Can you mix any goldfish together? I want to put a common goldfish with my Oranda…is that okay? I only have 2 oranda but one is sick so I don't want the other to get lonely.

How many gallons is your tank?,your oranda should be alright
until your other oranda isn't sick anymore....

I had bad experiences with commons and orandas my oranda lost
his eyes he got beaten up pretty badly....

The main reason you do not mix various breeds of goldfish together is that some, such as comets, are very fast swimmers and get extremely large. When you drop the food in, the big comet zooms over and devours 80% of it and the other fish does not get enough.

Fish like telescope eyed fish, celestials, bubbleyed fish, and such have an even greater handicap than an oranda.

If you have a tank that is big enough that it can support the large fish a comet will become, and have the time and energy to make sure that each fish gets its proper amount of food, in general you can mix the two. I have some more handicapped fish with others, such as wenless ranchu who are fast swimmers, and I just have created "feeding stations" for the various fish. They learn where they are supposed to be to eat and go there. It takes observation, some extra time and work, but it is successful.......

It is a small 5 gallon, don't worry I am planning on getting a larger tank! I won't get any more fish until my tank is the correct size. But I just didn't want my Oranda to get lonely because I don't think the other is going to make it. He had dropsy when I bought him. I didn’t know really anything about goldfish that is why I can to this website. What do you think is the best thing to mix with them?

you can get any fish that is of the same type as your oranda. Telescopes, ryukin,black moors, red caps, fantails, ranchu, there are loads to choose from. dont get anything with one tail, it will eat your fantails tail i should know it happened to me when i put a bristol shubunkin in.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/ftypes.html

Heres some types of goldies, try to avoid the ones with eye handicaps...

thank you! I don't want my goldfish to get hurt!

I wouldn't mix a common and an oranda together. I also had a common who bite off their eyes.

Okay, thanks I will get a fantail or another oranda! :D

I really think it depends on wen growth. I have no problem with my setup and i have all my fish in one tank- Red cap, moors, comets, shubunkins. I have heard the storys about mixing the wrong fish together but i have no problem, they all get the same amounts of food, they live fine together.
My fish do have a lot of space though and my oranda doesnt have much wen growth and isnt very vunerable to the comets seeing she is twice their size!

My goldfish has just started to grow his wen, he is a pretty fast swimmer when breakfast is served! lol Thank you again for your help! I think a cute little red cap would go nicely in my tank!

I have a pretty large common and 2 medium sized shubunkins in my goldie tank with orandas and fantails...everyone lives in harmony. Not long ago I was talking to my mom about how her fish are growing so fast and mine seem to stay the same size...all except for the 2 shubunkins and the common. It then dawned on my that the single tailed fish are getting way more food. Trust me, my other fish are very plump too, but not growing as quickly. Another tank is out of the question for me, so I am just more careful about spreading the food around the tank to give everyone a chance.

I love my little piggies, but I wouldn't add any more single tails to the tank.

Good luck with everything & welcome!

i am a little bit of a purist. i thik fancy with fancy and common with common. fancy goldfish enjoy water a little warmer. common are to fast and can get the lions share of the food. i know that a lot of folks have both in teir tanks with no problems. for me it is a risk i am not willing to take. i also don't mix koi with goldfish. when koi breed the males trap the female and push her eggs out. only the stongest breed. goldfish do not do this and in a brreeding frenzy they can get hurt or killed. :goldfish