Foods For Goldfish-What Are The Best Food Options?

Introduction to Goldfish Feeding

Goldfish are omnivorous, meaning they will eat most plant or animal-based matter.

The most common foods for Goldfish that are commercially available range from dry prepared pellets and flakes, powdered gel foods requiring mixing, and frozen and freeze-dried foods, all with their advantages and disadvantages.  However, the key to good health is a varied diet comprising a mix of all.

This page describes feeding Goldfish that are past the fry (baby) stage.  Feeding fry is covered in detail here.

Last Updated: 03-17-2025 by Grant Lord.

Types of Goldfish Foods

When choosing foods for Goldfish, you must keep in mind whether you are feeding to:

• Condition them for breeding
• For fast growth or
• Just to sustain them.

You should also feed according to the season and whether your Goldfish are inside or in a pond.

You must also consider the variety you are keeping, as fancy varieties often develop digestive and buoyancy problems if their diet lacks live food.

Dry Foods

There are excellent dry foods available today, and there is nothing wrong with feeding them to Goldfish…but not exclusively.

They are sold as pellets, flakes, floating or sinking.  Amazon.com has a good selection of better brands, such as Hartz Wardley, Hikari, and Laguna.

New Life Spectrum Goldfish Formula is another highly recommended pellet food.

When choosing which food to buy, look for those made explicitly for Goldfish.  Check the expiry date, and if possible, buy it from a store that is likely to have a high stock turnover as it is more likely to be fresher.

Once opened, keep the container cool and dry.  If water accidentally gets into the food, throw it out immediately. 

Buy only enough food that will be eaten within 3 months, and discard what is left.

You may have access to prepared foods such as trout pellets used in the culture of trout and salmon.

The problems with these are:

• They are very high in protein, and Goldfish will require vegetable matter added to their diet
• The food usually comes in bulk packaging, which makes it hard to keep fresh.  Put large sacks in the freezer and take out small amounts as needed.

Floating foods are useful for pond fish because feeding time is the perfect opportunity to check for disease or other problems.

Tip:
All pellet foods swell once they are in water. It is advisable to soak them before feeding to your fish, especially if they show signs of discomfort or buoyancy problems shortly after feeding.
For this reason, I would always go smaller in pellet size rather than larger, as the pellets will absorb water faster.

Live Food Versus Dry Prepared Foods

Without a doubt, Goldfish fed exclusively on dry prepared foods will mean they won’t grow as fast, breed as easily, or develop the depth of color and other desired traits that those fed live foods will.

For more information about live foods, go to the Goldfish Live Foods page.

Freeze-Dried Or Frozen Foods

Another good option is feeding frozen or freeze-dried foods if you:

• Don’t live near a live food source
• Don’t have the room to grow or store live food or
• It is out of season.

Frozen brine shrimp, daphnia, tubifex worms, bloodworms, and mosquito larvae can be found year-round in better pet shops.  The food is usually frozen into cubes, similar to an ice cube tray but smaller.

Another advantage of these frozen foods is the ability to break off only what you need and return the rest to the freezer.  Don’t refreeze once they are thawed out,  as they start to deteriorate quickly, especially in summer.

Freeze-dried foods are more convenient because they can be stored without the need for freezing.  Tests indicate freeze-drying preserves the essential nutrients of the food.

A problem with freeze-dried foods is that they contain absolutely no moisture.  If gulped down quickly before absorbing any water, they will swell in the gut, causing discomfort or, worse, constipation.

Always pre-soak freeze-dried foods before feeding to Goldfish.

Gel Foods For Goldfish

A growing trend is feeding ready mixed gel foods.

These foods come in powder form and are mixed with water.

They have several qualities that make them an ideal food for Goldfish:

• They sink to the bottom, so this eliminates the problem of fish that make a habit of swallowing air when they eat floating food, causing buoyancy problems
• They are moist, so they are easy for fish to chew and swallow
• No air is trapped in the food, which, if present, can enter the gut
• High in protein and vegetable matter
• Little polluting of the water.
  

Making enough food for a few feeds only takes a few minutes, and it will store in a fridge for two weeks.

I have now moved away from feeding any dry prepared foods to my Goldfish.  I feed Repashy Soilent Green gel food or Repashy Super Gold Goldfish and Koi Gel Food for variety when not feeding daphnia and mosquito larvae.

My fish love it, and this is a common observation from other Goldfish keepers.

The worst thing about Repashy gel food is the smell after the mix is boiled, but I am prepared to put up with that because of all the benefits to my Goldfish.  (There is little smell once the mix has gelled).

Importance of Vegetables in Goldfish Diet

Green plant matter should form a large part of the diet of a Goldfish.

This is especially important if you feed your Goldfish dry pellet or flake foods, as plant matter provides essential roughage that promotes good digestion.

Some experts say Goldfish are more herbivorous than omnivorous, but I have found that given a choice, they always eat live food first before eating vegetable matter.

The vegetable matter source can be aquatic or green vegetable-based.

Water-based options are just about any aquatic plant.  Few varieties can resist their attack.  The exceptions are listed on the Aquarium Plants page. Goldfish will attack aquarium plants more readily if they are being underfed.

Goldfish are particularly fond of Elodea Crispa or E. Canadensis, both commonly called oxygen weed.

Floating plants such as duckweed are quickly consumed.

During the summer I often feed my fish blanket weed that takes hold in my daphnia ponds.

The danger with feeding your fish aquatic plants is the possibility of introducing parasites such as lice or anchor worms or pests such as snails into their environment, so sterilize them first.

Vegetables Goldfish eat range from kale, romaine lettuce, spinach, shelled green peas, and broccoli.

Seasonal Feeding Guidelines

As the seasons change, so should your Goldfish feeding regime.

Spring:

Coming out of winter, the adults need a high protein diet of live food to stimulate egg and milt production.  Cut back on the dry foods in favor of live foods.  If you aren’t planning on breeding your Goldfish, feeding live food once a week is fine.

Summer:

Summer can be quite hard for Goldfish because of the higher temperatures.  Breeding should be over, so dry or gel foods supplemented with a weekly feed of live food will be all they need.

Autumn:

In autumn, the adults prepare for winter hibernation or a period of low activity.  They need to build up fat for winter and next spring’s breeding.

Feed them reasonably heavily, similar to spring, by cutting back on dry foods in favor of live.

Winter:

Feeding in winter depends on how low your water temperatures get.

Apart from earthworms, live food, will be hard to find unless you live somewhere like Hawaii.

Cut back on feeding as the fish show less interest in food as the water temperature drops.  Dry or gel food will be adequate at this time of year if your fish show any interest at all.

Feeding Behavior and Environment

Goldfish are mainly bottom feeders, stirring up the bottom looking for worms and other insect larvae.  For this reason, you should only use gravel in your aquarium that is either too big for your Goldfish to pick up or too small for it to get caught in their mouths.

Another consideration is the gravel shouldn't be so large that food falling to the bottom can't be retrieved by your fish.

Sand isn’t really suitable and should only be used in marine aquariums.

Feeding Frequency and Quantity

Myth: Goldfish can be over-fed. They can't, but you can feed poor quality food that quickly pollutes their water.

Several factors affect how often and how much we feed our Goldfish:

• Water temperature
• The amount of dissolved oxygen in the water
• The pollutants level
• The fish size.

Goldfish only have rudimentary stomachs, which is why you see them browsing for food throughout the day.

Ideally, they should be fed several times daily, but this is impractical for most unless an automatic feeder is used.  These feeders are only suitable for dispensing dry foods.

How much to feed is relatively easy to work out.  Measure out a small amount of food and feed it to your fish.  See how quickly it is eaten.  Repeat the exercise (keeping a note of how many servings you have fed) until the fish start to lose interest.   I would then reduce the amount by one serving at the next meal unless you are feeding for maximum growth.

A more scientific approach is to weigh your fish and feed between 1 and 2% of its body weight daily.

To weigh a Goldfish, place a container of water on a set of electronic scales and then switch them on.  They should read zero weight, having automatically compensated for the container of water.  Transfer your fish to the container, and take note of its weight.  If your Goldfish is growing well, repeat this exercise every two months.

Goldfish in outdoor ponds should be fed once a day from early spring until the end of autumn.  Winter feeding will depend on how low your water temperatures get, but three times a week would be considered a maximum.

Once temperatures reach under 10^oC (50^oF), Goldfish show little interest in feeding.

Goldfish in indoor aquariums should be fed once a day from early spring until the end of autumn unless maximum growth is desired, then, they should be fed twice daily.

Because inside temperatures are generally higher for the human inhabitants, winter feeding can continue once a day but with smaller servings.

Tips and Considerations

Although Goldfish will eat most plant or animal-based matter, some leaves, such as laburnum, holly, and rhododendron, are poisonous to Goldfish.  Avocados contain persin, a poison known to kill pet birds.  There have been reports of fish dying after avocado leaves have fallen into pond water, so I would avoid avocados altogether.

Tip:
Goldfish bought from a pet shop may have been on a starvation diet for some time, so their digestive system won't handle much food. Feed new arrivals a small amount often until they settle in and start putting on some weight.

Goldfish can be quite fussy when their diet is changed, so don't give up if your fish turn their noses up at gel food at first if having only eaten pellets or flakes previously.

Some of my Goldfish will greedily eat all the duckweed I can provide, yet others totally ignore it.

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