Goldfish and Mollies?

Question

I have 4 normal goldfish, 3 Calico fantail goldfish and a black molly and an orange coloured molly, a gravel cleaner and an algae eater (pleco?) and now 16 molly fry (seperated in the breeding tank still, one week old). I have read that goldfish and mollies cannot be in the same tank together. Why?? I have had these guys for about a month in the same tank and they are fine. I have a 55 gallon tank, filter, heater, real plants, gravel. I do a 25% water change every weekend. Water temp is at 80 degrees. Have been offered about 20 guppies approximately 1 month old now. Will they work with the mixture of fish I have and how many could I take? Thank you in advance for your answers!!

It will be a long time before my pleco gets to be 2ft. My mother has had one for years and she has a 10 gallon tank and it's maybe 6 inches long.

How many guppies can I put in the tank? And will they get along with the mollies?

Answer 1

55 gallons=55 fish by my rule of thumb. but goldfish prolly need about 3 gallons each since they do get large. goldfish emit alot of ammonia so be careful. i dont recommend putting goldfish with anything but a baby african albino clawed frog. i say baby because when older they shred fish with their claws and can kill a goldfish 3 times its size. i keep my frogs separate from all my other fish. they emit alot of ammonia as well which is why when theyre young they can live with goldfish, they can handle alot of ammonia. fiddler crabs can as well but theyre a saltwater fish. algea aeaters handle anything lol. but anywho ill say put the mollies in if youd like but get an ammonia test kit to be sure it dont get too high to kill them.

Answer 2

You are way overstocked. Those 7 goldfish will need much more room. They grow over a foot each. The pleco gets two feet long and will eventually start hurting the goldfish. Mollies are warm water fish the prefer some salt in the water, they can even be kept in full saltwater. The mollies and goldfish may make a snack of the guppy fry.

Answer 3

You are waaayyy overstocked. For just the 7 goldfish, you MUST have a MINIMUM 70 gallon tank. The rule for goldfish is 10 gallons of water PER fish. They WILL die otherwise. Also, mollies and goldfish have different water quality and temperature requirements. The ideal temperature for goldfish is 70 degrees. You can go to 75 degrees, but it shouldn't be higher. Mollies need a temperature of 78 to 84 degrees. Goldfish also are high level waste producers. As such, they need to have their water parameters very, very carefully checked. For these reasons, you need to remove the mollies and put them in another tank. The rule for community fish, of which group mollies belong, is 1 inch of fish per one gallon of water. So, buy another tank accordingly. Do some research on fishkeeping. This is hard to hear, but if you don't, your fish will just die. The pleco you reference isn't growing slow, it's being stunted. The skin stops growing or slows its growth, but the bones keep growing. Thus, it's being slowly deformed from the inside out. It's kind of like the old chinese tradition of foot wrapping. The foot keeps growing, but since it doesn't have anywhere to grow, it's being internally deformed. Oh, and also, your "normal" goldfish are either commons (all orange with short tails), comets (all orange or orange and white with longer, flowing tails) or, if multi-colored, shubunkins.

Answer 4

Mollys and plecos are Tropical fish. Goldfish are Coldwater fish. Goldfish should be in temperatures of 60-72F, while Mollys should be kept in 75-82. The problem isn't social compatibility.

Answer 5

Goldfish are use and breed to be alone or with eachother and they do carry chemicals that Tropical fish cant live with...Becarefull in this area of the goldfish..The guppies should be o.k as long as the other fish and the goldfish dont eat them .Keep the water temps good about 70deg and make sure you dont have too many fish in one tank..Depends on the size of the tank...Usualy a 10Gallon tank should have nomore then 8-10 fish in it...The babies you cant really go bye that...They are so small but when they get bigger then you will have too many fish in a 10gallon tank...Goodluck and I hope all this helps...

Answer 6

With a 50 gallong tank, you can get away with a lot of mixing here. I don't recommend mixing gold fish with tropicals, but, like I said, in a 50 gal, you should be okay right now. Glad to hear you are doing the water changes and have a heater; most important steps in having a healthy aquarium.

Answer 7

u should not keep goldfish and mollies together, mollies will love to bit goldfish untill death.

Answer 8

i had mollies, and the babies just didnt quit coming, so id watch the tank to make sure that they arent making more fish. as said above, at 55 gal, you should be fine

Answer 9

goldfish are cold water fish.