List of Foods Goldfish Can Eat

Gold fish will eat most food items whether meat or vegetable as they are omnivores. As such, provide them with a varied diet that can include dry food, vegetables, frozen bait and plants. Pond and aquarium gold fish may look like pets; however, they have the same digestive tract as wild gold fish and require the same type of diet.

  1. Dry Food

    • Flake food is the most commonly manufactured food for gold fish, according to Pet Place. It varies from the food given to tropical fish as a gold fish's nutritional needs are different. Pellet food is generally made out of the same foodstuffs as flake food and like flake food may only contain one kind of ingredient. If you feed your fish dry food only, purchase several varieties. Feed your goldfish flake food by placing some food in a small paper cup, dipping it in the tank and letting the water soak into the food before feeding it to your fish. This prevents digestive and other problems.

    Greens

    • Try growing duckweed in other tanks to feed daily to your goldfish. Algae from other tanks may also be fed to gold fish. Cooked baby peas are another green food you can feed your gold fish. Cook them until soft and refrigerate them. Pinch off the peas' skins right before feeding them to your gold fish. While green lettuce can cause digestive problems, red lettuce is a safe and easy-to-chew option. Rinse the lettuce with warm water before feeding. Peas can also be mixed into a gel food recipe for fish, which requires unflavored gelatin and ice cube trays.

    Frozen Food

    • Purchase frozen food to feed to your gold fish at your local pet supply store. Look for tubifex worms, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp and daphnia, available in frozen assorted-size flat slabs. Keep the food in your freezer and break off chunks to feed to your gold fish. Frozen vegetables such as squash and green beans may also be fed to your gold fish as diet additions.

    Live Food

    • Other options for gold fish food include live food such as brine shrimp, cultured redworm, snails daphnia, mosquito larvae, midge fly larvae and blackworms. If using live bait as gold fish food, do plenty of research beforehand to avoid accidentally feeding your fish food that is contaminated with disease. Live foods mimic the feeding behavior of gold fish, according to the Goldfish and Aquarium Board.

    Fruit

    • Feed your gold fish peeled fruit, such as oranges and grapes. Chop up apples before feeding them to your gold fish though fruit made of constituent parts, such as raspberries, can be fed to your gold fish whole as the fish will pry the smaller parts off the fruit.