Up until I joined the forum I had never heard of feeding peas to my goldfish.
Which kind of peas do you feed?
How do you prepare them?
How often should I feed them along with usual diet of flake food?
Thanks for any help everyone

You can use fresh or frozen peas, stay away from canned peas as these often contain added salt.

You need to boil them for a few minutes until soft, let them cook then squish them so they pop out of their shell. Break into bite size pieces for your fish.

Feed once or twice a week instead of flake food.

Thank you fishmerised.Think I'll try them with frozen ones tomorrow.O one last thing how many peas per fish or is it just one for all?

Going by the size of your fish I'd say one pea for each of them, so 4 peas altogether. Your pleco and loach will like them too.

Thank You

mine liikes them, but if there too big theyll spit them out and it forms like a green cloud which im sure isnt good for the water

Just so you know, I recently found out that many brands of frozen peas also have salt added, so it is a good idea to check the ingredients.

I was feeding my fish organic frozen peas, thinking that was great until I read another post on here, checked the ingredients and found out that they had added salt as well! So next time I went to the store I found some that had no salt added.

My fish love peas, and I feed them to the hungry guys several times a week. :-)

My fish love peas too. I use the frozen kind too. I take what I am going to feed them and set them out on the counter for a couple minutes to thaw and then I microwave them for 30-40 seconds depending on how many peas you are feeding. After they cool off I squeeze the shells off and make sure to mush them really good between my fingers before putting them int the tank to eat. They are a good thing to feed a couple tines a week. They clean out their system (act as a laxative) and help prevent swim bladder. I have heard other members on here say they feed their fish oranges, broccoli, spinach,etc but the only green thing I can get mine to eat are the peas.lol

Thanks for that I'll check packaging before I feed them to my fish.Never thought there would be added salt in frozen peas.

I know, I never thought they would either! Someone else on this forum had posted about it and that was the only thing that made me check. I hope they like the peas!

Somewhere I heard the rule of thumb for amount of peas per goldfish is- one pea per goldfish unless they are a large fish then 1 pea per inch of fish. Don't know if this is correct but that is what I do for my fish.

I have found that 'squishing' the peas leads to alot of waste and makes a mess of the water. So I tried buying the tiny 'petit pois', shelling them and dropping the two halves in whole. My fish are about 3 - 3.5 inches and they don't appear to have any problem eating them this way - but if it's a bad idea for any reason I'll bow to advice from senior fish keepers!

i do that for my common as he is not as small as my other fish and can eat half a petits pois easily, as they r smaller than regular peas.

Smushing them does cause a bit of a mess, so i have taken to gently cutting the pea halves in half (if that makes sense) with my fingernail or a spoon or knife edge, so the small fish can eat little half moon shaped pea pieces.

If I do not squish them they seem to have trouble chewing them and have to spit them back out numerous times to make them soft enough to swallow ( even though I nuke them before feeding) When I squish them they seem to have no problem chewing them and swallowing them. I do not have trouble with them messing up the tank cause they devour them ( or should I say almost inhale them) before they have a chance too mess up the tank. I love give them to them at least twice a week to clean their systems out since they are such a good laxative

A NC State professor of aquatic and zoologic medecine(and goldfish specialist!) mentions it in a Q&A:



You can read the entire thing here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3214/04-ask.html

He also has some good goldfish and swim bladder insight.

I'm told that peas help prevent constipation. At the risk of asking a stupid question (I'm new to goldfish, so please bare with me.).... Can too many peas cause diarrhea? I've read a lot about constipation in goldfish but have seen nothing about the potential of the opposite problem.

I have never heard of peas causing diarrhea. They are not a purgative but aid in constipation because of the bulk and fibre. I know of people who have feed nothing but peas for a couple of weeks and not experienced diarrhea.

I find a good rule of thumb is to feed 1 pea per inch of goldfish body, not counting it's head and tail. Feed once or twice a day, whatever they can eat in 2-3 minutes.

Checked my bag of frozen peas. Sure enough, it has salt. I won't be using those any more. Would broccolli, or some other high fiber vegetable, serve the same purpose or is there something special about peas? I gave my fish a veggie clip for the first time this morning and tried a piece of blanched brocolli in it (no salt!). They loved it! Even better than the peas, I think.

Tried my Blue with the peas and he wont eat them he prefers bloodworm and his flake food to peas.

Sorry, may be a stupid question, I'm a new fish keeper - I thought you only fed peas when they are sick! So would it be good to feed peas instead of dried food every now and again for a change?

yes certainly give it a try. My fish LOVE peas. I cut them between finger and thumb with a long finger nail.I feed peas once a week and gel food when I've made it I alternate with pellets

I feed my commet peas.
I cut the halves into peices with my finger nails and pinch them between my fingers like I do his flake food.
He was surprised the first time I fed him them, but now he'll zoom up and pick the peices out faster than his normal food.
I'm thinking I'm going to feed them on weekends, in the middle of the day in addition to his normal food.
Any comments on this?

Blue may have hated pea's but I just fed pea's to the rest as Dyson is a wee bit constipated.I just sat and watched Dyson hoover them up.Cyclops an piranha beat him to the peas first

I am really enjoying reading this thread and can't wait to try my fish on peas since they seem to be so good for them and most fish seem to love them. My fish have been on medigold food for a couple weeks and are showing signs of constipation (air bubbles in their poop, really long trailing poop) so I think peas will help them out. The only thing is that the only frozen peas I have found do contain salt. Is this ok in moderation, say maybe 1-2 peas a couple times a week along with their regular food? What can the salted peas do to the fish?

Thanks, sea

These days it's pretty hard to find processed foods without added salt. Whether it's frozen or canned peas, what I usually do is rinse off the peas then put them into a container of water and leave it in the fridge over night. The salt will leach out of the peas through a process called osmosis (this from my high school chemistry days). The following day remove the peas from the container and rinse them off and then boil them as usual. After boiling, rinse them again. I've had no problems feeding my fantail using this method.

Thanks for the tip. I'll put some in water in the fridge now and let osmosis do its job! I assume it's ok to keep the peas in their skins until right before feeding (does osmosis happen through thte skins?)?

--sea

Hello, I'm new to keeping my goldies - Larry the Oranda, Fussy the fantail and Lemon Drop a Lion head. I was hesitant about feeding peas put my "guys" Love, Love, Love them. My guys are small and 3 peas does cause some cloudiness to the water but I am a water changer (early ick and tail rot problems).

They love to get every last bit out of the broken pea shells.

Sea, just wanted to let you know that I fed my fish frozen peas with added salt for six months before realizing there was salt in them and they lived through it, so ia m sure you will be ok for a bit....usually now I have to look for the package that says UNsalted peas! Stupid processed food.

Thanks Jen, I gave peas a try and my guys were confused at first but gobbled the peas down very quickly! I only gave each one half a pea so far since I am not sure if this is the right thing to do. I am giving peas for constipation/SBD/vertical swimming problems that they are having. I am also giving medigold since one is just coming off a bacterial infection (it is day 18 of the MG). If you get a chance can you please take a look at my thread in the disease section and let me know if you have any advice or possible explanations for what happened to my fish? It is not urgent since the worst of the bacterial problem seems to have passed with the medigold and marcyn2 but I am not sure what started the constipation/SBD and bacterial problems in the first place (or if they are related) and what to do to prevent it in the future.

Thanks, sea

I am probably not the best person to look at your other post, I am pretty new to this myself, but I will read it and see if anything comes to mind, and if not, maybe I can pm someone who I think will be able to help. Good luck!

I feed my fish peas all the time, that and Frozen shrimp of some kind (I forgot what it is and Im to lazy to check at the moment). I have also fed mine Broccoli which almost resulted in a minor disaster! I had it clipped to the inside of the tank, they were eating it when I got a call from my mom. She needed my help Urgnetly (the Lab got down the stairs but could not get back up, shes old) and she couldent get her out of the basement. I rushed out of the house and forgot about the broccoli. I came back exhausted and went to bed, when I woke up the next morning the whole place smelled HORRIBLE. I couldnt figure it out, then I remembered.. OMG THE BROCCOLI! Needless to say I did a few water changes that day to get rid of the smell and the bad water. The fish are fine, but they will not go near broccoli anymore.. they dont even acknowladge it anymore...

Here they are, the first and last time with broccoli.

my fish adore peas! it's their favourite food! my four new pond fish have also taken to them well which is a good job as my comet will still be expecting his peas when he moves to the pond

i've also fed mine a slice or two of banana...they picked wee bits off it and seemed to like it well enough!

i've been feeding my goldfish peas lately, as a treat, and they LOVE them! i now give them a balanced diet of flakes, brine shrimp and peas (not all at once or every day). they won't touch the lettuce on the clamp though, they actually stay away from it, i think they think it is another fish. lol

About a hour ago i bought some frozen non-salted peas. I let them unfreeze then i put them in the microwave for 40 seconds. I deshelled them and cut them into tiny pieces. I fed my fish them and they all died .

Just Kidding. they loved them. I hand fed my black moor goggles because she wasn't getting much. This is the first time goggles ever let me hand feed her . All my fish loved the peas. The Goldies, Guppies, Cat fish, and the placotumus(algae eater). I was funny watching the guppies chase eachother to try to steal the pea the other one was carring

Then i got a pic of Goggles begging for more with her mouth open so I had to edit it a little. Here is the pic.

feeding pea regulary can prevent swim bladder problem.

hi, i cannot seem to find unsalted frozen peas at my local grocery store. What brand sells unsalted frozen peas? Maybe if i know what brand to look for might make it easier to find.


thanks

karla

I tend to buy frozen garden peas.Don't know who would do unsalted peas in canada.Maybe one of our US,Canadian members will know.I'll see if I can find someone who can help you find some

Karla I have just asked around using fresh peas are ok.Avoid tinned as they are near always salted.Hopefully someone will be along soon who can be of more help.

All I can think of is to look at an organic foods store. Maybe they'll have the unsalted ones. I have a lot of trouble finding them in a regular grocery store.

Safeway has some unsalted peas. Thats where mine are from. Its the Safeway brand frozen peas.

thanks for the help guys .

wayneson.chan, i will tryto look for Safeway peas, thank you.

karla

i use frozen peas. boil until soft, take the shells off and then squish them through a seive. voila. bite sized pieces. the fish love them and never leave any bits all.

i made sure i prepared my peas the right way so my fish wouldnt be harmed by them i put two in the tank and bubbles was scared of them YES scared of them! i mean its a pea! he just hid in the corner behind the plant staring at them like get them away! he looked relieved when i took them out