Thinking of adding to my coldwater tank

Bebo stunnah

I have several goldfish and a pair of weather loaches. The 2 that I was thinking of adding was either some minnows or a paradise fish, but I'm not sure if the later would mix well with the tankmates at the moment, I've seen them down at the pet store, but they're kept in a warm water setup.

Any advice?

Silverfish

How big is the tank?

Bebo stunnah

128l

Silverfish

No, sorry, wouldn't add any more fish at all.

kylith

Yeah, your tank is full.

Sleepy

What's "several" goldfish? It sounds like you're already over-stocked tbh.

An 128l tank is just under the humane size for a single goldfish.

Bebo stunnah

3 small adult goldfish and a baby one, Just wondering as I was going to be upgrading soon. Would paradise fish and goldfish mix?

kylith

How big a tank are you intending to get? This is a pic of my 10 year old goldie in a tank the same size as yours, which he shares with an apple snail. As you can see it's obvious that 1) anything else I put in there would be nothing more than a snack for him since he's now about 8", and is almost certainly still growing and 2) the tank would be overstocked, meaning a poorer quality of life for the fish.


For 4 goldfish you'd need a tank of about 300L minimum just for the goldfish, you'd need an even bigger one if you wanted to put anything else in there, and they'll eat anything they can fit in their mouths.

Googling Paradise Fish tells me that they're recommended for tanks 80L and over; so you'd need to add that onto the 300L for the goldies.

It would probably be possible to keep goldfish and Paradise fish, though the fact that the PF's ideal temp is at the upper end of the goldie's comfort zone would worry me, but you'll end up with a lot of large fish sharing the same space, so you'll want to take that into account. PF are also territorial and very aggressive toward tankmates,

Bebo stunnah

Ah I see, you're fish is a good bit older than my one!:eek: I was planning on a 400/450l tank, which ever suits the budget.

With the research I've been at myself (google) paradise fish used to be kept as cold fish? but then again, all the stuff I've rad was one end of the spectrum to the previous one. I'm aware that paradise fish prefer a minimum of around 17 degrees, and that goldfish would be at their limits at about 18-20.. I was half thinking of settung up a sub-tropical tank ~(16-18C), but as far as I can figure, the warmer the tank, the quicker the goldfish's metabolism, and they grow farily quickly?

I was just wondering if anyone has ever had the experience of keeping the 2 together un/successfully (ive seen videos on youtube ,albeit smaller tanks and overstocked than mine!) as all that research seems to be pointing at people guessing about it

kylith

The reading I did for PF has them at a temperature of 23C, just because they can be kept at 17C doesn't mean they're happy with it. I'd recommend getting a tank big enough for their adult sizes, otherwise you'll be buying a new tank every year.

You can check out aqadvisor.com to check your stocking levels before you buy anything. Its default is US gallons/inches, but you can change it to litres/centimetres.

Bebo stunnah

I'm having a look at that list, but it'll be hard to judge, because my "filter" isnt exactly a brand one, it's made of 4 chambers, all of which are 10cmx10cmx70cm (rough estimation). The 1st one is half full with a sponge media, the 2nd has a bag of activated charcoal and 10 bioballs, the 3rd has 6 bags of about 50 ceramic discs and the final one is just the pump housing, with a UV filter at the outlet, the overall turnover is 1100l/hour