Goldfish And Guppies...

[tishygirl]

So my daughter played the 'fish' game at the carnival... Dad brought her home with 7 goldfish !!! they are each good sized, a good 3 inches ..... Luckily I had a 10 gallon tank set up and empty that I have been using as a quarantine tank as I stock a fish here and there in my 75gallon....

My question is this... the goldfish cant stay in the 10gallon tank.. Its too small...... But I wonder if its safe "after quarantine of course" to put them into a community tropical tank with guppies, mollies, a catfish, and a male beta.

Are their requirements approx the same ? Also, do they need a specialized food ? I have algae tabs, tropical flakes, blood worms, beta bits, frog pellets and some dehydrated shrimp... will any of these work ???


Thanks for your time !

 

[starrynightxxi]

may want to try the coldwater section but i can give you some info.

Goldies are coldwater fish, especially common/comet goldfish like i assume these are, and aren't really suited for tropical temperatures. They won't die immediately as these are hardy fish, but just weren't made for constant high temps. They would be fine on the same foods, but they will get big and will eventually eat everything they can catch and fit in their mouths (which will be your entire stock unless they get stunted). Their eventual size means that they are really best suited to life in ponds as they are also quite active, and also that goldfish are big-time waste producers.

For fancy goldfish the rule is usually 20g for the first fish, and another 10 for every following fish. For commons the size is much greater, but i don't know off the top of my head.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Hard to say. Really Goldfish need to be kept in cold water, like starrynightxxi said. What is the temperature of the tank at the moment?


They really shouldn't be mixed though.

 

[rdd1952]

Although goldfish are considered coldwater fish, they generally will do ok at tropical temperatures. In most homes even an unheated tank will run in the upper 70s anyway so they will still be at tropical temps even in a tank without heater. I have a small (about 100 gallon) goldfish pond in my back yard and in the summer, the water temp is in the 80s almost from June to September and they do fine. Actually, this summer, it has been even worse as the high temperature every day in the most of August was over 90 with about 7 of those being over 100.

My dad also has a pond and his runs about the same as mine. He's had his pond for over 40 years and rarely loses a fish other than age or the owl that decided his pond was a good place to dine (mesh net over both our ponds now). There are 75 fish in his now (we counted them when he cleaned the pond earlier this summer), ranging in size from 3" to about 10". By all standards, it is severely overstocked but is extremely well filtered an oxygenated (large fountain with a willow tree growing off the side). His fish are extremely healthy.

Having said that, it is definitely better to not mix them for other reasons besides temperature. As already mentioned, they may eat your other fish and will definitely outgrow the tank. Your filtration also may not be enough to take care of their waste as they are very messy. You best bet would be to check with the local fish stores to see if they would let you swap them for store credit.

 

[tishygirl]

Argh.. ok.. she is NOT going to want to hear that...

I SO wish I could have a pond, but I don't think I could manage.. in the summer here, our weather is a consistent 90 and up .. and in the winter, we're below freezing for a couple months straight.. thanks for the help

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What type/varieties of goldfish do you have do you know? See the link below for pics and names of different types of goldfish;

http/www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/goldfish.htm



If you have 7 goldfish 3inches big in a 10gal, they are already too large for it, you would need to double the strength of the filtration in the tank to keep them healthily in it for while (goldfish produce a lot of waste). Depending on the exact type of goldfish you have, you may need a very larger aquarium to house them, since they are a lot of types of goldfish which grow between 1 and 2 ft long.

IMHO The best/cheapest option would be to either dig your own pond (hots summers and cold winters don't matter as long as the pond is at least 3ft or more deep and 7ft long, the depth of the pond will help protect the goldfish from quick fluctuations in temp and extreme cold or heat, since the deeper the pond the more insulated it is from such things etc), or to rehome them to a friend who already has a goldfish pond (not koi though, as large koi would be able to eat goldfish of that size) which has some space to spare for some new goldfish additions .

 

[helterskelter]

Basically if you put goldfish in with normal tropical fish, they will bully them and out compete them for food. This will resualt in most of the other fish suffering.

So please don't unless your risking the health of your other fish.

 

[chucksmo]

Well I am not saying do it but about 6 years ago my wife and I went to a carnaval and she had gotten about four of them goldies. we had gotten a 20 us gal. tank yes I know not cycled. We put them in and three of them had past in 8 months. the last one which we called lucky was still alive. We ended up buying 2 mollies 2 guppies and a baby peco. They all lived in the same tank for 3 years, no deaths no foul play well untill my wife decided to be nice and clean the tank, ie...empty all the water clean with soap and put water so hot it didn't register on the thermometer and well fried the fish. I was so mad I hadn't gotten any fish till about 7 months ago. Now I do all water changes and cleanings. no fish deaths yet.. knock on wood..
Any ways I had no problem with goldies in a community tank but I guess in the end it is up to what u want.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, from personal experience, your betta will be no more by tomorrow if you put them in that tank. So if you do decide to put them in there, take the betta out, the other fish should be fine with it until they get bigger though