Suggestions

[Videl]

Hello, i had two small redcap orandas. Sadly, one passed away recently. it had swim bladder. I treated it with a cooked de shelled garden pea to help it. I went out about 3 hours and noticed that one of my red cap had died. His finnage was ripped and mangled. Probably the smaller, faster RC had did it .
Anyways, although the sad loss, i wanted my other RC Oranda to be happy and healthy as possible. I heard that you should only feed Goldfish once a day to prevent swim bladder and overfeeding. I also heard that you must feed goldfish twice a day, especially for smaller goldfish because they are fast growers. I feed my goldfish sinking flakes daily, and a pea and worm as a weekly treat. Is this fine? For the flake food, how much flakes do you think my RC can eat a day to enable him to grow fast and have a good hood growth. He is currently at an inch long excluding the tail in a 10 g. (Larger tank coming soon). Will my RC grow fast, or are RCs slow growers. What size do you think my RC will grow to within a month given the proper care and feeding? Thankyou for you responses.

 

[sylvia]

If you want a fast-growing and healthy goldfish (or any other fish for that matter) one thing is to offer the right diet. The key is to vary it as much as possible. Sinking flake is fine but I'd get more than one brand. Go for the smaller tubs - it may not seem very economical but it's not all that expensive if all you're feeding is a single fish and big tubs don't usualy get consued quickly enough, by which time they lose a lot of their nutritional value. I also suggest you soak the flake before giving it to the fish (in a small amount of tank water). The same goes for pellets. In both cases, soaking first reduces the amount of trapped air and makes the food much less likely to cause swim-bladder problems. Giving a pea and a worm (what kind?) once a week is also great but I would actualy feed these things a little more often - if you realy want that fish to grow quickly, feed it some live or frozen food (blackworm, bloodworm, daphnia or brineshrimp) 2-3 times a week or so. Avoid freeze-dried foods which are often the cause of swim bladder disease and are realy pretty useless as far as nutrition goes.

Another thing that is key to quick growth is exellent water quality and minnimum stress on the fish. Healthy fish in a stress-free environment put their energy into growth - unhealthy fish are too busy fighting off diseases or struggling to survive. Part of keeping water quality up to standard is frequent partial water changes. You must make sure you use de-chlorinated water and that the new water is at a similar temperature to that of the tank. Even a 1" goldfish is a very messy creature so don't hesitate to do several water changes per week. You'll also want to ensure you are not over-feeding. It's fine to feed more than once a day but it's not necessary. The fish will grow faster but feeding more also means more waste is produced. As long as this does not compromise water quality (ie you do water changes and gravel vacuums to keep up with it) and as long as there is no left-over food, it's fine. However, every time you feed the fish, give only a small amount - if you decide to feed more than once, keep in mind that several small feedings are much better than a single large one. A single large feeding can even be dangerous so don't do it.

I should add that temperature can play a role in the speed a fish grows at because it speeds up their metabolism. However, don't go increasing the temperature to achieve this as it is not natural or healthy for the fish.

Finaly, all goldfish grow remarkably fast and orandas like yours are no exception. I did once conduct a kind of 'experiment' with a common goldfish I adopted (prize won at fair, the usual, I took it in temporarily in order to find it a suitable new home). It too was about an inch long when I recieved it. I fed it a variety of foods daily - often 2-3 times a day - but also changed all its water daily to keep water quality to high standards. Within 2 weeks it had doubled in length. It was rehomed after a couple more weeks or so (if I remeber correctly I kept the fish for a total of 4-6 weeks) by which time it had grown to about 3.5". Like I said, this fish was being fed several times a day and having its water changed daily but it still gives you an idea of just how quickly they are capable of growing under certain conditions. Having said that, make sure you've got this fish at least a 30 gallon so you can also keep at least one more as goldfish are social and it is rather unfair to keep it all alone.

 

[WILDER]

Good as always sylvia.

 

[RandomWiktor]

O_O I hope that info about only feeding them 1-2 times a day isn't right. My commons get fed throughout the day, all different brands of pellets with the occasional frozen live food or veggie. They produce a good deal of waste as a result, but have suffered no ill effects if kept nice and clean (which they are). Maybe that's why they've gone from 1 inch to about 6 inches in one year.... oops.