Goldfish overfeeding is a common way that smart, well-meaning fish keepers unknowingly harm their pets. It is important to understand why this is so serious and what you can do to prevent it.
There are several reasons why people overfeed goldfish. Many people are raised to equate food with love or a reward. And of course they are passionate about their goldfish. So, they keep feeding them to “show their love.”
It is also very common for goldfish to show “simulated hunger”. In other words, when they see their owners, the goldfish will look excited and move closer to the edge of the tank. They have a ‘conditioned response’ when they see you exhibiting that behavior. Unfortunately, many people still feed goldfish flakes in large quantities throughout the day, whenever the goldfish “look hungry.”
Here are some symptoms of goldfish overfeeding:
- They swell up and develop goldfish swim bladder disease, especially if you only feed them goldfish flakes.
- It can affect the nitrogen cycle: if goldfish overeat, there will be excess nitrogen. Your filter may have a hard time breaking this down and ammonia levels can build up in the aquarium.
- If you put too much food in the tank, it will most likely sink to the bottom and rot in the gravel. This provides the opportunity for bacteria to grow, and this can lead to opportunistic infections.
So what can you do about it? Here are five simple steps to prevent goldfish overfeeding:
- Make sure only one person feeds your goldfish. This ensures that you will avoid “doubling up” on feeding
- Feed your goldfish at the same time every day
- Unless you have “fingerlings” that need regular feeding, most goldfish need to eat only once a day.
- Vary the diet with fresh fruits and vegetables at least twice a week.
- Watch for any signs of goldfish overfeeding, such as bloat.
Here’s a general rule of thumb: only give goldfish as much as they can eat in two minutes.
If this seems like too small an amount to feed them, consider this: goldfish are small. They can’t handle a lot of food, as they don’t have a stomach. They absorb food as it moves through their digestive tract. If they overeat, food gets trapped inside and can cause serious damage.
Fancy goldfish, like Orandas, have even more delicate digestion. Overfeeding is usually the main cause of illness in them. It can cause bloating or constipation, leading to goldfish swim bladder disease. When this happens, goldfish often float helplessly to the surface, where they can’t eat anything.
Goldfish are small and therefore require a small amount of food – feeding them once or twice a day is sufficient. When feeding goldfish, only give them as much as they can eat at that particular food – they will devour the food quickly for the first few seconds. But then they will slow down. Goldfish should eat all the food you give them, with nothing sinking to the bottom where it will decompose. The only way to guarantee this is to feed small amounts.
If you feed them once a day, with a varied diet and resisting their “simulated hunger”, you will avoid overfeeding goldfish. Watch for any signs of goldfish overfeeding, such as leaving food on the bottom of the tank. If you treat the symptoms of goldfish overfeeding, such as bloat, as soon as you notice them, you will have no need for goldfish remedies.