How Many/what Size Goldfish?

[Bublbubl]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum so I'm sorry if you've heard this question a million times.
I have a 4 foot tank, coldwater, currently with 1 goldfish (small) in it. I'm monitoring the water conditions etc to get the tank established and stable.
I'm hoping you can advise how many goldfish I should aim to keep? And more importantly how big should they be? I like the large orandas but I don't know whether putting a large fish in the tank is right, is it better to put in a small one and allow it to grow?
I'm kind of thinking if I go for large orandas then I'd only get 2. And if I went for small ones then maybe 4?
Any advice would be great.

 

[Crossfire]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum so I'm sorry if you've heard this question a million times.
I have a 4 foot tank, coldwater, currently with 1 goldfish (small) in it. I'm monitoring the water conditions etc to get the tank established and stable.
I'm hoping you can advise how many goldfish I should aim to keep? And more importantly how big should they be? I like the large orandas but I don't know whether putting a large fish in the tank is right, is it better to put in a small one and allow it to grow?
I'm kind of thinking if I go for large orandas then I'd only get 2. And if I went for small ones then maybe 4?
Any advice would be great.

You could mix any goldfish together, as long as you don't put fast ones with slow ones.
Fancy bred goldfish are slower, and will be outcompeted by fast goldfish, like comets or koi.

Slow goldfish are orandas, ranchu, fan tail, telescope eye, black moore, and pearlscale.

What are the exact dimensions of the tank?

 

[Bublbubl]

Dimensions in inches are 48 width, 18 height and 12 depth

 

[Crossfire]

You could do 2, maybe even 3, orandas in that tank
I assume the tank is very overfiltered with a strong filter?

 

[Bublbubl]

Well I have a fluval 4. I was wondering whether I needed to upgrade. I never had water issues before once the tank was cycled so I assume this filter is enough. Although the tank is 4 foot it's one of the thinner ones, 175litres.

 

[Blitz]

Well I have a fluval 4. I was wondering whether I needed to upgrade. I never had water issues before once the tank was cycled so I assume this filter is enough. Although the tank is 4 foot it's one of the thinner ones, 175litres.

I wouldn't do 3 orandos in a 175 liter tank (46 US gallons). I'd only do about two at the most.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Orandas get 8" at full size. You could keep 4 goldfish max in that tank. How about

2 Black Moor goldfish
1 goldfish that you have
8 White Cloud Mountain Minnows

 

[daz4321]

single tail goldfish should not be kept in an aquarium they are pond fish. Twin tailed goldfish should have 160l for the first fish plus an extra 60l per an additional fish. white clouds and other similar sized temperate fish will be eaten sooner or later by goldfish. Oranda can grow between 8inches and 12inches in size on average though some grow larger!!

a tank for any large fish should be length 6x the fishes adult length, width 2x the adult length and height dependant on the fish being kept.

 

[Crossfire]

single tail goldfish should not be kept in an aquarium they are pond fish. Twin tailed goldfish should have 160l for the first fish plus an extra 60l per an additional fish. white clouds and other similar sized temperate fish will be eaten sooner or later by goldfish. Oranda can grow between 8inches and 12inches in size on average though some grow larger!!

a tank for any large fish should be length 6x the fishes adult length, width 2x the adult length and height dependant on the fish being kept.

This has already been mentioned in previous post. I've never heard of goldfish eating white cloud minnows ever.

I think, 2 orandas could comfertably live in there, and if you have extra, extra filtration and are good with keeping the tank clean you could get 3.

 

[daz4321]

just because it could be done does not mean it should be done, an adult oranda could end up struggling to turn around in that tank, no matter the amount of filtration it will not remove the hormones released by these fish and therefor could stunt their already line bred induced body shape causing more medical issues.

BTW as for the wcmm go ask on a goldfish only forum you will soon find out that goldfish sooner or later will eat what fits in their mouth, other fish, snails, gravel, its not out of predatory instinct but they just do it. But then again if you are putting these type of fish into a small tank thats not suitable then they are never going to live long enough to reach full size anyway so it would not be an issue would it?

 

[Crossfire]

just because it could be done does not mean it should be done, an adult oranda could end up struggling to turn around in that tank, no matter the amount of filtration it will not remove the hormones released by these fish and therefor could stunt their already line bred induced body shape causing more medical issues.

BTW as for the wcmm go ask on a goldfish only forum you will soon find out that goldfish sooner or later will eat what fits in their mouth, other fish, snails, gravel, its not out of predatory instinct but they just do it. But then again if you are putting these type of fish into a small tank thats not suitable then they are never going to live long enough to reach full size anyway so it would not be an issue would it?

Oranda goldifsh only get 7-8 inches big. I think you are thinking of pond goldfish, like comets, which can get 14 inches long.

no matter the amount of filtration it will not remove the hormones released by these fish and therefor would stunt their already line bred induced body shape causing more medical issues

This doesn't make any sense at all. Fish do not release hormones, especially not hormones that stunt growth.
I think you have it mixed up with ammonia. All fish produce ammonia, which is converted into non-toxic nitrate by the bacteria living in a filter. With goldfish, being messy fish, you need a stronger filter so more water gets to the bacteria in the filter to remove the ammonia.

Orandas like being in groups. I would go with just two or three orandas in your tank OP.

 

[dbanner]

just because it could be done does not mean it should be done, an adult oranda could end up struggling to turn around in that tank, no matter the amount of filtration it will not remove the hormones released by these fish and therefor could stunt their already line bred induced body shape causing more medical issues.

BTW as for the wcmm go ask on a goldfish only forum you will soon find out that goldfish sooner or later will eat what fits in their mouth, other fish, snails, gravel, its not out of predatory instinct but they just do it. But then again if you are putting these type of fish into a small tank thats not suitable then they are never going to live long enough to reach full size anyway so it would not be an issue would it?

Oranda goldifsh only get 7-8 inches big. I think you are thinking of pond goldfish, like comets, which get 14 inches long.

no matter the amount of filtration it will not remove the hormones released by these fish and therefor would stunt their already line bred induced body shape causing more medical issues

This doesn't make any sense at all. Fish do not release hormones, especially not hormones that stunt growth.
I think you have it mixed up with ammonia. All fish produce ammonia, which is converted into non-toxic nitrate by the bacteria living in a filter. With goldfish, being messy fish, you need a stronger filter so more water gets to the bacteria in the filter to remove the ammonia.

Orandas like being in groups. I would go with just two or three orandas in your tank OP.

I agree. 2 would be fine in that tank. Maybe even 3. As mentioned they do max out at only 8 inches so the tank provides then with plenty of swimming space and its wide enough for them to turn

Extra filtration will be needed as they are very messy but all in all can't see any issues apart from that

 

[Bublbubl]

Thank you Crossfire I appreciate the advice. A couple more questions if you don't mind.
It appears that the shop have sold me a Comet Goldfish, will this fish be ok in my tank? Will it only grow to suit it's surroundings (as they say) it's currently about 3 inches including tail.
Also, getting 2 orandas would then mean I have 3 in total which might be too many, but getting one oranda would not be an option as they are sociable. Would 1 oranda be happy with a comet? Or should i have 2 comets?

 

[Bublbubl]

Providing comets are suitable for my tank /

 

[daz4321]

yep max 8 inches right... and the rest

comets are single tail and only suitable for a pond