Okay, so I've been feeding my goldies everything other than the premanufactured pellets/flake stuff, so, like veggies, live worms, brineys, frozen worms, gel food.

I've had a few recent loses and when I spoke to a so-called 'vet' he told me that I should be feeding my fish pellets mainly and then giving them other stuff 20% of the time. I don't really agree with this, I like to think that if I vary their diet enough that they'll get all their nutrional needs....

What do you think? -should I be feeding my babies pellets/flakes 80% of the time?

I doubt that it had anything to do with it, unless your fresh/frozen foods were contaminated with something. I have been looking at pellet and flake foods, and let me tell you there is some creepy stuff in them.

You could add a little bit of pellet/flake food back into their diet to make sure they are getting everything they need, but I dont think it needs to be 80%

No I don't 80% either simply because you can fulfill their needs as long as you pay attention to the content of what your giving them and know what they need to be healthy. The manufactured foods have so many fillers and artificial things in them

When I ordered ProGold from goldfishconnection.com I asked Rick about a reasonable diet for gf. He suggested ProGold (of course!) as a staple and then peas/spirulinia three times a week. He knows goldfish so that's what I do and then as a treat once or twice a week I give them bloodworms, brine shrimp or daphnia.

Even so, I doubt your varied diet was the issue with your fish. Sounds like you had a great variety.

yes some foods are better than others. I haven't looked the ingredients list for progold so I don't know about that food but the food that you buy at your local super market is pretty bad, you could do a lot better with homemade foods.

If you do decide to feed larger amounts of manufactured foods I would feed either Hikari or Pro-Gold. Hey, if Rick recommends it you know its good, that guy knows everything (at least it seems that way)

Hi,

Just to add to the question here, I have made gel food but only with Vegi;'s and Spirulina ( as we are a vegi family) , would you say I need to be supplimenting the gel food with the pellets on a daily basis so they get every thing they need. Or alternate days. Can they survive on just vegi's.

I do about 50-50, half pellets and half home-made

I got a little trickier than most or so it would seem...

when I made gel food I added in about a half can of his flakes, with all the other ingredients to be sure he is getting the balance he needs from them, as well as the added yumminess and goodness of fruits, veggies, proteins , and happiness he gets out of the gel food seems to be working and I use THAT about 80% of the diet.

then I use the other goodies more as treats

I did the same thing as Jayde, I used some flakes in the gel food along with the veggies and fruit.

siansy - I would think they need a little bit of protien along with your veggie gel food, so maybe some flakes/pellets every so often would be beneficial. But, then again, I don't know what Spirulina is, so maybe there is enough protein there!

siansy, you could supplement their diet with frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp. They would really love you for that. My little guys go crazy for the stuff. Protien helps growth.

Thanks guys, I give them brine shrimo and daphina for treats. I think I might give them the gel stuff in the morning and pellets later in the day.




Spirulina is an Algae. Don't know whether is has protien in it. Next time I make the gel food I'll pop some flakes in with it.

Hi, thanks for all your responses, I'm a little miffed at this vet's advice, I don't think he knows much/really cares much about goldies, I trust the collective knowledge of KGW than any old trumpped-up 'vet'.

Yeah, thanks for re-affirming me of the diet I have my goldies on. I've got some Hikari lionhead pellets, went to my trusted lfs and asked for the best qual they've got.. I've read a lot about Hikari while I was working at an aquarium, did you know they've formulated a fish feed for fish in space!!! -We got a glossy promotional mag for them through the mail at my old work.

I don't think Pro-gold is available in oz, shame, but we do get Hikari.

Yeah, Sian goldies need protien, especially in summer when they are growing, otherwise you can stunt their growth. the brineys and daphnia would be a good supplement for them, during winter they can survive just on veggies, -too much protien is difficult to digest when their metabolism slows down, can lead to food rotting in their gut. -A good thing to supplement in their gel food during winter is LOTs and I mean LOTS of wheatgerm!

Thanks Madeleine,

Great advice there. So with the Wheatgerm so you need to cook/ steam it or does it go in raw.

I just chuck a cupful of raw wheatgerm into my gel food mix. no need to cook or anything. -It was a tip from my lfs goldie expert. easily digestible, good for slow metabolisms..

Thats great, I better get some wheatgerm.

I actually added some wheat germ to my gel food when I made it... figure, I sneak some into a bunch of my own recipes, why not his?