Goldfish And Tropicals

[NinjaSmurf]

I know that a lot of times people come on here and want to mix goldfish with tropicals, and we always say no, it's not good because of the temp differences and the goldfish would eat the smaller fish, or other fish would bother or eat the goldfish.

What I'm wondering is, if you have a large tank, and you have a fancy type of goldfish that's recommended temp is like 72F, could you actually mix it with something peaceful but 'tropical' that goes in the same temp range? This is all hypothetical, but I started thinking about it today and couldn't find a major reason we say 'no' to the idea for reasons other than that goldfish are 'coldwater' and messy.

 

[Curiosity101]

Fancys could be a bit slow when it comes to feeding time and get outcompeted. Therefore you'd have to overfeed and could risk water quality issues.

 

[erk628]

If you trained you goldfish to be hand fed this would not be an issue

 

[nmonks]

It's actually very easy to mix goldfish with subtropical fish. They do particularly well with things like Peppered Corydoras, Bronze Corydoras, Danios, and other subtropical, non-nippy fish.

Cheers, Neale

 

[NinjaSmurf]

So it is actually possible, as long as you're careful. Thanks guys, it was just one of those things that niggled at the back of my head where I'd be telling someone why it wouldn't work, and then thinking, well, exactly why wouldn't it?

 

[Gurglar]

I think its mainly cause goldfish are extremely messy aswell and most tropicals aren't as hardy compared to your goldfish so might not deal with it aswell if the water isn't cared for properlly.

 

[nmonks]

As Gurglar says, goldfish are messy fish. I'd debate their hardiness -- vast numbers die prematurely because they're exposed to poor conditions -- but they are somewhat more tolerant of problems that most tropical fish. But in terms of messiness, they're no worse than, say, plecs or tinfoil barbs. Provided they're in a large aquarium with a robust filter, they are what they are, medium sized cyprinids, essentially big barbs.

Goldfish are a bit fussier about water chemistry than many tropical fish though. They do not like soft/acid water, and should only be kept in tanks with moderately hard or hard water.

Cheers, Neale