TetraFin Goldfish Flakes: How to Feed Goldfish Properly

I am relatively new to the aquarium world, although I have kept goldfish off and on since I was a little kid. Recently my wife and I purchased a Top Fin goldfish aquarium starter kit, and I got to relearn the entire fish keeping and caring process all over again. One thing that I have always taken for granted when keeping fish is the ingenuity involved in manufacturing a successful fish food. After I had set up my new aquarium, I began feeding my new goldfish (a calico fantail and an orange fantail with black spots). While I was feeding them I was struck with the cleverness of such a simple product as a goldfish flake and how much trial and error must have been put into the design and production of a perfect fish food that provides adequate nutrition, is attractive to the fish, and that promotes a healthy tank. While I am not a biologist and am not qualified to evaluate every detail of the adequacy of the TetraFin goldfish flakes, I would like to share some of the lessons I have learned by trial and error, as well as by research, about how to effectively use TetraFin goldfish flakes to feed goldfish.

Lesson #1: Food Quantity

A common mistake many beginner goldfish keepers make is to overfeed their pet goldfishes. I have made this mistake many, many times in the past, almost always with unhappy results. While I do not believe I have ever lost a fish to death due directly to overfeeding, overfeeding goldfish can lead to poor tank conditions and may be the indirect cause of your fishes' demise. A good rule of thumb to remember is that a goldfish's stomach is approximately the size of its eye. You should not feed your goldfish more than will fit in its stomach at any one feeding. To do so can harm the fish, especially since goldfish will go right on eating, even when their stomachs are full.