Goldfish Feeding Tips
Dane Stanton
What's the best food for your Goldfish?
Goldfish need food that is a combination of carbohydrates and
vitamins to help them grow and fight disease. They particularly
need vitamin A to make their colors look bright. They do need
protein but just about 12% so that they can build muscle. In the
natural habitat, Goldfish mainly feed on plants. They eat a fiber
diet that includes algae, grasses and aquatic plants in the
natural environment. Thankfully you do not have to sweat much to
provide them with the equivalent nutritional needs because you
can get it off the shelf! These processed food available at pet
stores include:
Flake food for Goldfish
This is one of the commonly available goldfish foods, especially
made for them and it consists of brine shrimp. It is easily eaten
by Goldfish and helps in avoiding a particularly fatal sickness
called the Air Bladder Disease.
Pellet food for Goldfish
This is also flake food with brine shrimp but it's packaged as a
pellet. The only problem with pellets is that it sometimes swells
in the goldfish's stomach and makes it lose its balance. This is
what is the Air Bladder disease.
Frozen food for Goldfish
This includes live food that is frozen. You have an array to
choose from as in frozen brine shrimp, daphnia, tubifex worms or
mosquito larvae. This will come frozen in slabs from which you
have to break off bit-by-bit and hand-feed your goldfish. You can
also opt for Freeze-dried foods, which includes Krill, Pacific
plankton, brine shrimp and bloodworms.
Homemade food for Goldfish
If you really want to make the food for your goldfish and you
have the time you can do so. You will find that their favorites
are lettuce and peas. Take any type of lettuce, which would be
easy for the goldfish to chew on and digest. Wash and rinse the
lettuce in warm water and just clip it inside the tank with a
lettuce clip. Do not cook the lettuce. As for the peas, cook them
till they are soft and refrigerate them. At feeding time, peel
off the skin and mash a pea between your fingers and drop it in
the tank. Do make sure the peas are soft or you could end up
bloating your goldfish. Goldfish enjoy plant food and that's why
you can see them happily nibbling away at Anacharis and Romaine
lettuce or pieces of cucumber and zucchini which you should make
sure to clip on to the tank with a suction cup clip
Live foods for Goldfish
The live foods that goldfish can safely eat include Daphnia,
Brine Shrimp, Tubiflex worms, Meal worms, Wax worms and Blood
worms.
Special treat for your goldfish You can make a special "gel food"
for your goldfish that's quite easy to do. This can be given to
the goldfish along with the main staple as a once-in-a-while
treat. Here's what you need will need: a packet of unflavored
gelatin; an empty ice cube tray and a 2.5 oz jar of baby food in
a vegetable flavor such as carrots, peas or green beans.
* Take ¼ cup cold water in a small saucepan and pour the contents
of the packet of gelatin in the water and stir over low heat
until the gelatin dissolves.
* Add ¾ cup water, stirring till it's well blended.
* Add the baby food and stir thoroughly.
* Now pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and let it cool for
about half an hour.
* Refrigerate the mixture for a few hours till it solidifies.
When it's feeding time just pop out a cube, cut it into small
strips and feed it to your goldfish! One tray is more than enough
for two 4- to 5-inch goldfish for a week. Make sure you dump the
leftovers after a week, as it's good to give them fresh stuff.
Whatever it is, you will find that your goldfish are not fussy
eaters. They have a wide array of food to choose from and they
can eat quite a lot, which you would need to regulate. You will
need to remember that they are temperate fish that do not need a
diet high in protein. Goldfish are classified as coldwater fish
and, as a rule; do not need to eat a diet that is high in
protein. What they need is a carbohydrate-rich diet with the
adequate vitamins.
That is why the best option for Goldfish are the floating pellets
or the flakes which are specially made for Goldfish and have all
the necessary nutrients. Ask your goldfish dealer as well as
other owners and decide on what is best for the goldfish.
Having 30 years experience in everything Goldfish, Dane Stanton
has spent the past 18 months researching the most pressing
questions on Goldfish. This information has been recorded in his
book titled - "Goldfish Secrets Revealed" - which you can pick up
by going to his website -
http://www.goldfish-secrets.com
