I will be getting tropical fish soon.I will be putting them in a 10 gallon tank right next to my goldfish tank which is 5 and a half gallons.

What do I need for this tropical tank?
I know a filter and a heater but what else?

O and do tropical fish eat each other?

A filter and heater covers the bare essentials but you will probably want to get some kind of substrate and a light as well.
As for tropicals eating each other, that depends on what kind of fish you are keeping. Some do, some don't.

Hi Newfishlover! Welcome to the forum!!! Tropical tanks are great too! I have a few of them,myself However,the very first thing I want to ask,is how many goldies do you have in your 5 1/2 gal. tank?I ask this because goldies are very needy of space because of the size they get,and before I know any of your details,I allready want to tell you to put the goldies in the bigger tank that you have. You are new to the fish world,so you may want to do some reading on the forum articles for the care of your goldies,Those articles will explain quite alot for you.

^ok...i have right now only 1 goldie and i plan on getting 2 more around the same time as i get the tropical,so is that ok?

troyjames:I will now ask the pet store guy when i get the tropical if the ones i want to get eat each other! O and the hood with the light i knew about i just forgot.

THANKS troy and devs B)

You bet NewFishLover, always like to help.

After getting some choises down on what tropicals you like feel free to ask on the board here as well as asking the LFS person about the nature of the particular fish. There's alot of experiance here between all the members and it never, well almost never, hurts to get as many opinions as possible.

Good luck and enjoy the new tank

thank you!

i plan on getting Painted Tetras...what should i know about them and do they eat or get eaten by other fish?

You really shouldnt add anymore goldfish to your 51/2 gallon. Thats already overstocked. What you could to is move to goldfish to the 10 and put the tetras in the 51/2

I also love tropicals but right now for tropicals, I only have bettas and african dwarf frogs.

I've never heard of painted tetras so can't say anything about them.

I'm not putting the tropical fish in the 5 and a half gallon tank...i'm not getting any more fish for my goldie...

These are painted tetras:

Okay, do as you wish.

Are painted tetras dyed?

I just did some researching and question asking and I found out those fish are dyed. Please dont buy them. They are also called "Fruit tetras"

^i just found out that they are dyed,the website that i went to said that they won't last long,they will die a slow death from cancer....there is NO way that i'm getting them now!I'll get other tropical fish when i go to the store.

We should really stop painting fish!

Now that i'm not getting those fish,can someone tell me what other fish i should get?

I like mollies the FAT ones! (called baloon mollies). I also like neon tetras, they are schooling fish and very pretty under lights. These 2 types of fish are friendly fish and wont eat each other but i would reccomend getting either all male or all female mollies as if you get more males than females the males will chase the female and if the males are agressive with their mating antics may hurt or kill the female. However having a male and 2 females goes down well, thats often called a "trio". Oh and the mollies will breed like randy rabbits! BRING ON MIXAMATOSIS!

Anyways back on topic you might wanna check out the goldfish section of the site, this site is mainly for goldies after all

But if you have any more questions dont hesitate to jump in.

Hmmmm, I'd put in 2 cories, 3 rummy nosed tetras, a shrimp, and plants.

svendenhowser:can you show me a picture of the neon tetras?

Nykole:sorry if i sound mean on the other post down there!,when i said about the tropical in the 5 1/2 gallon.

Newfish,Nykole was just trying to explain that your goldie would be much happier in the ten gal. tank because it needs the space,hon. You could add a couple dojo loaches,and have a cut little set-up! The 5 1/2 would look nice with a few tetras,and maybe a couple of corys,and some java ferns or something. I have a betta and some dwarf african frogs in some 5 gal. tanks,and so far they have worked rather well.I haven't had any problems withnipping cause the daf's spend most of their time on bottom-betta on top! Newfish,there's actually a few different ways you coul go with that size tank.-Give it some more thought!

what do you mean different ways i could go with that size?

have a look HERE for neon tetras

I just meant that even though it's only a 5 1/2 gal., that theres different things you could do with it. A half doz. of those neon tetras would be nice with a couple corys. There's alot of small fish you could decide upon. You could get a male betta,and some live plants and make a nice little home for him. They have really fancy guppies that would look nice in there.(I'd stay away from getting pairs,or you would end up with too many fish) lol---Do a little bit of research for fish size,needs,and compatability,before you decide to buy,you'll wind up a winner for it! And please think about putting your goldie in the bigger tank-he will just love you for it!

well...i'm putting the tropical in the bigger tank because i want to have more tropical then goldies...My goldie came from a tank...smaller then mine,with 5 other fish...i think he is more happy to be by himself in a bigger tank.I won't be getting any more goldies for Domino soon,i plan on getting some in a week or two,BUT only about 2 more...if i see that my goldies are not happy in the 5 gallon then i'll just get another 10 gallon to put them in.

O and thanks for the neon tetra link svendenhowser,i might get them!

Please don't get any more goldfish.

As was stated before on this post, your goldfish would be much happier in the 10 gallon tank than in the 5 1/2 gallon one. Goldfish need at least 10 gallons PER FISH to be happy and healthy.

Please read the following page before doing anything else:
Koko's goldfish care page

Actually, you should probably read all of the pages on Koko's Goldfish World.

i agree with putting your goldfish in a bigger tank. not only will the fish be unhappy with little room to swim around, but the water will be very hard to keep clean and the fish run the risk of getting diseases much faster than they would in the appropriate amount of water for them.

when you buy fish at the pet store, they are in small tanks and overcrowded because the stock usually moves quickly, they clean everyday, and they have huge expensive filters that can take care of multiple tanks at once. what you don't see most of the time is the amount of dead fish the store loses daily. they are in business to sell fish so they put as many as they can in their tanks. goldfish can't live like this for a long period of time.

having a lot of goldfish in your tank may look pretty, but it's not going to look so nice when they are are floating at the surface, dead.

Newfish,we are not trying to get on your case,just trying to help you.We have all been where you are right now,so we know how you feel.The thing is,we are all learning from mistakes,and that's why we try and help newbies find their way when they begin-that's all. I know that it's hard to understand reasons sometimes,but believe we have your best interests at heart.Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

i want all of your help,thats why i came here in the first place...since everyone is telling me that Domino would be happy in a 10 gallon then,OK,i'll put him in the 10!

He'll love you for it, especially if he's a comet or a common. Those guys need a lot of room to grow. You'll also find it a lot easier to keep the water conditions good.

i'm sure he will!

O and i see you have a goldie named Domino too!

Yup, he's a fat little pearlscale. He gives the others (much larger fish) a run for their money when food is concerned. What kind of goldfish is your Domino?

Good luck with the new tropicals!

my Domino is a....i think they call it a Calico goldfish...he has spots on him...