Choosing the right type of food is vital for the health of the ranchu goldfish. Unlike other tropical fish, food choice is critical for fancy goldfish. If chosen incorrectly, you can reduce their gut motility and lead to constipation, which leads to the compression of the swimbladder organ, affecting their ability to swim. Specifically, fancy goldfish are prone to swim bladder disease due to their anatomy. Any expansion of the gut can compress the swimbladder. Chronic compression of the swimbladder leads to scarring, causing abnormal deflation of the organ. Symptoms include unnatural buoyancy in the water. They may stay either at the top or the bottom of the tank. In the worst-case scenario, they may flip over and remain upside down. Unfortunately, they are selected to have a short and rounded body. And this disease is irreversible. Some suggest that salt baths or feeding the goldfish peas may alleviate the symptoms. But it is inconsistent. As a result, the ranchu goldfish are extremely sensitive to their food. Since they graze all day in nature (coming from the carp background), you need to pick food that does not expand and minimize the amount of air that causes bloating. Here are some tips on what to feed your ranchu goldfish.
1. Fast-sinking pellets that do not expand.
Fast-sinking pellets with low expandability are ideal for the ranchu goldfish. As mentioned before, fancy goldfish are prone to develop swimbladder disease. It has been shown that floating food can lead to excessive air gulping at the surface. This will lead to the fish’s inability to excrete all the air through the gill. Some of the air will be trapped in the swimbladder. The constant inflation and deflation of the swimbladder organ may lead to permanent damage. To avoid this issue, I feed fast-sinking pellets. I also soak the food with tank water 15 minutes before feeding. This allows all the air in the processed food to be expelled, leading to less air ingestion. In addition, you should feed pellets that are small in size, about 1-2mm, depending on the size of the fish. Pellets are dried food that can expand underwater. And the grown food can compress the swimbladder and causes chronic inflammation and possible bacterial infection. That is why I recommend soaking your food.
I recommend Haki-Sakari purple bag goldfish food as it contains bacteria that help with food transit in the gut. This leads to less constipation and chronic inflammation in the stomach. It is also small in size and does not expand rapidly underwater. It is color-enhancing and enriches the red and white color in goldfish. You will notice white goldfish may have a yellow hue after feeding Haki-Sakari for a long time. Another food I recommend is Mizuho goldfish feed. It is very similar to the Haki-Sakari feed, but the pellet size is a little bit smaller. I have had great success feeding my fancy goldfish with both of these feeds. I feed both foods two to three times a day, and I perform 80 percent water changes for all of my tanks. Links are in the description down below.
2. Live food- Bloodworms
Feeding live food can be very beneficial to your goldfish. Goldfish graze on algae and live worms in the freshwater lakes and ponds in the natural environment. Until we kept them captive and bred them inside glass tanks, we started to feed them with processed food. Unfortunately, processed pellet and flake food get their nutrients stripe away. Vitamins and minerals get denatured as they go through the factory’s heating process. In Asia, goldfish breeder feeds their fish frequently with live bloodworms or earthworms. This provides adequate vitamins and minerals, and proteins in their diet. In reality, it is best to enrich their diet by providing a wide variety of food. I recommend Omega One’s bloodworm as it is the most commercially available. They can be found in stores like Petsmart and Petco. However, too high of a protein content can also cause constipation; therefore, you should aim to feed live food once per week or less. I do not feed live food to my goldfish as I provide them with trace elements using Seachem Gold Trace (link below). I put one cap full per 20 gallons of water.
3. Vegetables
You can feed vegetables to your goldfish. They love them. Vegetables like spinach, broccoli, peas, and zucchini are excellent choices. They also eat fruits like grapes and strawberries. Cut them into small pieces, use a veggie clip, and place them underwater. Then enjoy the view and watch your fish eat them up. Ranchu gurus and Youtubers like Luke’s Goldies does this a lot and his goldfish are very healthy. Vegetables provide the fish with all the essential trace minerals and vitamins. However, this does not replace their daily feed with pellets or live food. The calories of vegetables are not enough for fancy goldfish unless they can eat vegetables all day. You will also notice their detritus will turn green when they eat vegetables. They will also have more frequent bowel movements due to the amount of ingested fiber.
Feeding your fancy goldfish can be a confusing task. In general, buying quality pellet food and supplementing with occasional vegetables would benefit your inhabitants. I hope this article has been helpful for you. Feel free to comment, like, and subscribe if you enjoy posts like this. Check out my favorite fishkeeping items with the links below.
Buy my favorite aquarium equipment using the link below:
MarinePure spheres bio-media: https://amzn.to/3M60TTt
MarinePure blocks:https://amzn.to/3l4F8rb
Fluval Biomax: https://amzn.to/3yAGUIy
Bio-media bags (white and black):https://amzn.to/398E5nw
Gold Trace for ranchu goldfish: https://amzn.to/3LG76op
TDS meter: https://amzn.to/3Pi8Rei
My favorite aqua-scaping tools: https://amzn.to/3wFTzc6
Python water changing system: https://amzn.to/3m3xa2e
Frtizyme 7 Denitrifying bacteria: https://amzn.to/3GFtFsr
Water pump for water change: https://amzn.to/3zb034h
Saki-Hakari Purple Bag Goldfish food: https://amzn.to/3PWHh6G
Seachem Gold Trace: https://amzn.to/3Nl8ePQ