How healthy or how long a goldfish will live depends entirely on the right environment and an adequate supply of food. If we can give our goldfish the right amount of food every day, our goldfish will grow faster and look more beautiful.
But we should never overfeed a goldfish. Overfeeding goldfish increases the likelihood of indigestion. So before keeping goldfish at home it is very important to know about the proper diet of goldfish.
Healthy food for goldfish :
A proper diet here refers to a goldfish diet that contains 35 to 40% protein, 5 to 7% fat, and 20 to 25% fiber. Not only this, the food should contain a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals which are very important for the physical development of our goldfish.
Protein Requirements for Goldfish :
35 to 40 percent protein helps our goldfish to be more robust and improve their body size and structure. Protein helps boost our goldfish’s immune system. Adequate protein intake is essential during goldfish breeding.
Protein helps to increase the functioning of various muscles and enzymes in the body of the goldfish. Also, this protein is the main source of energy for goldfish.
But one thing we need to keep in mind is that too much protein helps to build up ammonia in our aquarium so a proper bio filter is very important for our goldfish tank.
Fat Requirements for Goldfish :
5 to 7% fat in a goldfish diet is essential. Adequate amount of fat in the diet helps the goldfish to grow faster. Adequate amounts of fat in the diet make the skin of the goldfish more shiny, which makes the goldfish look more beautiful.
Especially for 3 month to 1 year old goldfish, 5 to 7% fat in their diet is essential for their rapid growth. However, one thing we should keep in mind is that foods that contain too much fat are not good for our goldfish.
Vitamin and Mineral Requirements for Goldfish :
A diet rich in vitamins and minerals helps to brighten the color of goldfish, making our goldfish look better. Vitamin C in particular helps to improve the immune system of our goldfish, so that our goldfish are not easily affected by various parasites.
Not only that, if our goldfish regularly consumes food with vitamins and minerals, the chances of getting sick very easily are reduced. Therefore, vitamins and minerals are a very important element in the diet of goldfish.
Goldfish do not need a lot of complex fiber or carbohydrates. Generally 20 to 25% fiber is sufficient in a goldfish diet. A diet high in carbohydrates is one of the main causes of physical problems in goldfish.
Many people say not to use floating food for goldfish but this is completely wrong. If the nutritional quality of floating food is right then we can use that food for goldfish.
Type of healthy food for goldfish :
As we discussed earlier our goldfish are omnivores so different people have different ways of feeding their goldfish. By giving goldfish a complete diet with enough nutrients, our goldfish will be much healthier and the goldfish will live longer.
Flakes food for goldfish :
Flakes food is the most common goldfish food. Flakes are very easily available and have high nutritional value, so most people choose flakes food as the ideal food for our goldfish. Not only that, flakes food easily accumulates in a certain place at the bottom of our aquarium, which is much more convenient for our goldfish to eat.
However, there are some disadvantages of flakes food like, if we keep flakes food for a long time, its nutritional quality decreases a lot, as a result of which sufficient amount of nutrition does not reach the body of our fish.
Since flakes food easily settles at the bottom of the aquarium, excess food has the potential to convert into ammonia which is very harmful to our fish. So it is very important to give the right amount of flakes food to our goldfish.
Pellets food for goldfish :
We can choose pellets as the ideal food for goldfish. Pellets are very affordable and nutritious complete food for our goldfish. Pellets are usually of two types, one floating and one sinking, although we can use both for goldfish.
Pellets are better than flex food in one way, we can keep the pellets for a long time in a closed manner, as a result of which the nutritional quality of the pellets remains the same.
But one thing we should always keep in mind is that if the pellets are left open for too long, they decompose quickly which is very harmful to our fish.
Vegetables for goldfish :
We can use vegetables as food for our goldfish. Vegetables are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, which are very important for our goldfish.
But that doesn’t mean that we should put any vegetables in the goldfish tank. We can add small pieces of vegetables in the goldfish tank which our goldfish can easily nibble on. We can use lettuce, spinach and kale as food for our goldfish.
Live food for goldfish :
Live food is very important for goldfish and other fish. Live food is rich in protein, and we know that protein is the main source of energy for our goldfish. Protein helps to improve the body structure of our goldfish and boost the immune system.
So one to two days per week we can feed our goldfish live food. However, live food is not always available everywhere and many times live food has the potential to introduce harmful parasites and bacteria into our aquarium.
So before giving live food to our goldfish, we should be aware of its purity. We cannot store live food for long, because it rots easily.
Frozen food for goldfish :
Frozen food can be used as supplementary food for our goldfish. Frozen food once or twice per week is very nutritious for our goldfish. We have found that by feeding goldfish a frozen diet regularly, our goldfish’s body size improves greatly and our goldfish look more beautiful.
That’s because frozen food contains 35 to 40% protein, as well as essential vitamins and minerals that our goldfish need. Frozen food may not always be available, so if a supply of this food is available it can be stored as needed. We can keep frozen food in the fridge for a long time and use it when needed.
However, too much frozen food can cause ammonia and phosphate levels in our aquarium to rise excessively, which is harmful to our fish. So we should use the right amount of frozen food for goldfish.
How much and how often should goldfish eat?
How often and how much a goldfish should be fed throughout the day depends entirely on the size and exact age of the goldfish.
Usually goldfish that are between three months to one year of age need a little more food to grow faster. Although we can feed goldfish twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.
Goldfish are slightly larger in size than other aquarium fish, so if we feed very little food to goldfish, goldfish may become nutritionally deficient.
So first we should give the goldfish a pinch of food, which our goldfish can eat completely within 2 minutes. If we see that our goldfish has consumed the entire feed within a minute, we will increase the amount of feed a little.
Again, if we see some food remaining after two minutes of feeding our goldfish, we will reduce the amount of food next time.
Besides, no matter what food we use for goldfish, it is clearly written on each food packet, how much food should be given to our goldfish.
However, how much food a goldfish will consume depends on the temperature of the aquarium water. Goldfish will consume less food if the aquarium temperature is too low. So we should always use a heater to keep the aquarium temperature between 75° and 80° F.
The most important thing is that we should spend some time with the goldfish every day, so that we can feel our goldfish and learn a lot by watching their activities.
Side effect of overfeeding :
Overfeeding goldfish can cause physical problems, so goldfish should never be overfed. Here we mean overfeeding the goldfish, if we see food left in the goldfish tank after 3 minutes of feeding, then we know we are overfeeding the goldfish.
- If there is excess food left in our goldfish tank, the food will later convert to ammonia. We know that ammonia is a very harmful substance for our goldfish. Not only that, if ammonia builds up in our goldfish tank, the tank water will emit a foul smell.
- If excess food is left in our goldfish tank, that food mixes with our tank water and turns the water brown, making our goldfish aquarium look very unsightly.
- If the goldfish tank is constantly filled with food, it is very easy for algae and various parasites to grow there, which is very harmful to our goldfish.
- Not only this, these external substances can reduce the amount of dissolved oxygen in our goldfish tank water and lead to oxygen deficiency.
- The most likely disease that goldfish will suffer from overfeeding is digestive problems.
- As our aquarium water becomes contaminated due to overfeeding, our goldfish are prone to fungal and bacterial infections such as, Swim blood disorder, fin rot and bloat disease.
- Also overfeeding leads to excess fat in the body and liver of the goldfish, which is subsequently very harmful to our goldfish.
So we should never overfeed goldfish. Also some things we should always keep in mind, we should control the water temperature of the goldfish, we should change twenty percent of the water in our goldfish tank every week and a good bio filter should be used for our goldfish tank.
Welcome to our website Aquarium Fish Zone. My name is Sagar Ghosh and I live in Kolkata. I am a science graduate.
I have kept fish in aquariums since I was very young. I loved seeing the colorful fish in the aquarium.
I have always tried to maintain and care for the fish properly. So me and my team members have created this website.As a result, we can provide you with accurate information about how aquarium fish are kept.