Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / September 2007

OK.. now lets talk about food.  A fish eating their normal diet will
not have poop that looks like a string.  it will fall apart the
instant it emerges. poop that can be easily seen means too much food
at a time, or the wrong foods.  GF have no stomach and cannot digest
carbohydrates. food moves thru very fast and it doesnt get digested
properly so it comes out solid looking and is just more waste in the
tank to clean up or add to the nitrate load.  

ever since I have switched my dogs to a whole raw meaty bone diet I
have started thinking about what GF actually eat. and it is small itty
bitty critters that live on plants and algae.  it is VERY VERY wet. it
doesnt contain ANY wheat, corn or other grains or fillers.  they take
itty bitty mouth fulls all day long of wet food.  
GF need protein and oil.  like krill.  I get freeze dried krill for my
koi.  they are from the sea so any germs or cooties should not be
those that do well in fresh water.  I am even thinking about chopping
up small whole raw shrimps for my koi.  

in a tank the obvious problem is how to get the food into their mouths
before it ends up in the filter where it will go bad.  I guess
training them to come to the top and almost dropping it into their
mouth is good.  I know just hatched GF are fed live brine shrimp and
they put a sponge on the intake valve to keep the stuff where the
babies can get to it.  maybe turn the filter off while feeding will
work as long as there is no gravel in the tank.  Ingrid
krill etc http://www.jehmco.com/index.html
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/other-krill-dried-c152.html including
brine shrimp eggs
this is dry food, but high quality
http://www.aquatichouse.com/Fish%20Food_files/Omegapelletsbulk.asp
both flake and pellets, but soak the pellets and crush the flakes.
feed very little at a time.