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How Long Can A Goldfish Go Without Food: Full Answer

Have ever wanted to own a pet but never committed because of your availability? Have you thought about owning something smaller and easier to keep alive like a snake or a spider or even a goldfish? How long can goldfish live without food?

Goldfish are a great pet or animal to have in the house if you have a busy schedule. The maintenance and care required to keep a goldfish alive is minimal and could it could serve as an easy-going companion while at home.

Life happens though and sometimes you may forget to feed your small pets like snakes, frogs, and goldfish, but in this case, goldfish can go without food for up to two weeks. We aren’t suggesting you starve your goldfish, but there are going to be cases where you may be out of town or forget to feed your fish which is in this case. This information would come in handy.

Goldfish can go for about two weeks without food, but remember this timeline can be influenced by a variety of factors like environment and surrounding wildlife. Goldfish that live in a pond may be able to go longer than two weeks without food rather than goldfish that live in a tank or aquarium.

In ponds, a variety of algae and insects live beneath and around the surface that could act as substitute food sources for your goldfish. If there isn’t enough wildlife in your pond, you could add plants and other edible sources that could be consumed and sustain life.

If you don’t have a pond and your goldfish reside in a tank or aquarium, it is important to set up arrangements for feeding whether that is from a friend or an automatic feeding device.

Asking your Neighbor For Help
Asking your Neighbor For Help

Asking your Neighbor For Help

The easiest way to arrange for your goldfish to be fed is by asking a neighbor, friend, or family member to check in periodically. Ideally, goldfish should be fed at least two to three times a day. Or if schedules don’t permit for that frequency of feedings, you can arrange to have your goldfish fed at least once every two or three days.

It’s important to keep a continuous feeding cycle for your goldfish as it will continue to sustain life, nutrition, and growth. However, you don’t want to go overboard to give them too much food in one sitting.

The rule of thumb when it comes to measuring the amount of food for a goldfish is going by the amount that can be consumed within two minutes or the amount equal to the size of its eye. It may be easier to measure out each feeding and use a pill organizer to separate each meal.

If you don’t have someone that can check on your goldfish, one alternative could be using an automatic fish feeder. Keep it Automatic! An automatic feeder uses a timer for when food will be dispense for feeding.

One of the recommended feeders to us is the Eheim battery-operated feeder. It can hold up to 100m1 of dry food and can serve fish for up to several weeks. It is user-friendly and small enough that it doesn’t take up an enormous amount of surface space in the tank.

This type of feeder doesn’t allow you to alternate between different types of food. It’s simple and provides the basic needs of automatic feeding. Unlike the Eheim battery-powered feeder, there are other feeders that are both sophisticated and technologically savvy enough to alternate between food types.

While automatic fish feeders are convenient, there is a major downside. If the filers in the feeders are not changed and cleaned on regular basis, the filter will stop working properly. This increases the chances of more pollutants being released into the water compromising your goldfish’s health and food source.

What you need to consider is, what are you willing to pay for a more sophisticated feeder? And is it necessary to have that amount of functionality? How long are you going to be away and will the filters need to be changed during that time?

The Slow Release Method

The last and final option that you can use if you are not able to consistently feed your goldfish because you are away on business or vacation is the slow-release food dispenser.

This is the cheapest option and can be broken down into two different categories. The first is the weekend feeder block and the second is the vacation feeder block. The weekend feeder lasts for three days versus the vacation feeder that can feed your goldfish up to 14 days.

Are there other reasons where you may hold off feeding your goldfish for a few days?

Yes, in fact, there are a few reasons why it may be a good idea to temporarily withhold food. Sometimes it is wise to skip feeding for a couple of days due to the aquarium water quality.
It’s important to regularly change your goldfish’s tank’s water. This helps maintain a healthy ecosystem for the goldfish and there is a smaller chance of bacteria and parasites invading their space and causing illness or in some cases death.

Going back to the question, “how long can goldfish live without food?” withholding food for a few days could reduce the amount of waste in the tank. This is not a long-term solution to maintaining a clean aquarium but could be a temporary solution until you get to actually cleaning your goldfish’s space.

Have you ever wondered why your goldfish is swimming upside down? This is a common problem for goldfish and it’s called the buoyancy problem. This indicates there is a strong possibility that your goldfish has a swim bladder disorder or disease.

Gas fills within the bladder and irregulates the fish’s buoyancy. Withholding food temporarily would cause them to fast which could help get rid of the extra gas.

Goldfish can eat a number of different human foods that could be added to your goldfish’s habitat over a period of a few days. Again, you would have to be careful since the food could contaminate the water long-term, but it could serve as a potential alternative for a short period of time.

These foods include carrots, cucumbers, spinach, kale, peas, oranges, watermelon, broccoli, cucumbers, apples, grapes, bananas, and cooked rice.


Other Facts Worth Mentioning

When you think about the concept of how long can goldfish live without food, there are other important facts worth mentioning that could enhance.

Your goldfish’s life and aquarium experience

Your goldfish will show signs of hunger if he or she is looking sluggish or slow, digging around the tank searching for food, or coming to the surface and waiting for you. If you are seeing these changes in behavior it’s important to make sure you keep a consistent feeding schedule.

Sometimes goldfish will continue to eat even when they’re full so it’s important to keep to the portion sizes mentioned above.

What type of food is better? Pallets or flakes?

A goldfish eats its food from lower and middle levels of the water and pellets tend to sink when they hit the water. This allows your goldfish to feed on its natural habitat but the downside is the pellets can rot if not all eaten. This will increase the ammonia levels in the tank which could lead to complications.

Whereas, flakes stay at the surface and the drawback is your goldfish has a higher probability of intaking air that can cause the swim bladder disorder.

Goldfish are able to build a routine and are trained to do small tricks. This could include swimming through hoops or releasing food at a certain time. With that said, it is easy for goldfish to be put on a feeding schedule. If they are intuitive to have a sense of routine then it could be easy to set up a feeding schedule when absent for short or even long periods of time.

We don’t recommend leaving your goldfish to its own devices but goldfish are smarter than we think. In fact, goldfish can remember things that happened several months prior versus the common belief that they have a three-second memory.

Goldfish are the most popular fish to have as a pet
Goldfish are the most popular fish to have as a pet

Important Reminder

Goldfish are the most popular fish to have as a pet. There are specific things to do in order to maintain a healthy living environment. They are unique in the fact that they can go up to two weeks without food. As we learned, they are intuitive and have the capability of having a sense of a routine, and the reason why they need a balanced nutritional intake is for growth.

They can grow up to 18 inches long and weigh up to 10 pounds. The size of their tank will determine their growth, but the most important thing to know is how often to feed them and what to feed them. Yes, they can sustain life for up to two weeks if not longer without food depending on their environment, but to ensure health and wellness.

It’s vital that your goldfish eat between two to three times a day. There are alternatives to feeding your goldfish if you are going to be away for long or short periods of time, but the most important thing is to educate yourself on how to care for your fish.

About Rencel Leyran