Home » Fish Guides » What Can Goldfish Eat? 32 Foods Goldfish Likes to Eat and Nutrition

What Can Goldfish Eat? 32 Foods Goldfish Likes to Eat and Nutrition

Goldfish is an omnivore scavenger that can ingest many kinds of food. They eat plants, crustaceans, detritus, zooplankton, and insects like mosquito larvae in the wild. But in the aquariums, they are used to eat dried flakes or pellet food. But is that all a goldfish can eat?

Many people only feed goldfish with dried flakes or pellet food because they simply don’t know that Goldfishes can eat more than that. Goldfish will eat just about anything given a chance but, that doesn’t mean that you should feed them with any human food available.

In this article, we are going to show you some good food alternatives for your goldfish.

What Can Goldfish Eat 32 Foods Goldfish Likes to Eat and Nutrition

What nutrients does goldfish need for its rapid growth?

Jump To

Goldfish is the most popular aquarium fish in the world. Most goldfish help to glow the fish lover’s home as well as the life. But as a goldfish lover, you should know what to feed, what helps to grow the goldfish rapidly, and what feeding tips. This article will show you all about goldfish feeding.

FRUITS FOR Goldfish

Can Goldfish Eat Banana?

Yes. Goldfish can eat Banana.

How to Prepare Banana

First, you have to wash your Banana with running water. And then peel off the Banana to prepare. There are two methods to prepare Banana for your fish.

  1. Cut them into slices with a knife and feed the pieces directly.
  2. Skewer the Banana with a fork and drop them into the water.

How Much and How Often?

For one goldfish, 2 to 3 pieces of 2 mm-sized slices are more than enough. Too much Banana can make your goldfish sick (which we will discuss later), so you should use Banana as a spare food with fish food. And don’t feed them the same food often.

Special Tips

The maximum time you should leave the Banana in the tank is 2 minutes. Otherwise, it will turn mush and will make a mess inside your tank. A net is best in removing Banana slices. You’ll have to vacuum if you leave Banana for longer than two minutes.

Can Goldfish Eat Grapes

Yes. Goldfish can eat grapes. Grapes have vitamin A, C, B6, and calcium. These nutrients can reduce your goldfish’s risk of some diseases and improve overall health. As they are soft and sweet, you can directly give them to goldfish.

How to Prepare Grapes

Wash the grapes and remove the skin by peeling it off. Chop the grapes into fish pellet-sized pieces and put them into the tank.

How Much and How Often

One grape per one fish two to three times per week is considered enough. If you feed grapes in large quantities, it may cause intestinal problems such as runny stool.

Special Tips

Small goldfish tend to choke grapes more often. So, always make sure to chop before feeding them. Some goldfishes don’t eat grapes. In that case, try feeding another fruit like blueberries or raspberries.

Can Goldfish Eat Watermelon

Yes. Goldfish can eat Watermelon with precautions. Read on to learn.

How to Prepare Watermelon

After washing thoroughly with running water, you should peel off the skin with a peeler. Remove seed entirely and cut Watermelon into tiny pieces before feeding them.

How Much and How Often

Watermelons are made out of water but contain Copper, Potassium, Vitamin B5, vitamin A and Vitamin C, which sometimes can be toxic if given in large quantities. About 2mm piece of Watermelon for one fish is enough, and you should feed Watermelon to your goldfish very rarely.

Special Tips

There are cases that watermelons caused the death of some fish. In those cases, they have put a large piece of Watermelon into the water. So, to be safe, avoid giving large quantities of Watermelon. And always remove seeds before preparing Watermelon.

Can Goldfish Eat Strawberries

Yes. Goldfish can eat Strawberries.

How to Prepare Strawberries

Always pick ripe strawberries with no blemishes or bruises. Wash thoroughly and peel it to remove the skin. Then chop the Watermelon into pebble-sized pieces and feed the fish.

How Much and How Often

Maximum one strawberry per one goldfish should be enough, and just like other fruits, don’t overfeed your fish. Limit strawberries to 1 to 2 times per week to be on the safe side.

Special Tips

Strawberries have sugar that may cause Goldfish cardio problems if fed in excess amounts. So, ALWAYS provide them with small quantities.

Can Goldfish Eat Pears

Yes. Goldfish can eat Pears.

How to Prepare Pears

Pears is a hard food. So, you should boil pears before feeding your goldfish. First, wash and peel the pear. Then cook it until it becomes soft. Now chop it into 1mm to 2mm sized pieces and feed your fish.

How Much and How Often

Like other fruits, you need to feed only 1 to 2 pieces per goldfish. Two times per week is enough.

Special Tips

Boiling the pear after cutting it into small pieces will help cook faster. And always use enough amount for your goldfish and not the whole pear for boiling (unless you have a large quantity of fish).

Can Goldfish Eat Mangoes

Yes. Goldfish can eat mangoes.

How to Prepare Mangoes

There are different kinds of mangoes. Some are soft, and some are hard. Before preparing mango for your goldfish, check its softness. If soft, you can directly feed them without boiling. If hard, boil before preparing. And you should follow other guidelines too. Wash thoroughly and peel off the skin before preparing. Chop into small 1mm to 2mm pieces and feed your fish.

How Much and How Often

One to Two 2mm pieces of mangoes is enough for one goldfish.  Feed them mangoes a maximum of 2 times per week.

Special Tips

Usually, ripe mangoes are soft, so picking a well ripe mango will save your boiling time.

Check out Why Goldfish Missing A Scales? | 5 Reasons

VEGETABLES FOR Goldfish

Can Goldfish Eat Carrots

Yes. Goldfish can eat Carrots. Carrots are very nutritious for goldfish. It’s OK if you feed them more often (but not every day).

How to Prepare Carrots

Wash with running water thoroughly and peel the skin off. Cut into tiny pieces and boil them until they become soft. Chop the carrot into pallet-sized pieces and feed your fish.

How Much and How Often

Unlike fruits, you can feed carrots to your goldfish more often. If you provide more than 2 to 3 times per week, that’s alright. But don’t rely on carrots only as goldfish needs meaty foods too. About 2 to 3 pellet-sized pieces for one goldfish is enough per day.

Special Tips

When you cut the carrot into tiny pieces, you can boil then literally within 1 to 2 minutes. It saves your time and fuel.

Can Goldfish Eat Lettuce

Yes. Goldfish can eat Lettuce. Lettuce is very nutritious for any type of fish. It has lots of vitamins and nutrients that are good for your goldfish.

How to Prepare Lettuce

After washing the lettuce, peel off the skin and cut into tiny 1mm to 2mm sized pieces. You can feed raw lettuce to your goldfish. If you are concerned about the softness, just boil it for about a minute and feed the fish.

How Much and How Often

Like other foods, 2 to 3 pieces of 1mm to 2mm slices are enough for one goldfish. As lettuce is a nutritious food, you can feed it more often along with other fish food.

Special Tips

Although goldfish eat other lettuce types, they can easily chew red leaf lettuce, and red leaf lettuce will cause fewer digestive problems.

Can Goldfish Eat Cucumber

Yes. Goldfish can eat cucumber. It doesn’t have any nutritional value for a Goldfish, but it’s not toxic either.

How to Prepare Cucumber

Wash the cucumber thoroughly and peel off the skin. Remove the seeds and chop them into pallet-sized pieces. You can feed them raw cucumber or boiled, depending on the fish.

How Much and How Often

As cucumber doesn’t have any nutritional value, feed your goldfish rarely, and 1 to 2 pellet-sized pieces of cucumber is enough for one goldfish.

Special Tips

Some fishes like boiled cucumber while some fishes like raw ones. So, try both to decide which type your goldfish likes.

Can Goldfish Eat Green Beans

Yes. Goldfish can eat green beans. Green beans don’t give goldfish much nutritional value other than low caloric intake and less carbohydrate. But, you can feed your fish green beans as extra food to avoid boredom.

How to Prepare Green Beans

You have to boil beans until they become soft enough to feed your fish. After cooking, peel the skin and chop it with a chopper. When you get tiny pieces small enough to feed your fish, put them into the tank.

How Much and How Often

About one to two pellet-sized pieces for one fish is enough per day, and as it has no nutritional value, avoid feeding often. Feeding them with green beans rarely is OK.

Special Tips

If you can provide peas, then avoid feeding green beans. Instead, feed them with peas as it has more nutrition’s a goldfish needs.

Can Goldfish Eat Iceberg Lettuce

Yes. Goldfish can eat Iceberg Lettuce. Though it doesn’t have any nutritional value, it’s OK to feed Iceberg Lettuce to Goldfish. However, fish doesn’t like to eat this vegetable much.

How to Prepare Iceberg Lettuce

After thoroughly washing, peel off the lettuce and chop it into small pieces of 1mm to 2mm size. You can feed Iceberg Lettuce without boiling it.

How Much and How Often

One to two pellet-sized pieces is enough for one goldfish. You can feed them up to 2 times per week.

Special Tips

As Iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value for your goldfish, give them as a snack but don’t replace them with their primary food source.

Can Goldfish Eat Spinach

Yes. Goldfish can eat Spinach. Spinach is high in fiber and iron, which are very nutritious for your goldfish. Spinach is believed to be the best vegetable out there (except pea, a seed) to feed your fish.

How To Feed Goldfish Spinach

There are three ways you can feed Spinach to your fish.

  1. Put the organic spinach leave after washing it carefully.
  2. Blanch the leaf in a water bowl for 24 hours and feed.
  3. Blanch the leaf in a water bowl and microwave a bit before putting it in.

How Much And How Often

You can feed one leaf for one goldfish. Unlike other vegetables, you don’t need to chop or cut Spinach into pieces as it is a soft leaf. Feed them 2 to 3 times per week.

Special Tips

Fresh Spinach tends to float. Many goldfishes don’t like to come up to eat their food. Instead, they want to eat sinking food. Blanched Spinach falls sooner, and if you use a veggie clip, that will help fishes eat Spinach faster.

Can Goldfish Eat Tomatoes

Yes. Goldfish can eat Tomatoes.

How to Prepare Tomatoes

Wash the tomato and peel off the skin. Again wash the tomato to remove the really soft part in the middle. Now cut it into small pieces and feed your fish. You can feed ripe tomatoes raw.

How Much and How Often

Like other fruits and vegetables, 1 to 2 pellet-sized pieces are enough for one goldfish. Feed them as a snack about two times per week.

Special Tips

If You’d like, you can feed the middle part of tomatoes, but they will mess up your tank fast. So, to keep a clean tank, remove the central part as guided.

Can Goldfish Eat Corn

Yes. Goldfish can eat corn. But, feeding corn is highly not recommended due to intestinal problems.

How to Prepare Corns

If you still insist on feeding corn to your goldfish prepare them like this. Boil the corn until it becomes super soft. Remove the husk carefully and chop corn seeds into tiny pieces and feed the fish.

How Much and How Often

Feed corn to your goldfish very rarely and about one pellet-sized piece is enough for one goldfish.

Special Tips

Corn has no digestible nutrients, even for fish. Corns can be OK with adult goldfish, but for smaller fish, it may cause intestinal problems. You can feed corn to goldfish, and some goldfish enjoy them too. But, if possible, avoid feeding corn to your goldfish.

Can Goldfish Eat Peas

Yes. Goldfish can eat peas, and it’s considered the most nutritious human food we can feed to goldfish. They are rich in fiber that can help with constipation in goldfish, and goldfish really enjoys this food in their diet.

How to Prepare Peas

Wash green peas and boil them until it becomes soft. Remove peas from the pod and chop them to about two mm-sized slices. You can now feed them right away, or you can keep them in the refrigerator and feed frozen peas to your fish.

How Much and How Often

Feed about one pea for one goldfish per week. Unlike other vegetables, when you continue to feed peas to your fish weekly, your fish will have fewer digestive problems, increasing immunity.

Special Tips

You can buy any kind of peas except for seasoned peas. Goldfishes aren’t fussy. They will eat anything you give. So, you can purchase snow peas, snack peas, frozen peas, split peas, canned peas, or even garden peas to feed your fish. The only requirement is that they need to be soft, peeled, and chopped to feed your fish.

Can Goldfish Eat Kale

Yes. Goldfish can eat Kale. You can feed Kale as supplement food, and Goldfishes love snacking leafy veggies.

How to Prepare Kale

After washing the leaves, boil with water for about 5 minutes to soften Kale. Then you can feed them right away.

How Much and How Often

Some people feed veggies like Spinach and Kale every day along with fish flakes and pellets, and that’s alright as long as you don’t overfeed them. A rule of thumb goes to, however, one leaf per one fish per 1 week.

Special Tips

You can use a veggie clip to keep Kale sinking inside the tank. Goldfish love eating sinking food.

Can Goldfish Eat Chard

Yes. Goldfish can eat Chard.

How to Prepare Chard

Chard should be blanched before feeding your fish. Cut them into small pieces and feed them to your fish. Goldfish can eat raw Chard.

How Much and How Often

You can feed about one inch-sized Chard per one fish. As these are leafy vegetables, goldfish usually eat the whole leaf. As Chard is a large leaf, you should cut it into small pieces. You can feed chard 2 to 3 times per week.

Special Tips

Some goldfishes don’t like to eat leafy greens like Chard and Spinach. If they refuse to eat, you better go with another vegetable.

Can Goldfish Eat Sweet Potatoes

Yes. Goldfish can eat sweet potatoes. Goldfishes love to eat sweet potatoes because of their sweetness.

How to Prepare Sweet Potato

Wash the sweet potato thoroughly and boil them until they become soft. Then peel off the skin and chop the potato. Now you can feed your fish chopped sweet potatoes.

How Much and How Often

About 2 to 3 pellet-sized slices is enough for one goldfish. As like as other vegetables, feed about 1 to 2 times per week.

Special Tips

As sweet potatoes are very delicious, your fish may overfeed very quickly. And overfeeding is not suitable for goldfish. So, be careful when feeding sweet potatoes to your fish. Just because they eat and finish them fast doesn’t mean that they are starving.

Can Goldfish Eat Zucchini

Yes. Goldfish can eat Zucchini.

How to Prepare Zucchini

After washing and peeling off Zucchini, you should blanch it before feeding your fish. After blanching, your veggie becomes soft, and you can chop it into tiny pieces. Feed the fish after chopping them into about two mm-sized pieces.

How Much and How Often

Two to Three tiny pieces for one goldfish is enough. Feed them Zucchini about 1 to 2 times per week.

Special Tips

Although many goldfishes like to eat Zucchini, some Goldfishes like to eat cooked Zucchini. But they will make a mess around your tank. So, if your goldfish doesn’t eat blanched Zucchini, try cooking it and feed them.

Can Goldfish Eat Broccoli

Yes. Goldfish can eat Broccoli. Broccoli is very healthy food for your fish.

How to Prepare Broccoli

After washing your Broccoli, tear it into small florets and boil it for about 5 to 8 minutes. After cooling it up, you can either,

  • Chop it and feed your fish or
  • Drop the pieces directly so that your fish will eat, breaking piece by piece with their mouth.

How Much and How Often

One floret for a whole fish tank is enough if you have a dozen of fishes. And feed them 1 to 2 times per week.

Read more about goldfish and broccoli in my article” Do goldfish eat Broccoli?

Can Goldfish Eat Pumpkin

Yes. Goldfish can eat pumpkin. Fish loves to eat pumpkin as it is delicious.

How to Prepare Pumpkin

After washing, cut into small pieces and cook until it becomes soft, then cut the flesh into little bits and feed the fish.

How Much and How Often

Just like the other vegetables, you can feed about two small pellet-sized pieces for one fish about two times per week.

Special Tips

Your fish will love to eat pumpkin so that they may overfeed. Don’t put too much pumpkin, and remember to remove any leftovers within 24 hours. Otherwise, your tank will mess up.

Can Goldfish Eat Radish Leaves

Yes. Goldfish can eat Radish Leaves. It is a healthy addition to your fish.

How to Prepare Radish Leaves

After washing the leaf, blanch them till it gets soft, and cut into small pieces. Now you can feed radish leaves to your fishes.

How Much and How Often

As it is healthy food for your fish, you can freely feed radish leaves for your fish. But limit it to 1 to 2 times per week.

Special Tips

Goldfish will generally eat just enough Radish leaves to fill their stomach because of their odd taste. But if you notice that they overeat, it’s better to remove the leftovers as too much may cause digestive problems.

Can Goldfish Eat Cabbage

Yes. Goldfish can eat cabbages, and it is healthy for them.

How to Prepare Cabbage

After washing cabbage, peel off 1 to 2 leaves and boil them till it gets soft. Then cut them into small pieces and feed the fish.

How Much and How Often

One small piece for one goldfish is enough. Feed the cabbages as a snack about two times per week.

Special Tips

Although boiled cabbages are safe for fish, Goldfishes like to eat fresh cabbages. In that case, you can cut the leaves into pebble-sized slices and feed your fish.

OTHER FOOD

Can Goldfish Eat Bread?

Goldfish can eat bread, BUT You SHOULD NOT feed them bread. As Goldfishes are omnivore fish, they will eat whatever you put into your tank. And so they will eat bread too. Bread is toxic for fishes as it can swell up their intestines and cause constipation. This constipation may end up in your fish’s death.

Can You Feed Goldfish Boiled Rice

You can feed goldfish Boiled rice in certain circumstances. Boiled rice doesn’t have anything but carbohydrates which is NOT HEALTHY for your fish. Carbohydrates can expand fishes’ stomachs and harm the fish. But, if you have no other choice but to feed them with boiled rice, feeding them just once is fine. If you have any other fruit and vegetable, avoid feeding rice and provide them with fruits or vegetables. Do NOT feed boiled rice if you have any source of healthy food available.

Steamed Egg for Goldfish

You can feed steamed egg yolk to your fish. Egg yolks are high in protein and very nutritious for fry (Goldfish babies). For adults, protein doesn’t do much but isn’t toxic either. Goldfish loves to eat egg yolks. The problem is that leftover eggs will foul the aquarium very quickly. So, you’ll have to remove any leftover eggs and do a 75% water change to be safe. Otherwise, the bacteria growth because of leftover eggs may kill your fish.

Can Goldfish Eat Betta Food

Goldfish can eat betta food occasionally. However, you should not use betta food as goldfish’s daily dietary need as Betta food doesn’t have enough nutrition a Goldfish need. Betta food has high protein and fewer carbohydrates, according to Betta’s nutritional needs. Goldfish need high carbohydrate levels with fewer proteins along with fats, vitamins, and minerals. However, feeding betta food once per week is OK.

Can Goldfish Eat Earthworms

Yes. Goldfish can eat earthworms, and they LOVE it. Earthworms are an excellent source of food for goldfishes in moderate amounts (See Can Goldfish eat bloodworms).

Can Goldfish Eat Bloodworms

Yes. Goldfish can eat bloodworms. It a nice little treat for your goldfish. However, you shouldn’t feed any live food for more than 3 minutes. If the fishes leave some worms you put after 3 minutes you have to take them back. This rule applies to Earthworms too.

Can Goldfish Eat Oatmeal

Yes. Goldfish can eat oatmeal. It’s very healthy food you can give your fish as a snack. You can feed either soaked or cooked oatmeal to your goldfish.

Can Goldfish Eat Cereal?

Goldfish will eat anything you give to them. Goldfish can eat cereal, and cereal in small amounts is OK. But, the main ingredient of cereal are grains which are not advisable to give goldfish. You should AVOID feeding cereal to your goldfish because of the extra ingredients cereals have.

Do Goldfish Eat Plants?

Goldfish eat plants. They are omnivore species that can eat anything. They enjoy hiding and sleeping beside plants, as well as they like to eat plants. If you want to keep live plants in your tank, you should choose plants that Goldfishes usually don’t like, such as Anacharis and Anubia plants.

Do Goldfish Eat Algae?

Yes. Goldfish eat algae. They are very greedy eaters. So, they always look for food in the tank, and if they find algae in your tank, they will eat it. Algae is not nutritious to goldfish but not toxic either. However, goldfish eating speed cannot outrun algae growth. Therefore, Goldfishes are not considered good algae eaters. Because of this reason, when your tank grows algae, you should remove them by yourself.

Can Goldfish Eat Cheese?

To answer the question honestly, goldfish can eat fish, and they love the taste of it. BUT, you should not feed cheese to your fish as animal fats are not healthy for your goldfish. If provided for a long time, they will be fat, and they may barely swim. A small piece of cheese will not kill them but feeding them for an extended period may kill your fish.

BEST TREATS FOR PET GOLDFISH

Among these human foods, Peas, Spinach, Broccoli, grapes, and Watermelon are considered as best treats for your goldfish. Instead of human foods, they enjoy bloodworms, earthworms, and algae. It would be best if you offered these treats occasionally to supplement their primary diet. And feeding one type of food for a long time is not suitable for your goldfish as it may cause digestive problems.

WHAT DO GOLDFISH EAT IN THE WILD

Goldfish are omnivorous. In the wild, goldfish tend to eat more meaty food such as small insects, larvae, invertebrates, crustaceans, tiny frogs, tadpoles, spawns, small fish, and fish eggs. They will also eat fresh and decayed plants and algae. They can survive for up to 2 weeks without food, but they have many food sources in the wild. Therefore, goldfishes tend to grow bigger than fish kept in captivity. They will grow up to 14 inches in the wild. But, the goldfishes kept in tanks will not grow longer than 6 inches.

How Do You Prepare Vegetables For Goldfish?

Many vegetables need to be washed thoroughly with running water and peeled off the skin to feed goldfish. Some vegetables need to be boiled and chopped depending on the hardness. Also some need to be blanched before providing them. You can feed leafy vegetables like Spinach straight without preparing.

What nutrients does goldfish need for its rapid growth?

There is no doubt that goldfish are very easy to feed. Although it is simple, we need to know what nutrients should be included in the diet. There are several nutrients that goldfish need to grow, such as protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, etc.

Protein

This is the most important nutrient for your goldfish. Protein helps the growth and development of your goldfish. The requirement of protein amount depends on the age of the fish. According to it, young fish need more protein, and about 45% of their diet should be protein. But old goldfish need a small amount. About 30% is needed to be included in their diet. Plant proteins are more suitable as they are easier to digest than animal proteins.

Fats

Fats cause to generate energy. Your fish diet should be between 5% and 10% of fats. Animal fat is better for your goldfish than plant-based lipids. And also, fish oil provides the best fats for your goldfish.

Vitamins

For a better life, goldfish need vitamins like humans. A, D, K, and folic acid, which are essential vitamins for humans, are also essential vitamins for goldfish. Your goldfish can make several vitamins on its own, and the rest should come from its diet. Most fish meals that sell in aquarium shops contain all the vitamins your goldfish need. If you have a doubt, try the frozen or live foods occasionally.

Minerals

Minerals are very similar to vitamins. Your goldfish need a trace amount of minerals to stay healthy. Fish can absorb most of the minerals that they need from the water. Goldfish need a few minerals such as magnesium, iron, and zinc in their food. But they are needed in such small quantities that it is essential for their growth.

Low carbohydrate and fiber

Goldfish required very little amount of carbohydrates and fiber to maintain their health in a good manner. This is why you should choose fish foods made specifically for goldfish. Carbohydrates are commonly referred to as “bulk” or “ash” in fish food packaging. Before you buy fish food for your goldfish, you should make sure that it does not exceed 10% because high carbohydrates can cause various diseases. However, if you have natural plants in your aquarium, your goldfish can easily get fiber from the plants.

What can I feed my goldfish to grow?

The growth of your goldfish depends on various factors such as the tank’s water quality, the size of the tank, and the food. Goldfish food contains more protein and low carbohydrates because you should use the foods made explicitly for the goldfish to feed your fish.

Goldfish is omnivorous. Therefore, if you do not have live plants in your tank, you can feed them a small number of vegetables and fruits. As well as you can feed them on frozen and live bloodworms. Through bloodworms, any infections can be entered into your fish. Frozen bloodworms are recommended. Because of that frozen foods do not carry any bacteria or infection to your goldfish and they contain all the nutrients.

Do not use generic fish foods because they do not contain the required quantity of nutrients for goldfish. Furthermore, it is very important to check the water parameters and keep them within a good goldfish range to ensure goldfish’s health.

Also see Can I Keep Koi and Goldfish In the Same Tank? All To Know

What is the best type of goldfish food?

Sinking foods are the best food for goldfish. Goldfish are physostomous fish that has a duct between the esophagus and the bladder. Excessive air leaks into the tube due to voracious surface feeding, and a result is a highly inflated fish. A sinking diet helps to prevent excess air.

Do goldfish need to be fed every day?

Yes. The general rule to follow is that you should feed your goldfish 2 or 3 times a day. It would help if you tried to keep the feeding time constant every day and it helps goldfish develop a regular pattern and their digestive cycle.

Feeding them at random times throughout the day will cause various diseases or prevent them from getting a steady amount of food. Goldfish can live about two weeks without food. But it is not better to feed your goldfish for two weeks. But if you want to take a vacation, you can follow different methods. You can get help from your neighbors or friends, use an automatic fish feeder machine, use slow-releasing fish food.

How much to feed goldfish

If you pay close attention, you will know that goldfish are always seem hungry. They always motivate you to feed them. But goldfish are one of the fish species that can be easily overfed. Overfeeding can kill your goldfish. Be very careful when you are feeding your fish and feeding him three times a day is sufficient.

How to know if overfeeding

There are many signs that help to know the overfeeding.

Cloudy water

This may be the first sign that you can recognize. When fish do not eat foods, it generates organic wastes, and because of it, water becomes cloudy.

Low oxygen level

You can identify the low oxygen levels in your aquarium when there is a large amount of organic waste due to food that was not eaten at the time.

Change in the water PH

If your aquarium contains organic waste produced by unclean foods, you can notice a change in the aquarium water’s pH.

Increased algae

When you have uneaten food in your fish tank, it causes to produces nitrates that are good for algae growth. as a result of that, algae grow rapidly

Fungus and mold

If there is a large amount of organic waste in the fish tank, harmful bacteria, fungi and mold will grow very fast. It only takes two days for mold to grow in your aquarium. This harmful microorganism can be very harmful to your fish; if your goldfish suffers from fin rot or an open wound, it can be dangerous.

Increase the ammonia level

Increase the nitrate level due to the uneaten foods. And it automatically raises the ammonia level in your tank.

Also See How Many Goldfish Should You Keep In A 30-Gallon Tank?

What human food can goldfish eat?

There are more varieties of foods that accept the goldfish as their diet. Many of the vegetables and fruits that people use, are also eaten by goldfish.

List of vegetables that eat by goldfish

  • Lima beans
  • Potatoes
  • Chard
  • Cauliflower
  • Broccoli
  • Zucchini
  • Pumpkin
  • Peas
  • Spinach
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Kale
  • Cucumber slices
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Lettuce
  • Cabbage

The list of fruits that eat by goldfish

  • Mangoes
  • Orange
  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
  • Watermelon
  • Grapes
  • Corn
  • Banana
  • Apple
  • Pears

You should always boil fruits and vegetables before feeding your goldfish. You need to cut them into small pieces so that food particles fit easily in their mouths.

CREDITS TO ThinFrog

Goldfish feeding tips

If you follow bellow tips, you can keep your goldfish healthy.

  • Feed your goldfish once a day. Don’t worry about your fish being hungry. All he wants is something that can be eaten within 2 minutes
  • Give vegetables and fruits every two days for your goldfish
  • you can give all the vegetables like carrots, beans, rice. It would help if you were cooked, peeled, and finely chopped before feeding them.
  • Do not forget to keep a note of what foods your goldfish feeds.
  • Feed the larvae, prawns, or daphnia occasionally, as they are high in protein and cause constipation.
  • you should pay attention to your goldfish tank when they are floating on the surface of the tank. It would help if you took action to avoid it.
  • If your goldfish are gasping at the top of the tank most of the time, it misunderstands as asking for food. Healthy fish spend less or no time at the surface. it means your goldfish may not have enough oxygen

FAQ

How long can a goldfish go without eating?

Goldfish can live about two weeks without feeding. But it is not better to feed your goldfish for two weeks. But if you want to take a vacation, you can follow different methods. You can get help from your neighbors or friends, use an automatic fish feeder machine, use slow-releasing fish food.

Goldfish algae wafers

Algae wafer is one of the best ways to give algae to your fish. These are small discs (or wafer) made of compressed vegetable matter and multiple types of algae. This contains nutrients that help to optimize the health and growth of the goldfish. And also, this a good supplement for your goldfish. The best thing is algae wafers are not caused to cloudy the water in your aquarium.

Conclusion

Some fruits and vegetables are an excellent addition to your Goldfish diet. Goldfishes get bored with the same food over time. So, giving them recommended human foods as supplements can increase your fish’s appetite and provide more nutrients to stay healthy.

You should avoid food such as bread, rice, and cheese, which have more carbohydrates and fat. The foods that have vitamins, iron, and, more importantly, fiber are considered the best human foods you can give to your goldfish.

Sharing is caring!

About Dr.Chamika

Hello, I'm Dr. Chamika. I am a Researcher in Water quality, Aquatic organisms, and Environmental chemistry. I am a passionate fish keeper, with10 years of experience. My mission is to help other aquarists experience the joy of fish keeping.