Goldfish question

[JdotK]

I got this feeder gold fish for my turtles a few months ago, well, I got several of them, but the two turtles were never able to catch this one goldfish... so I kept him, bought him a little tank, until about a month ago, I bought a new tank.

So now he's living in his own 30 gallon tank, he's about 4 inches long now. Im just wondering if there are any other types of fish I can put in there with them that he will be able to live peacefully.

I have the water heated... its at 74 degrees... I really bought the tank to get tropical fish, but I put him in there and he loves it... he races back and forth, probably because he only has a 2 second memory, but I'd like to think its cuz he's enjoying himself.

Any way, is there any tropical fish I can buy to put in there with him? I know there are several fish at my local store that have a green dot indicating they are calm fish, but the guy at the store said that he'd be too quick for them, and he'd eat all the food and probably attack them.

I dont know if this is true or not...

Can any one give me any advice? If not tropical fish, how about other goldfish?

Thanks.

J

 

[Blinky]

Your little guy will grow to 10-12" long, so it may be best to keep him alone. I've seen a full sized goldfish, and they're pretty darned big. If he's the only fish, 30g will probably keep him comfy for most or all of his life (which could be 20 years or more!). If you do want to get him a companion, I'd stick to another goldfish with a similar shape - fancies won't be able to compete when it comes to feeding, but shubunkins and commons are fine together AFAIK.
BTW, I think it's absolutely wonderful that you're housing a goldfish in such a spacious tank. From your description, he sounds like a very happy fish indeed - I'd name him Zippy

 

[sandiegan]

Dont mean to hijack the thread, but as a newbie, I originally bought about 10 feeder fish and threw them in an uncycled 10gal tank....8 died. Eventually added 2 swordtails and 4 assorted tetras, some ghost shrimp and a crab. All minus a swordtail and crab (died) have been moved into a 40gal tank, and 2 more neon swordtails, another swordtail, 3 small cherry barbs, 2 small rasboras, and 2 baby plecos (I know, will eventually get a diff tank and/or sell them). So far so good for a while now. All the fish manage to get food, even in the 10gal tank the feeders weren't too quick. HTH

 

[TKOS]

Well it sounds like your fish were suffering from ammonia poisoning and were never quite up to full strength.

As for the single goldfish in the 30 gallon, ideally you will leave him alone. Tropicals and goldfish really don't mix well, especially as the goldfish starts to grow. They do get huge and are scavengers and are willing ot eat just about anything. They are not the type of fish that when you want other fish to survive with, you take a chance on. They can be a bit unpredictable, not aggressive but unpredictable.

 

[Blinky]

All the fish manage to get food, even in the 10gal tank the feeders weren't too quick. HTH

What I was referring to was keeping fancy goldfish with flat-bodied 'regular' goldfish - the shubunkins/commons can easily outcompete slower swimming egg-shaped goldfish (like orandas, bubble eyes etc.) for food.
I don't think tropicals and goldfish in the same tank is a great idea (though I know some do it and their fish don't seem to suffer for it) because they have very different requirements.