owner.

I am yet to see a video that explains what the owner is doing about the problem, apart from feeding shelled peas to the fish. I suggest most just keep on feeding the same food until the fish is damaged permanently and cannot regain proper buoyancy.

What Causes Buoyancy Problems?

There are several causes, with most being caused by dry flake or pellet food.
1. Poor quality or stale food will ferment in the gut causing gas to form. This gas can take some time to pass through the gut, especially if the fish becomes constipated.

2. Constipation caused by poor quality food causes the fish to lose control of its ability to take in or expel air from its swim bladder. Until the food has passed through its gut, the fish may become too buoyant, or sink to the bottom.

3. Air trapped in pellet food. As the fish swallows more and more pellets, the amount of air entering the gut causes the fish to become too buoyant.

4. The fish gulps air when feeding on floating food. Some Goldfish make a habit of gulping air while others in the same aquarium never do.

Goldfish Are Browsers

Goldfish only have rudimentary stomachs because in the wild they are constantly foraging for food. They don’t eat large meals in one sitting as some animals do.

Ideally, goldfish should be fed several times throughout the day, with between 0.5 and 2% of their body weight in food.

Feeding Options

I can guarantee that if you only feed your Goldfish live foods and vegetable matter, you will rarely, if ever get buoyancy problems.

Unfortunately due to location, season or convenience, many Goldfish owners fall back to dry prepared foods as the staple diet for their Goldfish.

So how can we reduce the problems caused by these types of food, and what other easy feeding options are available?

Flake Foods – keep the food sealed in an airtight container, and replace after 3 months. If you are feeding floating flakes and you have fish gulping air, try sinking flakes or pellets. If your fish have buoyancy problems after feeding and they aren’t gulping air, change their food.

Pellet Foods – The same rules apply as for flake foods. Soak pellets for a few minutes to expel air, and change to sinking pellets if you suspect your fish are gulping air. I would also keep to the smaller sizes. They are easier for the fish to chew on and swallow, and they absorb water more quickly.

Freeze Dried Foods - Not quite as good as frozen foods, freeze dried foods are also convenient, but need to be thoroughly soaked before feeding. If they aren’t soaked first, they will swell in the gut.

Frozen Foods – The better aquarium shops can supply frozen foods such as bloodworms, daphnia and mosquito wrigglers all year round. These are the next best thing to live foods.

Gel Foods – These foods come in powder form, and you need to mix water with them and bring to the boil for a few seconds. They have several qualities that make them an ideal food for Goldfish:
1. They sink to the bottom

2. They are moist so are easy for fish to swallow

3. No trapped air

4. Difference mixes are available to suit different fish diets.

The only inconvenience is having to make the food up, but as it will store in a fridge for two weeks, and only takes a few minutes to make the amount you need, this isn’t much of an issue.

I am doing a long term trial on Repashy’s Soilent Green gel food. This one is made for fish that have a high plant content in their diet and eat small living organisms, exactly the diet of Goldfish.
I am using Repashy’s as the staple food for my goldfish between feeds of daphnia. I wanted a food that wouldn’t cause the problems dry foods do, and have a reasonably high protein content.

To read more about Goldfish food options click here...

What's New On The Website

Goldfish Feeding

I have updated the Goldfish feeding page to give more feeding options for Goldfish owners.

Early results from the long term testing of Repashy's Soilent Green gel food are promising. My fish certainly love it, but I am testing if growth rates are slower or the same as feeding live food exclusively.

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