Goldfish in a tropical tank?

[clutterydrawer]

Where do you live? If you;re in the UK you might have trouble finding ammonia. A hardware store would be your best bet though, not a big chain like homebase, but a small local one. A Brand often found is Jeyes Household Ammonia. the ammonia you buy needs to be jsut ammonia and water, no surfactants.

There is no set amount to put it as ammonia varies in concentration. Put in a few drops, test it, put in some more and so on until the test reads 5ppm. Record how many drops in total you added so you can add the same amount each day. Have you read this page?

http/www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/cycle2.shtml

It has some good step-by-step instructions for fishless cycling.

I think the bacteria will survive the trip to work as long as you provide it with air and water. Sounds mad I know but it needs to be kept damp and oxygenated to survive, so take it in a box half-full with water.

To quote, just press the "quote" button aboce the post you wish to quote.

MrMashashin, how big are your grandma's fish? They should be at least 6" by now if they are fancies, more if they are commons, so if they aren't they are stunted. And if they are, I really doubt they have enough room to swim in a 5g tank which can't be more than 18x10x10. I agree that they can survive all sorts of conditions but I think there's a big difference between surviving and thriving.

 

[s10moor]

thanks cluttery drawer, that was a really good link, ive bookmarked and printed it.

picturing myself carrying box of water

oh, i live in sheffield..

 

[Zenn]

I know the feeling you are having s10moor, when my goldfish were gone i felt lonely in my bedroom, because i used to sit there infront of their tank for hours, now as for heating, i had alantic goldfish, now those are proper coldwater fish, but very regularly due to the position i kept them they had warm water, so i dont see too much of a problem there, but you must remember this, fish are like birds, goldfish are gold, and tropical fish tend to come in other colours rather than gold, and jealously can build between them, and it can result in fights on either side, now i did make a thread somewhere in the forum where my LFS was keeping a gebbicep with some fantail goldfish, however i wouldnt advise you getting one, because they grow up to a good 18 inches in size, but pleco can be quite messy like goldfish, however are more tempermental in dirty water than goldfish, and so you have to have a really well filtered tank, and then you have to take size into mind, most tropical fish comes between the size of 2 to 10 inches in size, goldfish tend to grow bigger than that, fantails, well they may reach in between, but they are still bigger, and so you dont want any fights for space either, so many problems arise when you try to put coldwater fish in with some tropical, Neons are as hardy as goldfish, however goldfish have big tails and neons hate big finned fish and tend to shread fish with big fins, you will have to research on the fish you like and are thinking of putting together... thats the only thing i can advise

 

[s10moor]

There is no set amount to put it as ammonia varies in concentration. Put in a few drops, test it, put in some more and so on until the test reads 5ppm.

my ammonia test kit is like a colour chart from 0-50 mg/l - what is ppm?

 

[clutterydrawer]

ppm is short for parts per million but it is actually equivalent to mg/l, so 5ppm should be the same as 5mg/l

does it really go up to 50mg/l? they usualy only go to 5

 

[Aquascaper]

My girfriends 3 fancy goldfish are kept at a steady 26 degrees C (79 degrees F) in a 40g tank, this is without a heater as our flat is very warm all year. This is not a problem for fancy goldfish at all and they thrive in warmer water, however, common goldfish should not be kept above 20 degrees celcius IMO as it will increase their metabolism to a detrimental extent.

Your clown plec is a tropical fish and therefore should be kept above 22 degrees celcius minimum and no, they do not eat algae, sorry.

My advice would be to exchange/rehome your goldfish and get tropicals (and keep the clown plec) and not to bother trying to mix coldwater and tropical fish.

HTH

 

[s10moor]

does it really go up to 50mg/l? they usualy only go to 5

) oops...i meant 5

hey aquascraper, at the moment, im keeping my tank at 22c which im hoping should be ok for the fancy goldfish and the plec until i can get a bigger tank for the goldfish.....then i can set up my own lil tropical im hoping...

trying to rehome my comet, dont really want to take him back to the store, there were lots of sick and dead fish when i went last...

 

[Aquascaper]

Good stuff, 22c should be fine for all of them except the comet. You have time to save up for a bigger tank so don't rush out and buy a pile of crap, fancies don't grow that fast
I have to admit when we first got our 3 fancies they were in a 20g so don't feel that people are bashing you for having a small tank, etc. it's just most of us have been there done that and got the t-shirt
I see your point about taking the comet back to a LFS that has poor tanks, have you tried asking neighbours (obviously not in the flats) who might have ponds? They might take a free fish off your hands
If you do find a pond remember to acclimatise the comet properly before releasing it as he's been quite warm and it's getting cold outside.
Once you've rehomed the comet i would put the temp up a couple of degrees as your clown will prefer it and as i mentioned before the fancies won't mind at all.

 

[s10moor]

to think i thought my tank was MASSIVE when i got it...im the 'fish guru' at work...i think they call me doolittle....if only they knew....

 

[David]

but you must remember this, fish are like birds, goldfish are gold, and tropical fish tend to come in other colours rather than gold, and jealously can build between them, and it can result in fights on either side

I'm sorry but that made no sense to me whatsoever. Are you trying to say that the tropical fish will get jealous of the goldfish's gold coloring and fight them for it?

 

[s10moor]

i didnt want to say anything.....

 

[clutterydrawer]

to think i thought my tank was MASSIVE when i got it...im the 'fish guru' at work...i think they call me doolittle....if only they knew....

ALL tanks looks big for a while, till you think of bigger fish that you want...there are people on here with 75g or 100g tanks who think they're big at first but after a while start wanting an EVEN BIGGER tank... it's an addiction

I'm not sure about this but you might be able to find online sites where you could give away or sell your unwanted fish...anyone care to offer a link?

 

[BigSteve]

♂ Bad idea...