Goldfish in a tropical tank?

[Cheese Specialist]

Not a good idea, although fancy goldfish can do well in warmer water.

Your tank would have to be pretty big to keep 3 goldfish and tropicals. Reading back, I see that it is 60 litres. That's not even big enough for one goldie, I a afraid as they are very large and messy fish. 1 needs 20gallons and then 10 gallons for each after that.

Perhaps set up a small tropical tank too, then you can have a bit of both. Tropicals require less water volume each than goldfish so you could have a 10-20 gallon small community happily.

 

[s10moor]

right, so just to get it straight, i have currently:
At Home
1 60L/13 US Gallon tank with:
2 fancy goldfish (moor and fantail)
1 comet
1 pleco (i think)
heated tank (because the shop said the plec was tropical but the goldfish would be fine) heated to 22C
i take it from all that that is overcrowded? should i take out the comet and the plec?
Or can i leave in the plec with the fancy ones in warm water and take out the comet?
Or do i ...gulp...need a bigger tank?

At work, we are planning to have:
1 25gallon tank:
we already have 2 fancy goldfish (fantail and Oranda) which need re-homing and were hoping they would go in with the tropicals (which we havent chosen yet)

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Your at home tank is massively overstocked. IMO comets should not even be kept in tanks as they get too large and need too much room to be happy. Add to this the fact that fancies and commons should not be kept together at all. Plecs should not be in with goldfish because of the difference in tempature requirements. Commons require very cool water where as fancies can have slightly warmer water. Common plecs also get massive and need very big tanks with excellent filtration as they are poo machines in addition to their 18" potential size.

Your work tank is not too badly stocked, 2 fancies could be ok in a tank that size but you cannot add ore to it and I would not add tropicals. These fish simply do not go together, they have different requirements not only in tempature but also in oxygen and nutrition.

HTH

 

[s10moor]

oh no. so what can i do? can i take the comet back to the store? im quite upset because they should not sell them to go in tanks knowing they wont be happy (this made worse by the fact they actually sold all three of them to me to go in a goldfish bowl)

also, the reason i got the catfish was to help with my algae...is there an alternative or is my tank too small?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I would try and take fish back to be honest. At worst, comets should be provided a very large tank. It's not your fault, most people have had problems with LFS advice and especially in the case ofgoldfish, downright lies with regards to stocking.

Common plecs won't actually eat algae happily throughout their life. They usually stop as they get older and bigger. Apple snails can be good for algae and these are fine in cold and tropical tempatures.

 

[clutterydrawer]

s/he said earlier it was a clown plec...I'm not sure if these are alagae eaters or not

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Oh sorry, I didn't realise that it was a clown.

Most plecs will eat a little algae but not usually for long and clown plec are actually wood eating plecs.

As it is a clown plec, it can be kept in a smaller tank as these do not grow as big. They'd still need about 25-30gallon though IMO.

 

[The-Wolf]

Taken from a pinned post of mine in the coldwater forum

Goldfish can live for 20+ years and reach sizes in excess of 15"

You need 20 U.S. gallons for the first fish
and 10 U.S. gallons for each additional fish
This means that in order to keep 5 goldfish
in a tank you would require 60 U.S. gallons.

A goldfish will not grow to its enviroment.
Its' body may, however the internal organs will not.
This can lead to serious problems with deformaties and death.

Fancy Goldfish (moores, fantails, lionheads, etc) should
not be kept with common fish (goldfish, comets, shubunkins etc.)
this is due to the slowness of the fancies when it comes to feeding
and due to the more commons nipping fins.

I hope this helps you in making the correct choice for you and your fish.
Sorry I have no idea on the pleco issue, but it belive that has been answered.

Btw goldfish can also carry some diseases that are fatal to tropical fish.
the lesson here, IMO, is never trust a lfs untill you know they are giving good advice; this can only be achieved by research and help from places like this forum.
Good luck, and keep us posted on the eventual outcome.

 

[Paul_MTS]

Indeed if it is a clown plec which are black and yellow stripy then it mainly munches on wood and will barely touch your algae.

good luck with sorting your tanks out.

 

[scottsbt1690]

well when i first started out in fish keeping(tropical) i had a ghost koi carp and it was superb, looked amazing got on very nicely with everything else in the tank, it did grow a bit quicker though, but it was too big i think around 6 inches or so

scott

 

[s10moor]

I'm not entirely sure its a clown plec..the shop just sold it as a catfish that eats algae so i was looking up types of algae and it looked most like the clown plec on another post on this site.....im kinda guessing here...not so good i guess....

well, ive decided to try and give away the comet but i don't know anyone with a pond so will try some stores tomorrow.

Im also on ebay as we speak trying to get a bigger tank because i really like my fish and i don't want to give away any more than i have to....if i find one then i can leave my plec (?) in and get some tropicals....

Oh, i can't believe goldfish live that long...i was told 7years was exceptional and 4inches a decent size...

another thing, my comet seems to get on great with the others, infact my fantail probably gets the most food...he/she so greedy

Oh, one last thing, everyone has been really helpful so thank you...and what's an IMO and an LFS?

 

[Koda]

Oh, one last thing, everyone has been really helpful so thank you...and what's an IMO and an LFS?

IMO means In My Opinion.
LFS could be either Large or Local Fish Store.

Another common ones is:

HTH= Hope This Helps

And I hope it does


Don't feel too bad...most fish keepers have made mistakes.At one time I had a fantail and a koi in a 5g tank


Koda

 

[MrMashashin]

One thing I don't understand is why gold fish need huge ammounts of water to them selves. My grandma had 2 gold fish in a 5 gallon tank about 10 years ago with a water change every 2 days. The things are still alive and well. Plus they came from a canival. So I think these things can deal with anything and everything. As for the tropical water fish, i think if the water is turned up to the minimum for the pleco the fish might be fine.

 

[The-Wolf]

One thing I don't understand is why gold fish need huge ammounts of water to them selves. My grandma had 2 gold fish in a 5 gallon tank about 10 years ago with a water change every 2 days. The things are still alive and well. Plus they came from a canival. So I think these things can deal with anything and everything. As for the tropical water fish, i think if the water is turned up to the minimum for the pleco the fish might be fine.

Goldfish are waste producers, that is why they need a large volume of water all to themselves.

and just because you granma did something does not make it right or accepatble today (the UK have recently banned goldfish and such as prizes in fairs and carnivals, as it is no longer scocialt and moraly acceptable.) Being alive and living are two diferent things.
HTH you understand a bit more.

 

[s10moor]

<------- keep trying to quote but no idea how

I know i should ask this in beginners but i am too lazy to start a new thread and have got some good responses on this one..

for the new tank im setting up at work, ive been reading lots on fishless cycling in this new tank and the general gyst is set it up with lots of plants, add ammonia and keep dosing with same amount ammonia until the appearance of nitrites, then cut the dose in half until nitrates disappear then water changes till nitrates are acceptable, all the while adding little food.....is that right?

Question: how much ammonia should i start off adding and do i go to a small hardware store and just ask for household ammonia?

also, if i take media from my home tank, can i transport it 25mins to work without killing the bacteria?