While at my lfs researching possible tank combos for my new appartment in september I though it would be cool to have a goldfish or 2 with a couple platyf fish. I know their tropical but they do not require the high temperatures of most other trops and could live without a heater. Also i know there would be another problem with feeding as platies are pretty fast. But in a large tank would this be such a problem? I have no intentions of doing this combination but has anyone here ever successfully had goldfish with any type of tropical before? or on the other hand had a disaster from not knowing better?

Your thoughts and ideas please.

ps. remember i dont intend on doing this, i was just curious so save me the lectures

besides water temps, ect, ect.....i havent really ever had any probs with mixing fish....my goldfish are at a size now where i can't have any small fish in there due to the fact that my gf try to eat them.... as i once tried otto's and had to promptly take them out.

i personally wouldnt do it as they have different requirement, not just temperature, platies also like to have some salt in their water

Yep Platies or Guppies are not good to mix, they have way to many differences in raising them up and wouldn't be far to the goldfish. Have you thought of Dojo's?

Koko has a good point. I have two spotted cory cats in with my pearlscale but she is just a baby. I may have to seperate them when she gets bigger. cories like temps around 72 degrees or so, which is basically what my room temp is

it seems of all the live bearing trops mixing with golfish stories, mollies and swordtails seem to be the nippy ones and the ones people seem to have problems with. Does anyone know if platies and guppys are nippy too?

Also, would weather loaches (dojos) eat planted tanks?

Thanks.

As of now, I'm thinking of getting 2 black moores and a weather loach or 2 for a 30gal.

i dont no about the dojos but i'd b more worried about the goldfish eating ur plants! Anubias is the only plant that has survived with my goldfish.

When I got my first Goldfish, I kept him with my Guppies, Platys, Neon Tetras, Cherry Barbs, Dojos and Pleco. I think I may have even still had my Zebra Danios at the time. I got him because 1) I wanted to see how long he'd live ($0.15 feeder xD I'm terrible, I know. For the record, we're going on a year and he's doing fantastic. ) and 2) I had a snail problem. He was an inch long when I got him and lived fine with them until he was about 4in at which point he started ingesting my Guppies and so he was removed. They'd both go after the food and the Guppy would loose. XD Platies don't require salt. People say it can help them but I tried it once and lost a ton of my fish without even putting the full recomended dose. I'll never put it in my tanks again. :/ My Goldfish tank is about 76 degrees which is the same as all my tropical tanks. I don't do anything different for my tropicals than I do for my Goldies. *shrugs* The only other problem besides the fact he ate my Guppies was that as he got bigger, the waste amounts did too. All my fish have lived healthy, long lives in this temperature so I don't feel the need to change it. Why try to fix something if it isn't broken?

As for Platys being fast fish, they really aren't. All mine that I've had before (75+) were all mellow and just picked at the food on the top. They never raced to be the first to the food or were greedy. It'd be ok to mix for a while but you'd eventually need a new tank to seperate them down the road when the Goldfish got bigger.

I had a common gf in with a bunch of trops for awhile, including platies. The gf and platies got along fine at the same temp, ate the same food--basically ignoring each other. I didn't use salt either. All my platies have been little pigs at feeding time and very quick to get the food but the gf had no trouble getting his share.

The tropical fish that bothered my gf was a molly--she chased him relentlessly and they had to be separated.

So bottom line sounds like goldies and some trops can live well together for a few months or so but it may not be the best situation in the long run.