# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Goldfish eating Poop

## joelwong

Bought 2 goldfish few days ago, noticed that the bottom of the tank is always very clean, until I discovered the reason. The goldfishes have been eating their own poop. 

The goldfishes (about 1 1/2 inches) are eating 5-8 pellets a day each (I am using Ocean Free SuperBLOODPARROT pellets shared with my blood parrots) 

Am I feeding them not enough? I do not (I think I better type in full, there is an english teacher marking every post here  :Grin:  ) dare to feed them too much as I heard that goldfish will just continue eating till they get swimbladder disease and die from it. 

Is this poop eating habit normal or am I underfeeding them causing them to feed on their own poo? 

Heard from a plant shop in Tengah near farm mart that duckweeds are natural diet for Goldfishes, I am thinking of floating some on the tank, together with hornwort. Is this advisable?

Thanks

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## grey_fox

:Laughing:  what's new with goldfishes. 

That's one of their traits. What goes out, goes back in. And the cycle repeats itself.

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## joelwong

> what's new with goldfishes. 
> 
> That's one of their traits. What goes out, goes back in. And the cycle repeats itself.


So it's OK?

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## grey_fox

Yup, its ok. If you're disturbed by this, just do a manual clean up as and when you do see the poop. 

Other than that, nothing much you can do about them eating their own poop.

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## joelwong

> Yup, its ok. If you're disturbed by this, just do a manual clean up as and when you do see the poop. 
> 
> Other than that, nothing much you can do about them eating their own poop.


ok then.

I wonder where the goldfish waste go to.

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## michael lai

Hi Joel,
No matter what you put inside the tank, they will still eat their own poo. When the poo dissapears, it means it has become part of the 'solution'. Heehee....pun intended. Don't worry about them they grew up like that..... :Opps:

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## joelwong

> Hi Joel,
> No matter what you put inside the tank, they will still eat their own poo. When the poo dissapears, it means it has become part of the 'solution'. Heehee....pun intended. Don't worry about them they grew up like that.....


Thanks, first time handling goldfish.
Any idea how much to feed them, heard that they will just eat until they kennah swim bladder problem and die. They are about 1 1/2 inches Orandas

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## juggler

Could your filter have cleaned up the poo somewhat?
Goldfish just swallow anything small. But if it is poo or indigestible, they spit out, right? And the poo would have been broken to smaller pieces and get sucked in by the filter?

That's what I think.  :Smile:

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## michael lai

Well, I would say sparingly and a few times every day. Get those that sink, the dry pellets. Goldfish looks odd if they are skinny so not too little too. Get a cannister filter, the extra water movement would give them exercise and also provide adequate filtration for the tank. Its best to have them in a bare tank as you will discover later... :Grin:  Have fun.

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## GaspingGurami

I feed mine with chopped fresh lettuce. Feed as much as they'd eat and still no swimbladder problem. But make sure you wash the leaves well from any pesticides. 

Duckweed is good too as you need not remove the uneaten portions which contribute filtering the water. But you need to grow the spares in another tank outdoors, and you cannot use an overflow filter with duckweed.

For Goldfishes, you can never get a filter that's too big.  :Wink:

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## joelwong

> For Goldfishes, you can never get a filter that's too big.


Thanks for the advise, I am temporarily housing my goldfishes in a 33 litre tank. I tried using a top filter with a 800litre/hr pump, ended up the submersible is taking up a huge space in the tank. Somemore, it turned the tank into a mini washing machine. Now I am using a hang on type of filter, guess i have to do water change more deligently until i get a bigger house for them

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## GaspingGurami

Power is not the most important thing in a filter, surface area IS the thing. No use having 800 litres of water passing through a small filterbox of wool, better to get the water passing through a big tub of sponge, rings and wool then back into the tank. Like a sump filter the marine reefers use.

If you have a light for the sump, you can grow your spare duckweeds there too.

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## Freakin' Fraud

It is from hearsay that the main reason goldfishes are suitable for small fishbowls is due to its super-short-term memory of 3 seconds. (ala dory the fish from finding nemo)

Hence, goldfish will never die from boredom in a small space because they will 'forget' where they were 3 seconds ago. The same theory can be applied when feeding goldfish: the goldfish will tend to 'forget' that it has eaten 3 seconds ago, thus it will keep on eating and eating if there is still food around.

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