30 Gallon Cold Water Options?

[mwood2]

So I plan to get a 30 gallon in the next few months but am unsure what to stock it with. While I currently plan to do tropical my gf still wants to aim for Fancy Tail Goldfish and Dojo Louche. Also any other cold water species that could go with said goldfish in a 30 gallon?

 

[Truck]

1 fantail goldfish ( 1 only! )

and a small shoal of WCMM's about 8

 

[mwood2]

so dojo louche out of the question? she seems to like these alot if we went cold water

 

[Myuu]

You could probably get away with one fancy goldfish and a small shoal of dojo loaches, depending on your filter.

 

[Honeythorn]

Try to get an external filter if you have 1 goldfish. They create a lot of waste and an external filter will have a lot more media space to cope with the waste.

 

[mwood2]

Well I did some looking at goldfish types and would I be able to keep 2 of the other goldfsh species that grow somewhat smaller then a fancy? And if so can I keep dojos with them and how many.

 

[Honeythorn]

There is no such thing as a small sized goldfish. Basic fact. Fancies are smaller than comets and shubunkins in length yes, but they make up for it in body size/girth.

You cannot keep two of any sort of goldfish in a 30 gallon at all. It's tempting to buy two, as in the fish stores they are only very young and 2-3 inches, and will look like they have plenty of room in a 30 gallon at first. But they soon grow into a fish the size of a tennis ball, often even bigger than that and a 30 gallon is barely big enough for even one fancy goldfish, certainly not a pair.

If you want a pair of goldfish you will need a 55 gallon LONG.

A 30 gallon, cannot support them in the long term, and you DO need to think long term as goldfish can easily live for 30 years when kept correctly. The oldest recorded so far lived to be around 42 years old . It's big fish and a long commitment. If you can't imagine having one for that long then don't get one.

If I were you I'd stick to tropical. If you still want Dojo/weatherloches then aim for mid to low tropical temperatures, they do perfectly fine up to around 25 degrees and a group of at least 4 is best as they are friendly schooling fish and like to be in groups just as Cories do. In those temps you can still keep Danios and most tetras ect.

 

[black angel]

yep got to agree..i hve 1 5 inch long (body) fancy in a 30 gallon with an eheim external pro...and im doing daily water changes of half to keep the water clean.

you can have 1 fancy thats around 5 inched and two if smaller but be prepared to upgrade as they grow... loaches make a lot of mess too but as long as you keep the water changes regular then maybe two or 3 loaches too. filration must be huge...aim for 10 times tank capacity, with lots of filter material

 

[stevey87]

Up to two fancy goldfish is ok as long as you have overfiltration with HOB power filter or canister filter. I'm sorry but I'm going have to completely disagree with the White Cloud Mountain Minnows because either 1) fancy goldfish will try to follow them around and get very tired or 2) the fast moving minnows will start to nip on slow moving fancy goldfish and 3) I hope you're trying to grow your goldfish as long as you can and that means they grow to 6 inches across or more and that means the minnows will just end up being meals later.
.
Also saying goldfish can live 30 years easily is a bit of an overstatement.... They can live up to 30 and longer but not easily. They do live long tho.

I'm not sure what your budget is but I suggest you go for a bigger tank, 55 or 75 gallon. You might think WOW 30 gallon is huge but when you have it for a couple of months you will feel that it's not that big at all whether it's overstocked or not. Also bigger water is easier to take care of. Just make sure the tank is leveled. When you have a good maintenance and see your goldfish grow, it's a different fun from keeping pretty tropicals with beautiful plant set up.

If you're fixed on 30 gallon, it's actually easier to keep tropical setup and you just need a heater. You can have few pearl gouramis and small shoaling fish such as cardinal tetras with plant set up. Much much easier for 30 gallon I think.