10 Best Goldfish Foods You Need to Try

Goldfish have been bred for hundreds of years to have special features like elegant double tails and egg-shaped bodies. This compact body can cause constipation or digestive problems. Goldfish owners spend a lot of energy and time finding the best food for their water piggies. Here are the top 10 foods we love to feed our goldfish after decades of keeping and raising them.

Some believe that floating foods should not be allowed to goldfish as they could swallow air from the surface, causing intestinal problems. We have never seen any problems with our fish eating floating food. This is despite years of experience. In fact, floating fish food is sometimes preferred because it remains at the surface for fish to find and doesn’t get stuck in the substrate or behind aquarium decorations.

1. Saki-Hikari Fancy Goldfish

Saki-Hikari fancy goldfish is a brand that we recommend if you are looking for a high-quality, fish-specific, prepared food. This 3mm sinking pellet is rich in beneficial probiotics, wheat germ and seaweed, which help improve digestion and support intestinal flora. Astaxanthin and Spirulina are color-enhancing ingredients that help increase the red color of your goldfish without muddying the white. Finally, these pellets are packed with Vitamin E and C to strengthen your fish’s immune system against diseases. It is no surprise that the Saki Hikari range of specialized foods are so beloved by goldfish owners.

2. Vegetables

Single-tailed goldfish are sleek and torpedo-shaped, but double-tailed fish have balloon-shaped bodies that can lead to blockage, bloating, or swim bladder disease. Many owners add vegetables to their fish’s meals as a preventative measure. We prefer canned green beans, zucchini slices and canned carrot slices. Leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach are also good options. You may need to blanch the vegetable first, by boiling it briefly in water until it becomes soft enough to eat by the fish. Also, unshelled peas are often recommended as a cure-all for constipation issues, but be aware that they are a bit messy when placed underwater and can be labor-intensive to feed on a frequent basis.

3. Frozen Fish Food

Despite the emphasis on feeding goldfish lots of plant matter to keep their digestive system running efficiently, don’t forget that they are actually omnivores and also require a healthy amount of protein. Frozen foods can be a high-quality, safe food that doesn’t quickly dissolve in water. This allows your goldfish to explore the tank and find any leftovers. These frozen foods can be purchased at your local fish and pet shops. They come in foil-sealed or frozen slabs. Daphnia (krill), spirulina brine shrimp and daphnia are our favorite frozen foods to feed goldfish. The exoskeletons of these crustaceans, which are similar to fiber, do not normally get digested. They help flush the fish’s bowels out and keep them moving along smoothly.

4. Hikari Cichlid Excel

To avoid bloat, freshwater herbivores as well as African cichlids need a plant-rich diet. Therefore, we like feeding these specially formulated cichlid pellets that contain a complete nutritional balance of fish proteins, wheat germ and alfalfa for easy digestion, and spirulina and krill for color enhancement. Hikari Cichlid Excel pellets come in both floating and sinking versions, just like many Hikari brand food products.

5. Repashy Super Gold Gel Food

Looking for a goldfish-specific food that isn’t a pellet? Repashy worked closely with experts in goldfish nutrition to create a premium gel food that uses the most effective ingredients. Gel food is easy to digest and soft for goldfish. Repashy Super Gold is a wonderful mix of krill and algae. It also contains egg, plant proteins, fruits and flowers. This mixture is also chock-full of essential vitamins, calcium, and beta carotene for color enrichment. Goldfish owners also love Repashy Soilent Green. It is an algae-and plant-heavy gel mixture with an astonishing 8% fiber. Read this article for easy instructions on how to make Repashy instant gel food in less than 10 minutes.

6. Xtreme Pellets

Xtreme Aquatic Foods has one of the best, all-in-one formulas for omnivore fish, and we regularly feed their pellets to our goldfish, community fish, and cichlids in our retail store and personal aquariums. The special recipe includes krill, shrimps, squid, and even spirulina alga. These nutrients, vitamins, minerals are essential for healthy growth and natural colour enhancement. All Xtreme Fish Foods are made in the USA. You have the option to choose between 1.5mm Floating Pellets and 1.5mm Slow Sinking Pellets.

7. Hikari gold

Wondering how goldfish and Koi are related? These distant cousins were created originally from carp in East Asia. Consider including Hikari Gold Koi food in your goldfish’s diet. This high-grade floating pellet is created for cold water pond fish, so it contains easy-to-digest ingredients that pass through the body quickly, even in cooler temperatures. In addition, the food is specially formulated to develop excellent body condition and optimal colors while avoiding unhealthy fat accumulation. These pellets are a great option for anyone looking for a low-cost, healthy diet that will encourage the best growth of their goldfish.

8. Xtreme Spirulina Flake

Spirulina, a blue-green algae or cyanobacteria, is widely used for food. It is used to feed humans, poultry and livestock. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, protein, iron, beta-carotene, proteins, and fatty oils. Xtreme makes a spirulina flake meal that fish love by adding it to fish, shrimp, or other beneficial supplements. The flakes can easily be broken down to make it easier for goldfish fry to consume. If you prefer a sinking food instead, Hikari Algae Wafers have an excellent balance of proteins and veggies like seaweed, alfalfa, and spirulina.

9. Hikari Red Parrot+

While most of the food on this list are focused on providing high fiber and roughage, what about how to get your goldfish to show the best colors? Hikari invented a floating pellet to enhance the coloration in blood parrot cichlids. We’ve also found that it works well with goldfish. The recipe includes a lot of natural color-enhancing ingredients, including chili pepper, phaffia yeast and marigold flowers. Plus, it includes beneficial probiotics for promoting healthy growth and aiding in digestion. Add Hikari Blood Red Parrot+ to your goldfish’s weekly meal rotation for the ultimate boost in color.

10. Leftover Plants and Algae

As you probably know, goldfish are more than happy to eat most aquarium plants if given the chance. You might be able to feed your goldfish from an aquarium that is too full of plants or algae. Got aquarium decorations covered in hair algae? You can temporarily move your aquarium decorations into your goldfish fish tank to give them a thorough cleaning. Prune your overgrown stem plants, scoop out your excess floating plants, and toss the trimmings into your goldfish aquarium.

If your tank’s water surface is completely covered in duckweed, consider transferring a goldfish into the afflicted aquarium until all traces of duckweed are gone. (Just be aware that your water piggies may snack on smaller fish if given the chance.)

Thankfully, there are some live plants that are tough enough to withstand goldfish, so if you’re looking to set up a planted goldfish tank, see the following article to learn about the top 5 easy plants we recommend.