Fantail Goldfish Tankmates 10g tank?

Question

I have recently restarted my tank. After many trial and errors I do believe I have found my perfect fish lol. I have a 10g tank, with a few decos in it already *bubbling gargoyle, 2 fake plants, and some simple home made caves from rocks, along with pebble gravel*. I have a plecostamos *sp?* in the tank as well, but I was just curious as to what other fish would I be able to put in there? I was thinking of maybe some neon tetras and 2 dwarf frogs. But I'm not sure if the Tetras would become fin nippers. Any ideas?

Well actually I have 3 fantails and 1 pleco. I started caring for cichlids at one point, they killed my pleco and then started killing each other o.O. So I decided to try my tank again and went with the goldfish. I was always told that they only get as big as the environment they are kept in. Even when I read up on them I didn't find anything giving me minimum tank size requirements. And all they said was that it was like a algae eater/pleco. Did I mess up big time?

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly you have a Pleco and a fan tail in your tank, right? If that is the case I would say don't put any other fish in the tank as both of those will be rather crowded and out grow your tank quite soon as it is and more fish would only make matters worse.

ADDITION: You only messed in the fact that you took the pet shops word at face value, something most people do. If at all possible, I would encourage you to return the goldfish, explaining to them why and then get some smaller fishes for your tank.

MM

Answer 2

Fancy Goldfish Tank Mates

Answer 3

OK here's the skinny on goldfish. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around out there about them so let me touch on a few problems I see with your tank.

First of all goldfish get BIG. Around six inches or more. They also create quite a bit of waste. Because of this 10 gallons is the absolute BARE MINIMUM for ONE goldfish, with 20 gallons being more preferable. Putting a goldfish in a bowl/tank that is too small for it can stunt it's growth. This puts stress on it's nervous system, respiratory system, circulatory system, and, well you get the picture. It shortens the fish's lifespan which despite many people thinking their five year old goldie was long lived, is 20-30 years IF cared for properly. So as of right now, there should not be any other fish in the tank, but the fantail.

Next off, goldfish are coldwater fish and prefer a water temperature between 65-68 F. Many of the fancy varieties are man made and due to overbreeding have lowered immune systems. Because of this, the fancy varieties (your fantail included) can do well and may prefer being in water temperatures has high has 74 F. But considering that tropical fish prefer temperatures 77 F and higher, this still puts goldfish in the coldwater category and so makes them incompatible with the pleco, tetras, and other fish you mentioned. To put it simply, your pleco is tropical, your goldfish is not.

Now your pleco. Common plecos reach lengths of up to two feet and besides needing a warmer temperature are HIGHLY unsuitable for a tiny 10 gallon. Common plecos also have a tendency as they grow of becoming aggressive towards other fish and it's not uncommon for them to lose interest in the algae and become VERY interested in devouring your other fish. They are also are BIG poop machines and so are much better suited for a larger, tropical aquarium.

So you have a couple of choices here. Either get rid of your fantail and pleco and start a tropical tank or get rid of the pleco and start a coldwater tank. Either way, you need to ditch that particular pleco. (I'm assuming you have a common) If you plan on keeping the goldfish and really need an algae eater I'd recommend either an apple snail (provided it's not too small) and if you decide to keep your tank between 72-74F maybe even a bristlenose pleco (They get to be about 5-6 inches and remain wonderful algae eaters their entire life. Quite possible one of the best AE) Also, if you decide to upgrade the tank size later you can get a few more goldfish and maybe even some White Cloud Mountain Minnows to go with your exsisting faintail.

If you decide to go tropical, then you can try a wide variety of snails, bristlenose pleco, clown pleco, otocinclus, siamese algae eater.....all remain relatively small and many of then do an excellent job at controlling algae.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

both the goldfish and the pleco (presuming you've been unwittingly sold a common plec) will both outgrow your 10 gallon quite quickly.

they're both very messy (poopy!) fish, adding more fish would add immense pressure to your bioload on the tank, and could cause the tank to crash, high ammonia levels = many fish deaths.

if you have been sold a common plec, he'll grow to 14" or even larger, needing a 100 gallon tank. your fantail will need 20 to 30 US gallons when he reaches his full 8"-10" in length (excluding tail).

and not to mention that plecs do not make good goldfish tankmates, they can suck on a goldfishes slime coat, leaving them susceptible to diseases. and most plecs prefer the tank temperature warmer than what a goldfish likes.

Answer 5

your fantails will be fine right now, however they will grow and not to the size of the tank. They will get to around 8 inches. They may seem small right now, but they won't stop growing. I would not recomend adding any additional fish to the tank.

Also, be sure to feed your gold fish high protein 48% or better and low fat 5% or less.

You can supplement their diet with things like Lettuce, mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens, spinach, peas, endive, seaweed, cukes, kale, chard, broccoli, lima beans, green beans, etc. and feed aquatic plants (e.g. duckweed, azolla, salvenia, etc) or hair algae daily.

For their Carotenoids which are a family of pigments the fish can't make themselves and are obtained as part of the diet. These pigments result in red, yellow and orange colors. Fish have cells called chromataphores. Those cells convert lutein and carotenes into astaxanthin which is the red pigment.
sources include, brine shrimp, krill, spirulina, marigold flowers, paprika, sweet red peppers, yams, carrots, pumpkin

Watermellons and oranges are also good as well as proteins like chicken (chicken livers) beef (livers and parts) and pork as well as worms and bugs

Answer 6

If you have a pleco, the choice of fishes are very low, because pleco's are silent killers. Neon's are out of question and so are dwarf frogs. Pleco's like to suck on the slime on the fishes and frogs, and this can kill the fishes..

You need medium size swift fishes such as White Skirt Tetra's or even Cory catfish would be fine. No Goldfish plz.

Answer 7

That sounds ok.

Just if the Neons are really small, the dwarf frog might try and eat 'em.