Feeding Goldfish

Question
Hi Christy,

I have been on to you a number of times in the past and you have always been extremely helpful and very quick to answer my questions....thanks for that.

Just wondering if you could advise me on feeding goldfish.  I have 2 goldfish, common goldfish, in a 40 gallon tank.  I feed them flakes every second day, normally one flake each and every other day I feed them peas.  How many peas should be they be getting each?  I normally give them one pea each, mashed and de-shelled.  Is this enough or should they be getting more?  I have also noticed that when I feed one of them the flakes his balance isn't great so any other suggestions on what I could feed him?

Ammonia is at zero as is Nitrite and Nitrate reading is 5ppm.  I change about 25% of water once a week.

Answer
Hi Katie
Well thank you!  And glad I can help :)

I have 3 comets, I usually feed them a variety of stuff.  I use small goldfish pellet food, goldfish flakes, during the week I'll feed them some frozen and thawed out blood worms mixed with some frozen/thawed brine shrimp(I thaw a couple cubes of each in a small bowl with some tank water), I give mine a whole pea just split open once a week, you could get a veggie clip from the store and clip a piece of romaine lettuce or spinach leaf on there(just don't let it sit for longer then a day or so, it'll foul up the water).  Frozen/thawed krill is good for them, as well as cut up pieces of cocktail or salad shrimp.  I've even read of some folks giving them small pieces of oranges.  You can try soaking the flake or pellet food before feeding them, just put it in a bowl with some tank water.  That may help with the balance issue you're seeing.  I usually just put the food into the filter output/waterfall area, so it distributes the food around so they don't suck air in at the surface, actually do that for all my fish.  You could feed them a little bit more, just what they'll eat in about 3-5 minutes.  With goldies, there's usually not much left over lol.  

Otherwise, everything you're doing sounds great!  So are the water parameter readings.  Good luck and let me know if you have more questions!  And thanks for providing lots of details with your question, that helps a lot :)

Christy