What should I feed my oranders?

[lickmanoman]

Recently i saw a pair of oranders by a dealer they were exceptionally beautiful. What he said is that they were called cauliflower because their heads looked that way. What I want to know is this a genetic trait or are there any type of foods that can enhance oranders?

[Fishguy2727]

Some foods claim to enhance the wen (the cauliflower cap) on orandas, lionheads, and ranchu goldfish, but any high quality food will provide the nutrients for proper growth, wen included. Along with diet, high water quality is also a must for getting the most out of any fish.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Fishguy speaks the truth. I reccomend feeding New Life Spectrum flakkes as the main food, and feed boiled zuchini and other foods as a once a week food.

[Fishguy2727]

Actually, flakes would not be a good idea. They float and round-bodied goldfish should only have sinking foods, and pellets fill them up much better. Also tend to feed the filters a lot more than pellets do. NLS has a sinking goldfish pellet, but since all their foods have almost the exact same formula (something common in very high quality foods) just worry about size and whether it floats or sinks.

[Incredulous_Ed]

ooh, yeah, forgot about that. Thanks for clearing that up. This is why people shouldn't liste to me.

[Willyleigh]

Use a pellet food not flake, fancy goldfish will swallow too much air eating off of the surface and can get swim bladder problems

[troy]

The Hikari pellets have pellets made for orandas.

[Fishguy2727]

The NLS ones are much better though.

[troy]

Do you have to mail-order NLS or do they sell it at regular fish stores.

[Rue]

Flakes are fine if you if soak them in a bit of tank water before feeding...once they're waterlogged they slowly sink.

Goldfish, including orandas, need VARIETY in their diet. Add zucchini, lettuce (NOT iceberg), spinach, orange slices, etc. Also feed bloodworms, brine and mysis shrimp, glassworms, etc.