3. FEEDING You can really have some fun with your goldfish at feeding time! However, it is very easy to overfeed and this can lead to serious health problems. At most, goldfish should only be fed twice a day and only what they can consume within TWO minutes, or three times a day but only what they can consume within ONE minute. Make sure that no food is left sitting on the bottom or floating after feeding time is up - remove any excess. It doesnt seem like much food, but they only have tiny tummies! Plus, they sift algae and other invisible organisms from the tank water all day, which supplements their diet. Some breeds of goldfish, such as moors, telescopes, bubble-eyes or celestials, do not have very good eyesight so make sure they get a fair share of the food. If you see that some of your fish are missing out at mealtimes, then you can hand-feed them. To do this, simply hold a little food between your finger and thumb and offer it to them just below the surface. Occasional hand-feeding is in fact good for all your fish because it helps build trust between you and them and is a very enjoyable form of interaction. Goldfish need a varied diet and happily there are many foods available for them. Here are some suggestions, most of which should be available from your local fish store: flakes, either complete food or spirulina (algae) flakes pellets (either sinking or floating, although sinking are much better) freeze-dried live foods, such as bloodworms, daphnia or shrimp frozen live foods, such as bloodworms, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae or daphnia gelled live foods Keep a selection of three or four different types to ensure your goldfish is getting a healthy balanced diet. It also gives them a bit of interest to have a different food each day - they look forward to it. However, most foods have a shelf-life, e.g. dry flakes and pellets should not be kept longer than 3 months, maximum. It is best to buy the smallest sized containers of food and use these up quickly, replacing them regularly with fresh food. With dry food such as flake and pellets, always soak it first in a little tank water before you feed. These foods swell when they touch water; it is much better for the fish to eat them soft and already swelled than for them to swallow dry, hard food which later swells in their stomachs and causes problems. In addition to bought foods, you can also feed your goldfish with a variety of vegetables and fruits; most enjoy peas, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, zucchini, eggplant, orange or lime slices, strawberries, raspberries, banana, peaches and even cherries. With the vegetables, blanch them briefly first in boiling water before feeding as otherwise they will be too tough for the fish to chew. It is ideal to feed vegetables at least once a week, but only feed fruit occasionally as a treat as it contains too much sugar. I find it best to feed vegetables mushed into small mouth-sized pieces, and fruit as whole chunks dropped into the tank which the fish can suck at for a couple of hours, but do experiment and find out what your fish prefer. Never feed your goldfish bread, biscuit or cracker crumbs, rice or potato. Their digestive systems do not deal well with carbohydrates so these foods cause health problems.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 12:33:46 +0000
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