Can you keep goldfish with freshwater tropical fish?

fIsHy13

fIsHy13

not a troll
Oct 5, 2005
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I was browsing the internet the other day when I came across a goldfish care website. The owner of the website said she had kept loaches and platys with her goldfish, and there was a statement from a young man who said he had kpt mollies and zebra danios, even swordfish with his goldfish with no problems. Even with out a heater! Basically, all I would like to know is whether or not you can keep goldfish with freshwater tropical fish.
 
I asked this same question of many experts when I first started my tank. Mainly because I think goldfish are so pretty with their flashy tail fins. Basically, the combined answer of all differing opinions boiled down to temperature preferences of the species (since goldfish like cooler temps than most tropical fish - 70 vs. 80) and upkeep from the size of the tank. (goldfish are a dirtier species requiring more water changes than the average tetra or chichilid). That's about the base info I received. I have not tried mainly because of temp variances.
 
I've got three goldfish with a Siamese Algae Eater in a heated freshwater tropical tank (24.5 celsius) and they love it! The goldfish have all grown up together and the SAE was a later introduction, but the goldfish have grown to be quite large. It began as an experiment (as I was upgrading from coldwater to tropical) and I can say it's been a complete success! It's a pretty simple setup, but I've yet to hear any complaints...
 
I would not recomend it. goldfish are very aggessive eaters, they won't hurt other fish but they certainly will eat all the food.
it's not good for goldfish too be kept at high tempuratures too long, it's not good for tropical fish to be kept at cool tempuratures too long.
 
So goldfish can survive AND thrive in higher temps? I'm glad to hear becuase I have recently purchashed a new 20g tank with 2 goldfish. The original idea was to set up a freshwater tropical tank, but my goldies desparately needed a bigger tank. I guess now I can have both! But I'm still wandering about putting small tropical fish in like platys and zebra danios...
 
Thats the thing, pophead. Some people go against it like crazy, while others say its a good idea and it works. I'm confused...what advice should I believe in? :confused:
 
Every time ive kept goldfish with tropicals, ive had serious problems. (Once I had a 30 gallon tank die over the course of 8 hours. The only fish left were two honey gouramis.) Goldfish also have a tendency to give off a lot of amonia from their bodies, decreasing the amount of other fish you can keep with them. So if you do plan on trying something like this just remember a few things:
1. Excellent filtration required.
2. Keep the # of fish to about half of what your tank can handle.
3. U.V. Sterilization reccomended.

That was the only thing that has ever worked for me long term, and the temp was at a constant 70 degrees.

:coffee2:
 
Reiverix, that wouldn't be a problem becuase I once put tropical flakes in my goldfish's tank and they totally ignored them. Then I put goldfish flakes in and they ate them! Maybe tropical flakes lack that certain something that goldfish find tasty?...
 
I ensure my food is varied often enough that nobody goes hungry. My goldfish can and do eat just about anything I put in there and the Siamese Algae Eater is kept busy. I think it might have a lot to do with the combination in my case. I have two other SAEs in another tank and they're much larger than this one. Either way, they all seem pretty happy. I'm thinking my situation belongs in the "happy accident" category.
 
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