Bullied goldfish?

[lurkershdw]

Back in last novemeber i bought 3 one inch fantail goldfish from petsmart, who were all the same size back then. Now two of the have grown to be 4-5 inches, and one of them is about 3 inches long, And i've had to keep him in QT for a while now, because one ofthe goldfish kept on picking at him, and he ended up getting a fungal infection. WEll now the small one is fully healed, and i'm wondering what i should do. Should i put him back with the other two and hope that he gets left alone? I can't really afford to set up another tank (nor do i have the space to)

 

[Menagerie]

How large is the tank they are all in?

 

[lurkershdw]

it's a 20 gallon, and i just measured them, and the two larger ones are about 3 and a half each, and the small one is about 2 and a half inches long, so that adds up to 9 1/2 inches of goldfish in the tank. There's also a pleco, and 2 chinese algae eaters in the tank, but the plecon just sits sheltered in a groove in a rock all day, and the chinese algae eatres hide behind another large rock all day long

 

[Menagerie]

FYI--it is recommended that goldfish have a minimum of 10 gals per fish. It does not depend on size of the fish--they are growing!
Anyway, reintroduce the small fish and see what happens. If it gets picked on--pull it out right away!

 

[piranha]

I was in a similar situation with four small goldfish in a 30 gallon. There were 3 types; a fantail, 2 shibunkins,a comet.I had them in the tank for the winter but had no problem when in the pond during the summer. While in the tank,the comet inflicted injury to a larger fantail.Comets are faster and more aggressive.I've since removed the comet and placed him the pond and he is growing faster. I would recommend you isolate the aggressive one and only keep him with his own type or get a larger tank for them all.It is true that goldfish do need a lot of room to grow and thrive.

 

[lurkershdw]

well, thy're all actually fantails, so being different types can't exactly be the problem

 

[jsoong]

Actually, there are different types of fantails, & some don't mix.

An all gold metallic Ryukin (the "common fantail" at Petsmart) is the fastest in water & is reputed to be aggressive towards less agile fantails (such as bubble-eyes (eg Moors) which can't see too well, or types without dorsal fins).

Having said that, I must say I don't have much problem with my different sized fancies (yet?!). Although I have a much larger setup (80 gal). Having more room will tend to decrease aggression & competition, I would think.

If your small one is now swimming well, I would try re-introducing it to the bigger ones & see what happens. But be prepared to seperate the combatants when the fur (er.. scales) fly!