Gold Fish

[jmccrohan]

we just purchased a used 55 gal tank, out current tank is 25 gal and has gold fish, the gold fish have done well and seem to be healthy I think we will continue with them in the new tank, but I want to add some more fish but dont know which type would be able to live with the gold fish.

any sugestions?

Thanks
Jim

 

[jsoong]

What kind of gold fish you have? Common or Fancy?

The conservative answer is: other goldfish .... and you generally should not mix common & fancies.

You can however consider these other cold water fish if you have fancies <some members will have a fit when they see golds with others, but it is possible, esp in large tanks>:

Hill stream Loaches (aka Hong Kong or Butterfly Pleco) - need high current & high O2 content.

Dwarf Pleco - ie rubberlip or bristlenose - warning, other plecos have been known to attack golds, and very small plecos may be eaten by the gold & get stuck in the gold's throat ... if you go the dwarf pleco route, make sure you get a largish one.

White cloud mountain minnows - safest bet for the golds. Golds will eat the small ones, so again, you need to get bigger specimens, and a largish school ... & make sure you have plenty of plants & other hiding space. The gold will eat the occasional minnow, but with a fair size school, they should reproduce enough to keep up with the losses.

Corys - some have had success with cold water species - but others have found large golds trying to eat the corys & since corys are barbed & armoured, will get lodge in the golds throat & kill it. IMO - this is a bit risky.

Snails - not a fish, I know, but interesting creatures & fine with golds.

Some people have mix golds with true tropical, THAT is generally not recommended.

 

[HannahJ]

One thing to consider is how many goldfish you are going to be keeping in your tank. In a 55, you shouldn't have more than 5 goldfish, and even that is really too many--a better number would be around 3, given how large goldfish will get and how much waste they produce.

Have you considered leaving the goldfish on their own in the 55 gallon, and stocking the newly-vacated 25 gallon with other fish? This is probably a more viable option. You could keep it as a coldwater tank, if you prefer, and have some of the fish jsoong mentioned, or you could get a heater and make the jump to tropical fish, where you would have a lot more options.

Good luck!

 

[Blazeherd2306]

What types of goldfish?

Commons will get too big and you wouldn't be able to keep 5 fancies (and definately not 5 commons or comets) in a 55 gal.

 

[WaterPond]

Other fish not already listed:

dojo loaches:These guys are great, fun to watch, easy to care for.

danios: i have some in my coldwater tank, there are so many different variaties, i like the long fin types.

Platys: might be a little risky, but they can live in water as cold as 64degrees.

I think you would be safest going with a school of about ten ten or more white cloud minnows, they are really fun to watch, and prefer colder water. I have kept dojo's, danios, mountain minnows, and goldfish all together, and they did great.

Hope that helped

 

[jmccrohan]

we just purchased a used 55 gal tank, out current tank is 25 gal and has gold fish, the gold fish have done well and seem to be healthy I think we will continue with them in the new tank, but I want to add some more fish but dont know which type would be able to live with the gold fish.

any sugestions?

Thanks
Jim

they are all fancy, we currently have 6 of them in a 25 gal tank and the tank stays crystal clear although I have over sized the filtration to keep it that way. how big can they get?

 

[DepotFish]

Generally the fancies you get in the store and keep in a tank will stay stunted, topping off at 8 inches. Keep in mind they are almost as wide as they are long. Fancies in ponds can get past the 12 inch mark easily. 6 is way too many for 25 gallons. Do you test the water params at all? You can keep platies with golds easy, I wouldn't recommend any algae eater or sucker type fish though.
Here's a pond oranda http://www.suprmchaos.com/big-fish_bruce_060602.jpg

 

[Blazeherd2306]

I don't think I would keep anymore fish with them, 6 of them is already overstocking a 55 gal. They do get big (a 75 gal would be better) and they are really messy.

Have you tested your nitrate level in the 25 gal?

 

[jmccrohan]

okay, so should I sell the gold fish(even though my two daughters named them) and start over with tropicals in the 55 gal tank?

I want a tank that has variety and color and is interesting to look at.

Jim

 

[Blazeherd2306]

That would probably be the best solution.

A tropical freshwater tank can have alot of variety and color.

HTH

 

[Musket]

If you want to keep the golds, just remember that as they grow you will need to get them a bigger tank. I have 5 in a 10g tank but they are still small. I have a larger tank just waiting for when they get bigger.

 

[hc8719]

if you want to keep goldfish, do it because you like them, not because you want some spectacular looking tank, because in truth, goldfish reek of amonia and waste which will no doubt cloud any tank beyond beleif (when they get big anyways)

and even if your good on your pwcs, it can still be hard to get that perfect shine to your water

depending on fish size, i'd say you'd need to do 2-3 pwcs a week to keep the tank sparkling