Goldfish and plec tank

InsanePhoenix04

New Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
1
Hi there, basically I’ve got a tank that I’ve had set up a while and over time my fish have eventually passed on but i have still got left my full size bristlenose plec and I was wondering if I was to slowly reduce the temperature from about 25 to 23 degrees Celsius if I would be able to have some fancy goldfish in my tank with my plec. And not just if they will survive if they will be healthy and happy to live at this temperature.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

Fancy goldfish (fantails, orandas, pearlscales, moors, etc) will be fine at 24C and so will the bristlenose. The fancy goldfish actually do better in warm water rather than very cold, so 24C is a good temperature for both species.

The big issue is the general hardness (GH) and pH of the water. Goldfish like water with a GH of at least 150ppm (preferably 200ppm+) and a pH above 7.0. Domesticated Bristlenose will be fine in similar water but if your pH or GH is too low, the goldfish won't do that well.

-----------------------
Bristlenose are messy fish and so are goldfish.
How often do you do water changes and how much water do you change?
Do you use a gravel clean to remove the gunk from the substrate when you do a water change?
What sort of filter is on the tank and how often do you clean it, and how do you clean it?

-----------------------
Goldfish need plant matter in their diet and so do Bristlenose. Duckweed is a good plant to grow for the goldfish but any soft leaf aquatic plant will do. Algae is good for the Bristlenose to graze on and it should have a piece of driftwood to chew on as well.

If you have a fluorescent light unit on the tank, replace the globe and starter every year. Use globes with a 6500K (K is for Kelvin) rating and have the light on for up to 16 hours a day. You want to encourage green algae on the glass for the catfish.

Most tanks only need 8-12 hours per day and your might be the same but start with 12 and see hour it goes. If you get lots of green algae on the glass that is fine. Use a clean soap free sponge or plastic scraper to remove the algae from the front glass and let the catfish eat the rest.
 
I have a bn pleco and fancies together. They’ve been tank mates for over a year with no issues at all. Good luck!
 
My tank is the Rio 125, so about 125 litres. I do weekly waterchanges of about 30 litres (25%) and I do use a gravel vac to clean out my gravel as I siphon out my water for my water changes. I clean out the sponges in the filter at the same time as I do water changes and I clean them in water out of the tank as to prevent the chlorine in tap water from removing the bacteria that may develop. I have already got a large amount of plants in my tank including several larger java ferns and a very large microsorium mother plant as well as a smallish elodea densa and an anubias which seems to be dying of slowly now. The mother plant is on a large piece of driftwood that I have noticed my plec likes to sit on when he’s out during the night and I also feed either a slice of cucumber or courgette twice a week aswell. The light unit has a set of 2x LED bulbs which I have recently and the light is on atleast 12 hours a day 8-8 and potentially a bit longer a few days a week. I also weekly remove as many snails as I can find out of my tank as ive noticed that there are a few small ones that appear when I place the slice of vegetable into the tank. I don’t really tend to get any green algae but I’m hoping that’s because the plec keeps it down as he’s about fully grown by now.
 

Most reactions

Back
Top