GoldFish? How much do they eat?

[MarkedClown]

I have a goldfish that my baby bro won and i dont know how many flakes goldfish eat. I have the Gold fish flakes and its a small gold fish so how many flakes should i give it. Hurry it has to eat soon!

[MagMan5446]

Just flush it down the toilet.

I'm sure it'll fend for itself.

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[shartley]

Many brands of fish food provide a chart on the fish food container. http://www.automags.org/ubb/smile.gif

If yours does not, try calling the store you GOT the food at (or any local pet store). http://www.automags.org/ubb/smile.gif That is usually the quickest and best way to get information.

Normally a small pinch is enough. Actual flake count would depend on the size of the flakes... and that can be quite a difference.

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“The richest man is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.”

[Paintballer86]

Jut pit a small pinch in it's bowl once a day and it will be fine.
I mean SMALL...

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[cphilip]

Gold fish will not overeat. As some others will. So you can feed them pretty heavily...But excess food will soil the water quality. Gold fish can exist in pretty dirty water but it's not pleasant to look at or smell. So feed it a good little pinch twice a day and if you are gone for a few days they will not starve. Feed em a good pich before you leave.a nd forget em. If yoau re going to be gone a week or more put in a trip slow release type feeder. Gold fish also are very aggresive and will not tolerate new additons to the tank of any kind.

[cphilip]

<font face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Whisky:
They don`t eat much, if you give too much it will kill it.
Give a small pinch once a day.

</font>


That is not true at all. Goldfish are members of the Carp family and they will grow as fast as they can eat. Check my info again Wiskey. They are not the same as some tropicall fish, some of which will indeed do as you say.

[Ni cD]

The snack that smiles back until you bite their heads off! I love that song... http://www.automags.org/ubb/smile.gif

When I had a Goldfish, I fed it twice a day. Once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. Just a few flakes.

[TW]

I usually only swallow 4 or 5 of the smaller fish only 2 if there big.

TW

[irbodden]

i had a goldfish that was like 2 feet long his name was Patoto, or something like that, it was spanish for something. We gave him to a local pet shop for their neato giant pond display. I'd feed it alittle, and see how fast he eats, he isnt going to starve. If you over feed it, the food will get really nasty and stick to the side of the tank.

-Rick

[Dubstar112]

i once had a gold fish... his name was float... then it went from that to floater and then to flushy.. i really miss him.

[Army]

How much do they eat? Well,you know all those attacks off Florida? Goldfish.....

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[Whisky]

They don`t eat much, if you give too much it will kill it.
Give a small pinch once a day.

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[shartley]

<--- Singing the "Goldfish" song. (the crackers)

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“The richest man is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.”

[FaSSt]

<font face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cphilip:
Gold fish will not overeat. As some others will. So you can feed them pretty heavily...But excess food will soil the water quality. Gold fish can exist in pretty dirty water but it's not pleasant to look at or smell. So feed it a good little pinch twice a day and if you are gone for a few days they will not starve. Feed em a good pich before you leave.a nd forget em. If yoau re going to be gone a week or more put in a trip slow release type feeder. Gold fish also are very aggresive and will not tolerate new additons to the tank of any kind.</font>

Actually, you may be wrong in some points.

In my experience, it depends on the individual fish, but some WILL overeat. And, as you pointed out, overfeeding always decreases water quality. Goldfish are inherently "dirty", since they produce a lot of ammonia.

The goldfish I have seen were not very aggressive, and my GF has added quite a few fish to her tank without a problem.

Her tank may not be the best example, since it seems to defy a good many rules. For instance, her goldfish (monster size) actually EATS feeder-fish (other goldfish!) weekly.

It all comes down to the individual fish. But as a rule, DON'T overfeed freshwater fish.

Also, some directions on food containers are just plain wrong, as they advocate feeding the fish WAY too much.

Take shartley's advice, and call a local fish store.

[cphilip]

Well...I will beg to differ some on that. And I did point out the real reason not to overfeed was water quality. But that depends greatly on your environmental controls. Filtration, tank size and population density. But these particular beasts will not over eat. And I did indeed point out that a lot of tropical fish will. These are not true tropical fish however.

I have 25 years of Veterinary Medical and Animal Care experience and all kinds of exotics, avian and aquatic animals. I ran Animal Research facilities and worked in private practice for a number of years too. Where we kept these kinds of things in large numbers. I think if you want Veterinary care advice I can qualify as an expert for that don't you think? I still hold the first State Veterinary Examining Board of South Carolina Certification in Veterinary Medical Technology. Still go to SC Veterinary Meetings. Also certified VT Nationally. Don't work in the field much the last 7 years or so. But I keep up. http://www.automags.org/ubb/wink.gif

Anywho...I think we are in agreement if you will re-read my first post as it was intended. I never intended to do him a thesis on the subject. But I could! And I doubt you will get this level of advice at any Pet Store. But go ahead...do as you like!



[This message has been edited by cphilip (edited 08-28-2001).]

[MajorDamage]

When I saw the title of this post I was thinking that goldfish song to. "Heres our jingle for goldfish, we wrote a song for goldfish, thedelightsom little cracker that smiles back until you bite their heads off" or somin like that. hehe.

ENDO!

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[Rrok]

I have a funny story about our goldfish. Hehe. When my little sister was 5, she played that game at the local fair where you throw the ping-pong balls into the little mini fish bowls to win one, well it turns out luck was on her side that day and she finally won one (After burning $10 of my mom's money. Heck whatever makes her happy.) Anyways, the lady running the stand put the fish into a bag with a twisty and gave it to my sister. About ten minutes later the poor thing croaked:( . So crushed, my little sister asked if she could go back and get another. So after walking all the way back to the other side of the fairgrounds my sister "returned" her old fishie for a new one. And what happened? This one croaked too! So we went back again to get another fish, and my sister said a little prayer so that it would live a long healthy fish life. Well the day had gone by and the fish looked happy as ever in his little baggie.Right as we were about to leave my little sister asked if we could ride the ferris wheel, my mom said "yes" and we all waited in line to ride it. When we got to the top my little sister dropped this poor fish off of the edge. Luckily it lived and we gave it the name lucky because it survived the impact unscathed!!! To this day it happily swims in it's bowl living a perfect fishie life.

THE
END

[Magadeth]

I spent many years as an aquatics tech at a large pet chain.

The best advice, if you have a small bowl or 10 gallon tank with little filtration is to err on the side of underfeeding. 3-4 flakes a day is enough to sustain a small goldfish. If you want to feed it more than that, it will grow faster, but you will have to clean the tank more often.

When you do clean the tank, dont change all the water at once, dont change the water and the filter at the same time, and dont use water straight out of the tap.

There will be bacteria that are very important in breaking down the fishes waste and if you overclean the tank, you will remove too much of this bacteria.

Good things to get to take care of your fish include - a siphon vacuum to clean the gravel and do waterchanges with. Ph buffer will keep the ph of the water in a range that your fish will be healthy inwithout the need to do tests and use ph up and down. A 5 gallon bucket can be used as a pace to add the buffer and allow chlorine to evaporate from your tap water, before you add it to the tank. A good filter(I recomend Aquaflows if they still make them)

Dont add more fish into the tank until it has been running for at least a month as you need to "cycle the tank" wich is just allowing the bacteria wich break down fish poo to build up.

[adam68c]

Hey cphillip I got a question for you. If you have a 15 by 15 pond and you put a bass in it, it wont get very big. In fact it probally wont ever get bigger than a couple pounds right? And is the same thing true for a small stream? My dad has a couple fish pounds where he raises catfish and talapia. I have an agument with my friends. They say I should throw in a bass and let it get big and enter it in a tournement.I say that the fish wont be able to get very big since it lives in such a small pond. Is this true?