avoiding dry food

[Jayjsizzle]

Hey all just after any input into fish diet. Atm I'm feeding my fish a mix of fish flakes, peas and today I got a pack of bloodworms.
Every time I Freed my fish the fish flakes one or two fish seem to have a issue with constipation and its swim bladder. Unfortunately the flakes are the main part of the fishes diet. Any suggestions on how I can fix this issue or other things I can feed my fish?

 

[i3k]

What fish are having swim bladder issues? Are they barbs by any chance?

 

[Jayjsizzle]

Thanks for the reply!
In my tank I have gold fish ( Nymphs, comets) zebra danios, sucker fish, white terra and snails.
But its the gold fish that seem to be affected by this. The nymph ( I only have 1 ) has had this issue for about 3 weeks the other fish only started today.

 

[Clownfish767]

Maybe you could try pellets. Mine had that problem a while back and i went out and bought pellets and they ate faster and all problems were fixed.

 

[Jayjsizzle]

Did you pre-soak them I read somewhere that if given directly to the fish without soaking the feed can expand in the fishes gut and make it bloated? Dose any one know if there is any truth to that?

 

[Fishguy2727]

A high quality pellet food should not be an issue. Many freeze dried whole animal foods cause this problem and should be avoided. I never feed flakes any more because they are so messy to feed and don't fill the fish up as well as pellets. I feed and recommend New Life Spectrum Thera+A.

 

[Jayjsizzle]

I'll have a look at my local for it eitherway Ima get some pellets and give them a go.
What falls into the category of freeze dried whole animal food? I haven't heard or read about this before.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Stuff like freeze dried bloodworms.

 

[Clownfish767]

NLS(new life spectrum) is amazing! my clowns love it and eat A LOT!!!

 

[ChelseaLake]

Are your goldies fancy?

I feed my 3 fancies peas to prevent swim bladder. I also give them freeze-dried "baby shrimp" treats, soaked flakes on occasion, and soaked sinking pellets, as well as blanched veggies like zucchini and spinach.

Fancies are prone to swim bladder and digestive problems, so just make sure you're giving them a varied diet. Also, the pea thing - pure magic.

 

[HN1]

Goldfish typically won't do well longterm on tropical food which is one of the reasons that I wouldn't keep them together. What temp are they at?

 

[Jayjsizzle]

The main fish with the problem was a nymph. Sadly this is now a was fish! This morning twas a dead fish.
I don't think Ima get any more nymphs the seem to have a lot of issues. The other fish got a little bit bloated then came ok but with that nymph it was a ongoing problem.

 

[Jayjsizzle]

Goldfish typically won't do well longterm on tropical food which is one of the reasons that I wouldn't keep them together. What temp are they at?

The tank is unregulated but it sets at about 17-24 degrees C. The flakes that I am feeding them are gold fish flakes.

 

[Fishguy2727]

I always feed pellets, it is cleaner and fills them up better. This is especially true with goldfish.

If you have a good goldfish pellet you shouldn't have to soak them. This can actually do harm by removing any water soluble vitamins that are in the food.

NLS has proven to be the best thing for all types of fish IME. Everything from mbunas, community fish, and goldfish to inverts and amphibians have all done much better for me on NLS exclusively than anything else.

Goldfish are fine on it, just like other tropical fish.

A high quality pellet should be effectively their whole diet. Some peas and other veggies are fine to beneficial. Any whole animal freeze dried or frozen foods (like almost all freeze dried and frozen foods out there) should be avoided. The extra protein is not good for their digestive system.

Goldfish are fine with tropical fish and in tropical temps if it is done properly. As with any fish choose tankmates carefully and you should never have any aggresion problems. The diet issue is only an issue if you are feeding low quality foods. As stated above NLS has proven to be the best for all fish IME.

Variety is not a nutrient. If you need variety to get proper nutrition you need a better staple (a higher quality pellet) to begin with. Again, a high quality pellet should be effectively all that is needed.

 

[Jayjsizzle]

Thanks fishguy I got some pellets today so ill give them a try. Should fix up the problem.