Aggressive goldfish

well, i would return all of your goldfish, since a 10G is not a proper home for goldfish and to properly house the fishes you have now you would need at least a 75G due to the fact that goldfish get to 8-16" as adults and can produce more waste relative to body size than any other fish I know of, with the possible exception of a full grown, 2 foot long common pleco. massive tanks with massive filtration are needed to house goldfish properly so that they can live out their 20+ year lifespan normally and not be stunted, leading to an early and painful death.

fishcatch22 said:

well, i would return all of your goldfish, since a 10G is not a proper home for goldfish and to properly house the fishes you have now you would need at least a 75G due to the fact that goldfish get to 8-16" as adults and can produce more waste relative to body size than any other fish I know of, with the possible exception of a full grown, 2 foot long common pleco. massive tanks with massive filtration are needed to house goldfish properly so that they can live out their 20+ year lifespan normally and not be stunted, leading to an early and painful death.

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Do you really think this was necessary? Didn't we all just have the "be nice to new people" discussion less than a month ago? Can you at least answer her question before you pointed out her overstocking problem? Notice that was her first post. Great introduction, way to represent the community. I respect your knowledge and agree with it, but try to present in a way that's a little more compassionate. She's probably a beginner and got her fish from some LFS guy who didn't know any better. Give her the benefit of the doubt, would ya? You make us all look bad.

Milam-
I would seperate the fish that is doing the bullying, and think about returning him. Having to deal with an injured fish is hard enough, especially if he continues it in the future. In the long run, what Fishcatch22 said is correct, but for the time being, make sure that you change the water a couple times a week to keep the water as clean as possible. Filtration is very important when you have goldfish.

I agree with you totally Siren! More respect will be earned being nice! EVERYONE is a newbie at some point, so talking down to someone who doesn't have the knowledge that they are doing something wrong isn't the way to help anyone!

Or... maybe he's just plain hungry?
My fishes do just about the same, they swimm around and sometimes just chasing each other. When I feed them, they calm down and chill in the thank. :huh:

the reason why this goldie is bullying the others is a territory issue. He is the bigger fish, he feels he needs all the room in the tank. You might want to either get a bigger tank, and maybe separate the fish. I wouldn't hold even 1 goldfish in there for too long as stunting can happen quickly and that's not good.

milam said:

My regular goldfish is biting and bullying the new 3 smaller fantails ( the ones with bulging eyes). I introduced them all together into a 10 gallon tank yesterday. The little guys seemed so stressed so I put the bigger one in his
own bowl for a time out. I tried after 12 hours to reintroduce them and he started doing it again. What do I do now?:help:

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The best advice I can give is a modified version of what fishcatch said (although I'm sure his intentions were in the right place). You really need a bigger tank. You mention a "regular" goldfish.. and in this do you mean a comet, common or "feeder-goldfish"? If that were the case, bring him back to your LFS or find someplace that will take him. You would need a 75g for just him if you were to keep him. And no other fish. Fancy goldfish average 6-10" when fully grown, so while they don't get quite as large as commons they get to be rather large. Too large for a 10g.
Keep your 3 fancies and start saving for at minimum a 37g. Figure the best stock for fancy goldfish is this: 20g for the first, and 10g for each additional fish with double filtration. If you keep just two you'd need at least a 29g. You'd need about a 40g tank for those 3 should you choose to hold onto them, and a 37g is a nice size. In fact, I just replaced my 29 with a 37 for my 3 fancies.
Do your research. They are wonderful animals but need constant vigilance of their envronment because they produce so much waste and can be very messy. And start saving up for that bigger tank. Good luck milam.

you should not mix regular, with fancy goldfish, for that very reason, regular golds are fast high energy fish, fancys and slow and more prone to getting bullied, should be kept with their own kind. besides getting a larger tank..

Thank you siren, well said.

Milam, you didn't say how long you've had your "regular" goldfish and how attached you are to this fish. If you just adore him and couldn't bear to give him up, I'd recommend saving up for a larger tank and extra filtration. He will produce huge amounts of waste in very little time, and he'll grow extremely quickly.
On the other hand, if it's a new fish and you could stand to give him up, I would find a friend or someone locally that has a pond or a large goldfish tank and give him away. You could keep the fancies in a much smaller tank than your regular goldfish would need, as InR reason said.
I think your best bet for the short term would be to either return the new fish, or find a new home for your regular goldfish. For the long term, you'll need a larger tank and more filtration. Immediately, put as much filter on the tank as you can afford. For a 10g tank, I would recommend at least 75 gallons per hour (gph). Or perform large water changes frequently.
Good luck, keep us updated.

yes extra filtration is a must, i have my 5 commets in for the winter and they were.. only around 4-5 inches when they came in.
i couldn't bear to let them freeze so in they came, but didn't have a tank for them so in a rush with it getting in the 30's i found a 30g long put them in it with an emperor 400, and a magnum 350, and i just bought a jebo cs4 both canisters are rated for around 350,and 317, gph. so thats 280 gallons of filtration per hour on a 30 gallon tank. boy i go through a lot of carbon,water conditioner, and water.

and still i have to change media every 2-3 weeks, plus water changes twice a week at 50%. but my guys are now 8in. and growing... where's spring ???
i need them out of here before they eat me next... but they are my nicest fish. they never fight they all line up to go to sleep at night very social.
wish i could find a large tank for them to stay in here.. but my floors won't hold that much weight..old 100 year old house.. i'm pushing it with the 90g.