Hi, I have a very established tank of "semi-agressives" - these guys have been with me for years with no problems. I've introduced guppies who have "disappeared" but no other problems. I have 2 angelfish, 2 clown loaches (my most recent - they cleaned house after a snail infestation, my tank is crystal clear with these cleaners on board), 1 albino catfish. I bought some Oranda goldfish for my husband as a gift, they are so adorable. The person who helped me at the pet store said that if I kept an eye on everyone I would be able to see how they got along, and if they didn't I could take them back. I haven't noticed biting going on, but I have noticed everyone in the tank is kind of hyper and on edge. My fat little catfish is bouncing all over the tank - he usually hangs out behind a rock as he's done for over two years now. And the food - everyone seems to like the goldfish food better than the tropical..the trops will always find enough to eat since they eat everything, but I just want to make sure the goldfish get enough to eat. I'm on day 4 and everyone looks hungry. I'm trying to make everyone is happy. Is this possible? I love the Orandas but I don't want anyone to be miserable. Petsmart will take them back before two weeks. ADVICE, PLEASE! Thank you!!!

Hi Stephanie!

Congratluations on your new oranda

It sounds like your oranda is doing ok in your tropical tank but from my own personally experience I would suggest to keep the goldfish seperate from your tropicals. I have no experience with how angel fish or clown loaches will go but I know cories can be a problem with GF. If the GF try to eat them when they are sleeping, thinking they are food, the cory has a spike in it's back which can get stuck in the GF's mouth

How big is your tank? Depending on the size of tropicals you can keep more per gallon, but fancy GF like orandas need at least 10 gallons per GF. GF are alot messier than tropicals and dirty the water quite quickly.

In my opinon I wouldn't mix your Orandas in a community tank with tropicals but that just my personal preference.

This is a great oppurtunity to get another tank just for your Orandas.
I love setting up new tanks

Good luck Stephanie with whatever you decide to do

The fish are probably "on edge" because the addition of the goldfish may have put a little strain on the tank's biological system. In other words, they are being affected by ammonia from more waste than its used to handling. Goldfish are very messy fish, and adding several to any tank can result in some ammonia posioning and other things like that...

Do some water changes and check out your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings, I bet some of them are a bit off.

I don't like to keep goldies and tropicals together for many reasons, their eating habits, temp preferences, diseases they carry that may not affect one type of fish but will wipe out the other, etc etc.

You'd probably be better off putting the goldfish in its own 20 gallon or so tank (just how many did you buy?). Watch out for any diseases or anything as well since it sounds like you didn't quarentine them first?

The others are right I wouldn't either.
But as Selena said it is personal prefference, actually it isn't. Tropicals and gf don't mix well because they need very different water conditions.

Tropicals like warmer temps, where gf are coldwater fish. That is a major difference.
Also Angels can become aggressive at the drop of a hat, and start fighting causing stress to everyone involved.
I would say----from past experience the hyperness you are seeing is from everyone being on edge from fighting. You probably aren't seeing it, but take my word it is there. Long before I knew all this new info, I had angels with gf and it eventually all came to light what was going on.

Also the comment of a toll being placed on the cycle and filter is probably also true. The stores tell you 1 inch of fish per gal of water. That is true for tropicals, but not for gf. You need 10 gal of water per one gf, that is if it is a fancy. Commons or comets require 15-20 gal per fish.

Good luck in what you decide.

I pretty much agree with LaurieP, because goldfish might be stressed out by the warmer temputure in the water.

Does this mean a regular feeder fish? Why are they so much dirtier than the much larger fancy goldfish?

Hi sbdoll8, no, comets need more space not because they are messier but because they grow long and big and they need more room to move. A short body GF will grow huge but they are more sedate swimmers.

I'm not so sure about the warmer water stressing the GF as GF can handle water up to 80*F and anyone who has kept GF in a pond in summer will know that they can handle warmer water but they can also handle the cold water which the tropicals can't.

However, there is a another water chemistry issue. A lot of tropicals from South America prefer neutral to acidic water and absolutely no salt. While GF prefer neutral to alkaline water.

It is also true that angels can be very aggressive and most tropicals are fast, darting swimmer. That by itself can stress a slower GF as they get spooked and/or try to get out of the way.

I would suggest a seperate tank also.