Mixing GoldFish and tropical fish

[Ziggy25]

I heard that some people mix cold water fish with tropical warm water fish.. is this possible?
I know i cant put tropical warm water fish on a cold water fish tank, but could it be done the other way round? i.e. gold fish in warm water tanks..

(personally i wouldnt complain if someone gives me a free house in a warm country!!)

 

[black angel]

you will get a LOT of opinions on this one, mostly a no dont do it.
personally, it depends on which type of goldfish, what size of tank and what you want to mix them with.
for instance you can mix fancy goldfish with danios and white cloud mountain minnows because they cant really catch them and you can get a temperature that suits them both.
so, tell us what set up you are thinking of and what you want to mix the goldie with and we can take it from there.
remember that common goldfish when small require at least 20 gallons for swimming. fancies need at least 10 gallons each. all need filtration of at least 10x tank capacity.

 

[Bloo]

To make a long story short: you should not keep Goldfish and Tropical Fish together.
Goldfish are coldwater fish & huge waste producers. This thread will help you out a bit more - there is also another link within that thread to some more views on goldfish keeping.

 

[annka5]

As above, really - the most immediate part of the problem you'll find is that warmer water has lower levels of dissolved oxygen, and goldfish need high levels of dissolved oxygen.
Longer term health-effects are likely to be metabolism-basd (incl regulatory systems).
Likely to be less like having a nice warm house to live in, and more like having to live in a sauna all the time.

 

[Ziggy25]

I dont really have the intention to include goldfish, i was just curious about... looks like its not a good idea..

 

[MegTheFish]

You can mix tropical fish that PREFER coldwater with them, I'm talking about danios,WCMM, bronze/albino cories, common pleco's and weather loaches. There's probably even a couple more, just can't think of them. But you have to make sure they get food, and you have to make sure they don't become food.

 

[black angel]

no common plecs with goldfish, they suck the slime.

 

[orientmatt]

In my 2ft tank I have 3 fantails along side 4 zebra danios, which are getting along fine. There are also 2 very small gouramis in there for the meantime ( they were getting worn out with the force of the filter in the other one) and they seem to be fine at the moment with no problems. This tank is heated as well and their dont seem to be any detremental affects on my fantails. So from my experience I would say it can be done, but I would prefer not to have the gouramis in their if i could avoid it.

 

[afireinside]

it could work. my freind keeps a baby koi, black molly and a female betta all in the same tank.

 

[MegTheFish]

no common plecs with goldfish, they suck the slime.

Yes, I know, but I havn't had any problems with mine. Probably because he's small though, when he gets larger and IF there is a problem between him and the goldfish I will remove him.

 

[afireinside]

i also forgot to mention, i had a silver goldfish. he lasted pretty long for being with tropical fish, about a year.

 

[Bloo]

i also forgot to mention, i had a silver goldfish. he lasted pretty long for being with tropical fish, about a year.

And that is exactly why they should be kept as coldwater fish and not as tropical fish.
A captive goldfish has an average life span of anything between 10 & 20 years - if looked after in the way they are meant to be looked after.
The oldest goldfish (recorded)died at the age of 43 !

 

[afireinside]

holy crap! ya, but concidering mine was in tropical water, it lasted quite long.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The main reasons why i wouldn't but coldwater fish with tropicals and vice versa is mainly because of their metabolism requirements.
Because a fish metabolism is controlled by the temp of the water and the metablosim affects practically everything else in the fish's body and system, if you put a cold water fish in warm water it speeds its metabolism up and also if you put a tropical fish in cold water, it slows it down.
If you put a goldfish in a tropical tank its ammonia output would go through the roof and the fish's life expectancy would dramatically be shortened- if you put a tropical fish in cold water it would suffer from digestive problems like constipation on a regular basis and would have an increased risk of dropsy and its life expectancy would also be dramatically shortened.

Basically its not fair on the fish and i think its actually very cruel simply because of these reasons. Its not a question of which tropical fish will suck which goldfish's slimecoat off or which goldfish will kill which tropical fish, you simply shouldn't be putting true tropical fish with coldwater fish together in the fish place.
The only scenario where i think an exception is made is when you come to semi tropical fish like white clouds and other similar fish which are not true tropical fish and can live happily in coldwater tanks without their life expectancys being shortened or their health affected in bad ways etc.

 

[henry2703]

I heard that some people mix cold water fish with tropical warm water fish.. is this possible?
I know i cant put tropical warm water fish on a cold water fish tank, but could it be done the other way round? i.e. gold fish in warm water tanks..

(personally i wouldnt complain if someone gives me a free house in a warm country!!)

From my part of the world... there is no such thing as cold water....

even the tap water is about 28 to 30 degrees celcius.

But Gold fish survive very well.....

THis is what you may consider doing....

cultivate some green water. Green water are water with suspended algae in them. The algae wil act as a form of ammonia removing mechanism, thus making the water more livable for them.

Of course not every one wants green water, because it can be quit unsighty.

Just remember to have a good filter, and change water regularly.....

I have a friend whose Goldfish in a tropical tank has been around for more than 12 years already....