Can I Feed Goldfish

[aquaticman1]

aqueon topical flakes for a couple of days?
does it matter what brand it is? i've realized there are certain containers that say 'for goldfish'

 

[TheBigEasy]

yes you can

 

[OldMan47]

Goldfish tend to need more greens in their diet than the typical tropical flake will provide. Brand names do not matter but the composition does. I look for ingredients like fish meal and algae in the food that I use. Extreme high protein content may be OK for newborn fish as growth food but can cause problems with more mature fish.

 

[CherryDanio]

Hi, Oldman47 I hope you don't mind if I mini hijack this thread for a moment. I have some fancy goldfish including a juvi blue oranda and have been told to feed him a high protein diet such as blod worm to increase his wen growth. Obviously I won't be doing that if it will harm him... Why will a high protein diet harm them? Mini hijack over

 

[OldMan47]

You can grow most fish quickly by feeding them foods high in protein. For a goldfish, it would be best if it is largely vegetable protein. Protein for goldfish needs to be balanced between vegetable and fish or animal sources. Goldfish are not strict vegetarians any more than they are carnivores, a balanced diet is best for them just as it is for many other fish that we keep. The only way that I know of to quickly get rid of excess plant material, such as duckweed, is to feed it to goldfish or my rainbow cichlids.
A poor choice of early diet is often implicated in swim bladder problems which are far too common in fancy goldfish. If they are intentionally fed the wrong thing for improved wen growth, that is quite understandable. I am no expert on goldfish but have some concern wiht the advice I see far too often that any and all fish should be fed BBS as a first food and should be fed high animal protein diets for good growth. Fish dietary needs are as diverse as land animal diets. Most people would quickly tell you that calves and lion cubs should not be fed the same foods as each other. I don't know why they don't recognize the same variation in fish needs but instead insist that one diet fits all.

 

[Anna Robinson]

It won't matter for a couple of days. Some of the difference in fish diets is to do with not 'wasting' the food or encouraging ammonia levels.

Most people would quickly tell you that calves and lion cubs should not be fed the same foods as each other.

It's not quite the same thing. Terrestrial habitats are more varied than aquatic ones, so there is more specialization among the species there. Also, we tend not to keep specialist-feeding species as aquarium pets anyway.

 

[aquila]

I'd be very wary of deliberately trying to speed up wen growth in a young fish. I sadly lost an oranda a few months ago to septicaemia and suffocation due to the massive growth of his wen - it literally grew too large for him to support the weight, covered both of his eyes and began to cover his operculum. You can imagine how tough it was to find a vet willing to operate on a goldfish! By the time I'd found an exotics specialist willing to do surgery to partially remove his wen he'd begun to become very ill and sadly died two days before he was booked in for surgery.

As such, be wary when feeding for growth. I'm not a fan of high protein food for goldfish anyway, and indeed one of mine can't have anything like bloodworm or beef heart as it sets off his swimbladder problems without fail. I feed a diet that's 50% high quality pellet - Hikari for preference, the purple packet with added probiotics - and 50% green fibrous foods like peas, carrot (good for colour development), sweetcorn, broccoli and such. There are also proprietory veggie flakes that are useful, or sheets of pure seaweed from Chinese food shops are also take with gusto.

 

[CherryDanio]

I will take that advice to heart Aquila I'd rather have a happy healthy fish than an ill one with a huge wen. Such a shame to hear about yours Though I have to say, as much as I love my goldfish they aren't anywhere up to the standard of yours in your sig. High standard fancies are hard to come by round here.

 

[aquila]

I will take that advice to heart Aquila I'd rather have a happy healthy fish than an ill one with a huge wen. Such a shame to hear about yours Though I have to say, as much as I love my goldfish they aren't anywhere up to the standard of yours in your sig. High standard fancies are hard to come by round here.

You'd be surprised - most of my fish come from local pet shops. It's just a matter of keeping an eye out for the best ones, asking when new shipments are due and asking if they can order better quality fish in for you. The problem with goldfish is that they change so rapidly it's difficult to grade young fish, and indeed none of mine are the same colour they were when I bought them! Ugly duckling baby fish can become beautiful adults too.

This was Chubby's wen two weeks before he was booked for surgery...

As you can see, it grew massively from where it was in my signature pic, and turned entirely orange, although he unusually retained some black in his body. I picked him out as a tiny one-inch all black fish from a local pet shop because he already had an impressive wen growth for his size - too impressive, with hindsight.

The problem with orandas is that they are also some of the largest goldfish you can get, along with fantails. Another good reason not to feed a high protein diet - you don't want these guys to grow quickly, they're tankbusters!

Here's Dodge, another pet shop buy. Her upper tail lobe is fused which is a conformational defect, so I won't be breeding from her, but she's a favourite just because of her size! She's 12" long if you include the tail.