There is a temp. differential between what is safe for goldies and what is safe for plecos. Plus, a pleco produces so much crap that having it in with goldies is counterproductive.
how many goldfish can i keep in my tank?
- Thread starter SquirrelOsO
- Start date
legendaryfrog
Tactical Refreshment Action
yeah, just spring for a larger aquarium. try craigslist for some good deals. just make sure you clean the tank first
ammonia needs to be absolutely at 0, not "barely detectable". otherwise you are slowly damaging the gills (and therefore the breathing) of all of your fish. for a 55g 2-3 goldies, very good filtration, no plecos.
I don't think there is ever 'zero' ammonia in a tank, it just doesn't show up on the test when it's very low.
fishcatch22 said:
Goldfish? They are very social and like to pack together. Even in a sparse tank they will group together, so being in each others faces isn't the real issue. IT's really just about the toxin and waste levels and being able to manage that, and 10 would be too many to easily manage in that size tank. You could manage 6 or even 8 for a while when smaller, but would have to aim for another tank (or pond) in the nearish future...
pleco's cannot be kept with goldfish period.
ive decided on 10 goldies and going a semi natural route to keep nitrates to a minimum
i'll be running only one xp3 filter with 2 sponges and the rest carbon. i took out the bio balls and floss
i added a second power filter that i will alternate between using the filter floss pads and carbon/chemi pure/nitrazorb etc (not all at once, alternating)
the tank will be heavily planted and water will be tested twice a week to see when theres a rise in nitrates which then i will carry out a 50% water change.
im aiming for nitrates under 40ppm with 20ppm being ideal (i dont think i can get zero ppm with goldies)
my idea is to stop the filter from converting fish waste to nitrates. the plants should do this first leaving not much conversion for the filter, hopefully leaving a low nitrate tank
biological filters are nitrate factories. alot of fish species cannot handle high nitrates, unfortunetly goldfish are one of them
what im doing it just an experiment. in 6 months i will no the true outcome
ive decided on 10 goldies and going a semi natural route to keep nitrates to a minimum
i'll be running only one xp3 filter with 2 sponges and the rest carbon. i took out the bio balls and floss
i added a second power filter that i will alternate between using the filter floss pads and carbon/chemi pure/nitrazorb etc (not all at once, alternating)
the tank will be heavily planted and water will be tested twice a week to see when theres a rise in nitrates which then i will carry out a 50% water change.
im aiming for nitrates under 40ppm with 20ppm being ideal (i dont think i can get zero ppm with goldies)
my idea is to stop the filter from converting fish waste to nitrates. the plants should do this first leaving not much conversion for the filter, hopefully leaving a low nitrate tank
biological filters are nitrate factories. alot of fish species cannot handle high nitrates, unfortunetly goldfish are one of them
what im doing it just an experiment. in 6 months i will no the true outcome
good luck - goldfish love to eat plants. i used to go to the LFS and get clearance plants for my black moor as a treat b/c they would all be devoured. anything with soft leaves is a target and will be stripped down to a stem pretty quickly.
even if you are getting rid of nitrates through plants, you still need to do water changes often, at least 50-70% once a week. the goldfish are putting out other biological wastes, hormones, etc. and if those hormones are allowed to build up they WILL be stunted. not to mention all the physical wastes that are going to be all over the tank. the plants will use some of it, but you still need to get a gravel vac in there and get the poop out as often as you do water changes, or even more often, leaving it in there will make nitrates even higher as it breaks down.
also there aren't too many algae eaters for cold water situations, you will probably have to go the CO2 route in order to stimulate plant growth and keep from promoting algae. leaving the goldfish poop in there is another thing that will cause algae growth.
even if you are getting rid of nitrates through plants, you still need to do water changes often, at least 50-70% once a week. the goldfish are putting out other biological wastes, hormones, etc. and if those hormones are allowed to build up they WILL be stunted. not to mention all the physical wastes that are going to be all over the tank. the plants will use some of it, but you still need to get a gravel vac in there and get the poop out as often as you do water changes, or even more often, leaving it in there will make nitrates even higher as it breaks down.
also there aren't too many algae eaters for cold water situations, you will probably have to go the CO2 route in order to stimulate plant growth and keep from promoting algae. leaving the goldfish poop in there is another thing that will cause algae growth.
I think (well, know) 10 will be too many. You may get away with 6 in the medium term or even 8 in the short term, but that's probably pushing it. 6 is a more realistic number and even that is not really long term.
Plants, forget it. They will eat everything. You can have anubias in there and they don't damage that too much, but it's slow growing and isn't going to make much difference to nitrates...
We also have an earth pond where we grow a local water plant and we put that in the goldfish tank. They eat it as fast as we put it in tho...
Plants, forget it. They will eat everything. You can have anubias in there and they don't damage that too much, but it's slow growing and isn't going to make much difference to nitrates...
We also have an earth pond where we grow a local water plant and we put that in the goldfish tank. They eat it as fast as we put it in tho...
Squirrel, the OP, has a 220, wants 10 goldies and plants.
The thread hijacker Rey HAS 10 goldfish and a pleco in a 55g.
This thread is getting a little confusing. Let's make sure we say who we're referring to in our posts. . . .
The thread hijacker Rey HAS 10 goldfish and a pleco in a 55g.
This thread is getting a little confusing. Let's make sure we say who we're referring to in our posts. . . .
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yeah its a 220g so it will be about 20 gallons or so for each goldfish i think thats a comfortable number compared to 10 gallons per goldfish.
if a goldfish tank is heavily planted then theres no way they can consume everything. people usually make the mistake of just adding a few plants or i guess i should say a few "snacks", the goldies can go through a few plants pretty quickly
i planted a dozen hornwort which should hold up being its fast growth and supposedly bad taste. java moss, water lettuce which they dont touch (i have a pond with koi and goldies and they both leave watter lettuce alone among a few other plants)
frogbit which more than likely will be eaten but i figured i'll give it a shot, and several sword varieties.
i have seen planted goldfish tanks before so it is possible, just gotta feel it as i go. i was also told with my pond that i couldnt keep koi with plants and well that was proven wrong, 2 years later and the koi never touched a leaf.
yeah water changes will still be done, but i am only gonna start out with 2 small 2" goldfish then add another about every month, im not gonna add all 10 at once. things will get messy when they all reach full size...bigger fish bigger waste :Angel:
i never heard about them giving off a growth stunting hormone before, thats a new one. it was to my knowledge that ammonia and high nitrates is what stunts growth in any fish
thats pretty cool to know though
btw i have sand bottom, i wont do gravel in any of my tanks. the sand isnt like gravel were all the poop gets in between, with sand it all stays on top which is easy to syphon out. sand is the next best thing to going bare bottom
i ordered some japanese trapdoor snails just in case algae starts. this tank has been run before algae free with a dozen or so large cichlids. the only algae i had was brown algae in one spot on the glass. it tooks months of not cleaning the glass for it to grow there.
i have now increased my lighting tho by about a few hundred watts, but being i have several floating plants covering 80% of the surface i dont think algae will be an issue
if a goldfish tank is heavily planted then theres no way they can consume everything. people usually make the mistake of just adding a few plants or i guess i should say a few "snacks", the goldies can go through a few plants pretty quickly
i planted a dozen hornwort which should hold up being its fast growth and supposedly bad taste. java moss, water lettuce which they dont touch (i have a pond with koi and goldies and they both leave watter lettuce alone among a few other plants)
frogbit which more than likely will be eaten but i figured i'll give it a shot, and several sword varieties.
i have seen planted goldfish tanks before so it is possible, just gotta feel it as i go. i was also told with my pond that i couldnt keep koi with plants and well that was proven wrong, 2 years later and the koi never touched a leaf.
yeah water changes will still be done, but i am only gonna start out with 2 small 2" goldfish then add another about every month, im not gonna add all 10 at once. things will get messy when they all reach full size...bigger fish bigger waste :Angel:
i never heard about them giving off a growth stunting hormone before, thats a new one. it was to my knowledge that ammonia and high nitrates is what stunts growth in any fish
thats pretty cool to know though
btw i have sand bottom, i wont do gravel in any of my tanks. the sand isnt like gravel were all the poop gets in between, with sand it all stays on top which is easy to syphon out. sand is the next best thing to going bare bottom
i ordered some japanese trapdoor snails just in case algae starts. this tank has been run before algae free with a dozen or so large cichlids. the only algae i had was brown algae in one spot on the glass. it tooks months of not cleaning the glass for it to grow there.
i have now increased my lighting tho by about a few hundred watts, but being i have several floating plants covering 80% of the surface i dont think algae will be an issue
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