Feeding


Tank #1: I feed the goldfish in tank #1 about two times a day. I give them about 3/4 teaspoon of the floating pellets, dumping them into the outflow of the water pump. I also give them about the same amount of the sinking pellets, just dumping them towards the front-left of the tank.

 

At the end of the day, I drop an algae tablet into tank #1 for the Chinese Algae Eater, and turn out the lights. My understanding is that he's a night feeder, which is why I feed him at the end of the day. I think that if you drop the algae tablet into the tank at the beginning of the day, the two goldfish will attack the algae tablet and the Chinese Algae Eater won't have a chance to eat. It's possible that tank #1 generates enough algae that the algae tablet isn't necessary. But note: we used to have a Chinese Algae Eater in tank #2, but it died. Either it starved to death (in those days, tank #2 didn't generate much algae), or perhaps it died because the water wasn't being changed frequently enough.

 

Tank #2: I feed the goldfish in tank #2 about two times a day, too. Since he's smaller, I don't give him as much food. Also, he doesn't seem to do very well when fed exclusively floating pellets -- he seems to gulp down a lot of air and becomes distended (gaseous indigestion?!). I give this fish only 6-7 floating pellets at a time, and about 1/2 teaspoon of the sinking pellets. I try to drop the sinking pellets so that they land on top of the artificial rock; my reasoning is that it's easier for him to get to the food than if it sank to the gravel. (I'm afraid of food going unnoticed in the gravel, and therefore getting left uneaten.)


 

This web page seems to hint that floating problems are more common in fancy goldfish, and I think that the fish in tank #2 qualifies as "fancy". This web page also says to avoid flake foods, and the author mentions that he buys the SHO Gold sinking pellets advertised on this website. (These are the sinking pellets that I am using.) It also states that overfeeding is death to fish. I would add: overfeeding fish while not doing water changes frequently enough is a Very Bad Combo. If there is a lot of uneaten food after, say, 15 minutes, then you should probably cut back on the amount of food that you're giving the fish.

 

This web page says that the most important thing is that you do not feed your fish so much food that it sinks to the bottom and just lays there uneaten, and that you want your fish to have all the food eaten within about 5 minutes time. It also states that it is better to feed a little bit of food several times a day than to feed a whole bunch of food all at once.


 

Feeding is a good time to check the fish. Spend 15 seconds examining the fish. Examine the fish for: