I have a question on how much food should I feed my 2.5-3" oranda? He always seems hungry and will eat whatever food I put in the tank in a matter of seconds. Usually definitely in under a minute unless I give him a little more than normal. My fish has been battling a small case of SBD on and off since I've had him. So I try not to feed too much. Yesterday I just switched his food to the Hikari sinking pellets. Before he was getting sinking granules which i gave him a small pinch. Now with the pellets the first time I put in about 7 or 8 and he ate them all easily in under a minute. Does this mean he needs more? Or should i wait about 8-10 hrs or so and give him another meal? I usually feed him twice a day when he's not showing symptoms of SBD. This morning i only gave him 4 pellets which took all of about 20 seconds to eat. Just wondering how much I should typically give him without overfeeding or underfeeding? I want him to grow up strong and healthy

Variety is the spice of life! Usually you feed your goldfish what it can eat in two minutes. But I normally feed my fish what they can eat in 1 minute twice a day. There are lots of things that a goldfish can eat, goldfish food. Also if your dealing with slight SBD don't forget to feed him leafy greens especially peas, warmed up, the skin taken off and cut into tiny pieces (usually with fingernail)

Hope this helps!

Robyn

I always wanted to ask that myself, you always hear "don’t over or under feed", well how much right????

Robyn is right about variety & the peas etc for SBD. My Ryukin has a small case of SBD and peas do the trick.

Mine vary from: Peas (two chopped), cucumber (half a slice, chopped), pellets (about 10 for 3 fish), flakes (2 pinches), gel food (3 small cubes), bloodworm (pinch), daphnia (2 pinches), tubifex (1 cube split into 6 smaller pieces), adhesive tablets (1 stuck to glass), they weren’t too impressed with shrimp & krill!

They get flakes in the morning, and evening varies I mix and match, sort of like;

Night 1: pellets
Night 2: blood worm & daphnia
Night 3: green foods
Night 4: gel food
Night 6: tubifex
Night 7: adhesive tables & daphinia

don’t know if this helps at all???

i feed my fish through out the day no set time or amount. goldfish do not process food well, one of the reasons they are so messy. by feeding alot of little meals they do not over fill them selves and they get all the food they need. in a pond they graze all day long. i have not had any swim problems since the mid 80's :goldfish

My boyfriend just bought my little Elroy some seaweed to eat. I've never heard of goldfish eating seaweed. But i tore off a tiny bit soaked it in some water and then gave it to him attached to a clip. He loved it. Went after it like crazy. It made a big mess though. So after about an hour I dipped out the big piece that got stuck in the plant and later that night did a water changed and vacuumed out the rest.

Has anyone else heard of feeding goldfish seaweed before?

I understand variety and each fish is different, but since mine seems to be eating the food I'm giving him so quickly 30 seconds or less, do you think I should give a few more pellets or whatever I'm giving him that day?

Maybe you could add some live plants-- that way he has something to graze on all day? Does anyone know if this would be less messy than clipping the seaweed? (By the way-- the seaweed sounds yummy-- my guys would probably love to try it)

I think the important thing is not to give him too many pellets all at once. They do swell when rehydrated and you don't want him to rupture. But small amounts several times a day should be safe. I know they are little eating machines and act like they are starving all the time- I like beings that like to eat!

grubgal i do (feed seaweed) :goldfish

I have live plants and the fish do have a nibble on them, don’t make a mess, the most i get is if they rip a leaf of and it floats about. My friend gets Anacharis (i think) buys a bit and her GF eat’s it in minutes!

The pellets i get for my GF is are soaked for about a 50 to 80 seconds before i put them in so they are not dry.

Also the trouble i find with GF is they will eat and eat and eat... you have got to stop when you think they have had enough. They can be greedy!

I have a calico fantail that seems to be starving all the time. She swims around like a torpedo at feeding time and will beat everyone else to there food! She even beats my big common out of his food. I have to really watch her. I feed mine twice a day and a big variety.

I feed at least two times per day, sometimes three, and do the fasting and peas once a week. Like everyone else has said, I think that variety is the key. I feed sinking pellets every morning and then something that varies in the evening.

I also feed my goldfish seaweed for saltwater fish. They really like it, and so do the snails. It is high in calcium, so it is helps to keep the snail's shells in good shape. Whatever is left in the tank after the goldfish feeding frenzy goes to the snails!

I think that no matter what you feed them, goldfish will act hungry. Sometimes, I feed sinking algae wafers just because it takes them a while to eat those. They have to let them dissolve at least a little bit before they can eat them.

Laura

I feed ProGold pellets from the Goldfish Connection, frozen bloodworm, frozen brine shrimp and peas after a day of fast. All my fish tanks fast on sunday and get peas on monday morning. I saw some poop on my goldies tonight so I will give some peas on thurday sometime from now on. I also feed twice a day.

I give the pellets slowly and try to see that everyone gets a couple. A couple always get in the gravel no matter how I try not too. I usually give them what they can eat in less than a minute because they get so much in their mouth they can't fit anymore, lol. My goldies are pigs.

I really don't know that I have ever seen a goldie that wasn't a little piggy pig.... I am really glad this was asked... was going to ask it myself and now I know.....

I usually feed my goldfishes 5 minutes per serving and depending on weather it'll be
4 times a day when hot
2-3 times when moderate
1 time a day when cold but the temp is not below 60F
and none at all when it's below 60

An auto feeder with a timer helps but you'll need to experiment how much to give buy examining how much they at in 5 minutes atleast once

curious now... why do fish get fed less when it is cold (i have read this about not feeding pond fish during winter too) *confussed*

fish are cold-blooded so they have less energy when they are exposed to cold temperatures, so when its cold they don't have enough energy to break down food, any food that they eat while exposed to cold temps. ends up rotting inside them. (this is what I have read before, but if this is true I don't know how wild fish manage to eat with out dyeing from internal infections during the winter. )

Homemade gel food is great for fish with SBD issues. I have an oranda, Butterfly, with mild floaty problems and she never floats after eating the gel food I make. I feed my fish seaweed too, I get it in sheets and tear of some and soak it, then put it in a cone feeder for them to suck out of the holes. I also feed all kinds of veggies and frozen foods to my fish, and mealworms and earthworms. I don't give them any pellets or flakes or other pre-processed foods. Usually I feed 3-4 times per day in small amounts. My fish always act like they're starving, thats just the way goldies are, they're greedy little piggies.

How do you make home made gel food? I have read that people are using gel foods for their fish, but I have never seen any. Where can I get it, or do I have to make it? Is it messy?

Thanks aqua - you learn something new everyday.


grubgal, this is a link to gel food topic:

http://kokosgoldfish.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2269


Hope it's of help.

The guy at Petsmart told me that I should only feed my fish once a day and leave a slice of Zuchinni in the tank so the goldfish will have something to nip on.

Here's my rule:

Overfeed = fish poop color is same as food color and comes out right after feeding.

Underfeed = fish poop too thin

Feed the right amount = poops a couple of hours after feeding and poop is brown

I feed mine gel food in the mornings
Lately I've been giving them some kiwi and duckweed/frogbit/salvenia (floating plants) at lunch.
It's fresh food at nite... cocktail shrimp or krill, peas, green beans and lima beans.

Sometimes they get live daphnia or redworms.

Once a week, I'll put in a quarter of raw zucchini. Usually takes them several days to finish it off.