I went to my neighbours house today and he has the nicest healthiest goldfish that i ever saw.1 comet,1 fantail,and 1 black moore in a 40 gal tank,each about 5 in big.I asked him what do you feed them to get them that nice and their color is beautiful.He said he feeds them pellets once a day and every second day live earthworms and the occaisional bug he finds in the house.Also in the summertime he collects ants for them.I was just wondering if this can be good or not but his fish look great,he only feeds once a day is it possible we are overfeeding the fish.Just interested on the thoughts of you guys on this matter.his fish are approx 2 years old.

wow they sound like nice fish. some ppl on thissite could be over feeding, and some under. i feed mine 2 times a day. but probly a smaller portion then he might? i think there was someone on this board who has a pick of a goldie eating an earth worm. check the pic site. iv never herd of ants being fed to them though.

My only tought about the ants is that they are really high in protein.Many people eat them so maybe very good for our fishy friends.

does anyone know if earthworms have any nutritional value for our fish.

Yes they are many people that feed there
goldfish some earthworms it is very good for them
and they just love it.
I also feed my goldfish earthworms.

Yes, I have heard of people feeding their goldfish earthworms. I think that there is something the you are supposed to them first, like soak them or something to get the dirt off, but I am not sure. I'll poke around and see if I can find that post.

Da Ta..http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10697&hl=earthworms

I don't do anything with them but rinse 'em off and toss em in the tank. My husband brought a huge nightcrawler inside the other day cuz he was outside digging, and found it. I rinsed it off, put it in the tank, and the fish were afraid of it!!! Moby is 7 inches long, Tang is 6 inches, and they were cowering like a couple babies!!! But after awhile, Tang got curious, and went over there and slowly, but surely ate the thing. He's the only fish that really likes worms now. Takes forever for him to eat one tho.
Get em a worm, get comfortable on the couch, and watch... it's VERY entertaining.!!!

I was just talking with my neighbor and he said he puts the worms in paper towels for 2 days so they will empty their stomachs just in case there is pesticides in their soil.

talking about worms has any body feed there goldies grub worms i see alot of them in the spring time when i'm digging in my flower beds. when i was younger we would dig them up and go fishing with them you would think they would be good for goldies if there good for sunfish or crappies. yes i live in the state with 10,000 lakes.

do you mean those green little grubs
that are fat and eat all of those leaves and stems
ive tried feeding them and they're fine
just like the earthworms

no there white with a hard shell for a head and they turn into beetles in late spring

live food, such as earth worm, ants are indeed rich in protein.. but there is a risk too.. your neighbour would probably has a well maintain garden with clean soil or he has a reliable source of earthworm.. otherwise any earthworm from any dirty soil are at risk of infecting your fishes with serious diseases..

to start your goldfish on earthworm, you need to start small.. meaning feeding with a bit of earth once fornightly and monitor their health.. if good, you may incease the freqeuncy and you have to be patient with this process.. among all worms, blood worm, tubifex, earthworm, earthworm score the highest on protein level but also the highest on virus level.. for they are from soil while other worms are from water...

unless you want to breed your own earthworm for this purpose and breeding earthworm can be quite fun.. I did it during my younger days for a school project and my team mate did most of the work so she get to keep that batch of earthworm after the project.. well, I have no need of the worms then..

hope this helps.

The kind that have a sort of brown cap on their head and that turn into june bugs (bronze colored beetles)?

Anybody feed their fish the little gray grubs that you find in the garden sometimes? I get lots of these in my garden, bet my guys would love them.

I agree with Fi5h… there is too much a risk of disease by feeding live food which is why I avoid it. Im very careful about quarantining what I bring into my tank and Im not going to risk live food. I feel the frozen Hikari food offers just as much nutrition and its safe.

There is also a choking hazard when feeding worms. Its best to cut them up first. When I had my huge koi though I would just throw in whole worms and they would gobble them down.

If you really want to do live food go to the pet store where they sell nightcrawlers and things for reptile food. That way you know at least they dont have pesticides or anything on them.