Journal of Goldfish Growth Program

[vwashbur 59]

I've decided to keep track of the growth of my goldfish now that I've got them on a strict feeding program designed to help them fatten up and have all essential nutrients.

Here they are just 4 days ago:

Ponyo reaching 3 1/4 inches including tail.

Marley reaching 3 1/2 inches including tail.

Sachi reaching 4 inches including tail.

& a group photo for size comparison:

I am currently not occupied with attending class and my work schedule is flexible enough that I can do 3-4 feedings per day. That gives me just over a month to do 3-4 feedings daily to jumpstart them. After that I will scale back to 2 feedings daily.

The next month will look something like this:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays will be 4 smaller feedings daily alternating between Repashy (soilent green) gel food and peas.

Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays will be 3 medium sized feedings daily of Repashy (soilent green) gel food only.

Sundays will be one feeding of peas midday.

I'll be tracking their progress every three weeks and noting any changes I see here.

[shakaho 6,312]

This will be interesting, but I would urge you to include the standard length (nose to base of caudal fin). The caudal fin, pretty as it is, has little to do with the actual size of the fish.

[vwashbur 59]

That's a good point.

Ponyo is 2 inches, Marley is 2 inches, and Sachi is 2 1/4 inches all from nose to base of caudal fin.

[dnalex 13,633]

Fantastic! Looking forward to this

[motherredcap 6,284]

Those are some beautiful fish. Looking forward to seeing how they do!

[King Poseidon 73]

How old are they?

[haley_tichonuk22 1,157]

They are very pretty! Holy man....... And it will be interesting to see your results!

[vwashbur 59]

Thanks everyone! I'm excited to see how they do. It's only been 4 days & I can definitely see a difference in their bellies. They all have this "fuller" look to them, very voluminous.

King Poseidon: They were all about 3 months of age according to the LFS I purchased them from. I've had them all about a year and 4 months now. They have certainly grow, but not as much as I had hoped.

[vwashbur 59]

Quick update: Today is day 5 on my "program" with the Repashy gel food. Of my group of 3 goldfish, Sachi is my floater. We were doing great up until today. The floats aren't too bad, but definitely there. I'm wondering if it may be the sudden increase in food. Ponyo and Marley are doing just fine, so I know it's not too much food for a normal goldfish, but for the floaters it may be a bit much.

Today's schedule was for 4 feedings alternating between peas and Repashy. Instead I did Repashy and 3 pea feedings. He is back to his normal self now so we'll continue tomorrow and see how he does.

I may have to include more peas for him since he has the tendency to get constipated so easily. His poops were a bit stringy after the Repashy but were regular and pea colored after the peas.

[Sharkbait3 310]

Fantastic! Looking forward to this

^ ditto...............

[sarajo 566]

your fish are gorgeous! I especially love Sachi

[vwashbur 59]

Ok, I have made adjustments to the feeding schedule as it appears Sachi was not able to handle SO much food without getting floaty.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays will be 3 smaller feedings daily alternating between Repashy (soilent green) gel food and peas.

Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays will be 2 medium sized feedings daily of Repashy (soilent green) gel food only.

Sundays will be one feeding of peas midday.

Hopefully this will change with time and he can accept more food daily, but after trying one less meal per day these past 2 days he has been his regular self again. At first I thought it was the Repashy food, but realized he got floaty towards the end of the day no mater what, rather than simply after a meal of Repashy. So adjustments were made and all is back on track

your fish are gorgeous! I especially love Sachi

Thank you! His eyeballs and pretty color are what suckered me into getting him lol

[dnalex 13,633]

Do you know how much food it was that finally pushed him over to the edge? I'm finally seeing this in my panda Nelliel as well, since I've been pushing up the amount of food I feed them (all soilent green). It takes A LOT of food to do this though, and I'm glad to have discovered this upper ceiling.

The interesting thing is that Nelliel isn't really floaty. She just flipped over, but she can still control whatever depth she wants to be at. This lasted for about 1.5 hours, and is more of the classic SBD display.

[vwashbur 59]

I was feeding 4 cubes (each about 2 cmx 1 cm in size) at each of the feedings. Here is an example of one of the higher feeding days:

Monday was one of the larger feeding days so the first feeding was Repashy with 4 cubes between 8 am-9 am, then 6 peas12 pm- 1 pm, then Repahy again 4 pm - 5 pm, then peas 8 pm -9 pm.

Sachi too wasn't extremely floaty either and could still control himself the majority of the time but I noticed he would let the current of the filters push him around, he would list to one side because he couldn't control straight swimming, and he was always near the surface gulping like he usually did.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one to see this and I'm also glad you were able to find Nelliel's limit of food. I don't believe it is the Repashy food itself causing the floats because otherwise I wouldn't be able to feed the Repahy at all without seeing almost immediate floating. My fish are still much smaller than yours, so I'm sure they can't yet handle as much food. I am hoping that as they grow they will be able to accept more.

How much food was each individual fish receiving when you started noticing Nelliel was becoming floaty? Also, how much is she receiving now with her "ceiling limit" in place?

On another note, I can see significant difference in their bellies and their thickness already after only 10 days. While they haven't actually grown in length, they do look quite fatter which is encouraging.

[dnalex 13,633]

I'll have to weigh the amount food I feed to tell you, but it's a lot. Also, this is not a daily occurrence, and it days of a lot of feeding to push her to that stage. I'll try to get actual numbers up today or tomorrow

[vwashbur 59]

That's right! I forgot that you feed an army and counting cubes wouldn't be applicable to you!

[vwashbur 59]

Update: It's been a month since I began feeding Repashy for my "growth program".

I have noticed changes in all of their body depths. Their bellies now have the chubby goldfish look and they look almost stocky (in a good way) which is what I was going for. There has been little growth in their lengths from mouth to base of their tails:

Ponyo was 2 inches and is now 2 1/8 inches, Marley was 2 inches and is now 2 1/4 inches, and Sachi has jumped to just over 2 1/2 inches.

I'm really pleased with their growth and I feel they are now receiving all the nutrients I felt they were lacking with my homemade gel foods. Their colors look better than they ever have before and I've noticed their activity level is better too. Since goldfish are natural grazers, I also think being fed in more regular intervals is rather helpful.

Now, with Pacha (my newest addition) I decided to try something else. There was a little while where I fed the Spectrum Thera A Formula to my fish but Sachi would float with it. Since Pacha is brand new I wanted to try alternating his feedings between Repashy and the Thera A formula and see how he grew during his QT time. He is only slightly smaller than my other fish and I am just curious to see how his growth will progress.

With him being younger I will be feeding him more often (he also doesn't have floating issues) so I'll be looking at feeding him 4-5 times a day switching between spinach, Thera A formula, and Repashy.

Pacha is starting at 1 1/2 inches with a very deep body.

Next update to come soon!

[dnalex 13,633]

Great update!

I think that alternating between NLS and Repashy should give you some really nice results. Koko is alternating between Pro-Gold and Repashy, and I am doing the same with one of my tanks!

[fantailfan1 26,742]

Veery interesting thread. I look forward to your updates!

[vwashbur 59]

Alex, have you seen any changes in your fish now that it's been a little while since you started feeding the Repashy? You'll def have to let me know if the tank getting Pro-Gold and Repashy has considerable differences than your other tank!

Thanks fantailfan1! I'm having a lot of fun experimenting and watching their progress!

[dnalex 13,633]

Everyone is growing very well, but I don't have any definitive numbers. I am about to get some new fish, and placing them in their own tank, so I will be doing some growth documents as well

[vwashbur 59]

That's exciting! I'll be looking forward to seeing the new fish and their growth!

[mavwar 5]

Its interesting to see how marley's color will turn out...I wanted a panda.

[Gcourtney 854]

Your fish are growing good. I just started working with my telescope, and within four days she started looking fuller ,lol because before she was slim and small .