Ok, this may be an obvious fish question, but can I have a bit of help?

Question

I have a 4ft tank with:

Guppies

Platys

2x glass catfish (4cm)

1x cory gravel catfish (3cm)

1x cory albino catfish (3cm)

6x neon tetras

4x rosy barbs (2cm)

1x pakistani loach (5cm)

1x clown loach (5cm)

2x khuli loach (4cm)

1x golden bristlenose catfish (4cm)

1x white female molly (4cm)

1x golden male molly (5cm)

4x white danios (3cm)

and... I dont think I am missing any.

The temp of the water is always between 24-27 degrees and the pH is optimal (i test every 2 days).

I also have 3 goldfish in another tank.

2 Shebunkins (4cm & 6cm)

1 Redcap (4cm)

However, I have to keep moving my goldfish around as a result of lack of space, and now they are in a very dark spot. Could I introduce them into my warm tank? My goldfish have never had a heater though.

1. Could the change in temp be too warm and kill them?

2. Could they eat the tropical food I put in the warm tank?

3. Would they eat my guppies? My guppies have so many fry. I keep having to catch them and pop them in the breeding net because I have about 12 pregnant guppies and they are too hard to keep track of.

Oh, and another question beside the point... Would the aquarium store buy my baby guppies? I really don't have the space. xD

One more... my pakistani loach seems VERY hyperactive. He darts back and forth and chases my guppies and my rosy barbs. Could this potentially be a problem?

Answer 1

It is not advisable to introduce fish from different enviromnents into the same tank.A gold fish, while pretty, is just a type og carp like you get from the river or at a masons fishfry. They are garbage eaters, and anything else they rap their lips around. The others are for the most part a tropical blend. some would get along with the goldfish, but not all.there could be predation on the part of some of the species. A last fact, Goldfish give off a lot of oils from their body, not so the tropicals. It can foul the water, even a well filtrated one.I suggest you use the gold fish for bait.add a few neon tetras. 8 or 10 make a good troop.

Answer 2

ok first off you should not keep tropica fish and gold fish in the same tank do to the difference in each types needs

the local pet store may be willing to deal with you for your guppie babies but don't exspect a lot

some loaches are very aggresive and will even eat tank mates so yes this could be a potential problem

Answer 3

It probably would not be a good idea to place your goldfish in the tank with your other fish.  The temp would not really be a huge issue, nor would the food, but the other fast moving fish you have would most likely start to harrass the much slower moving goldfish.  This would stress them out and eventually cause health problems not to mention the probably damage to their fins when the other fish nip at them.  Fish do not need a light on to be happy, only for you to see them, so the dark spot is not a problem unless you want to see them.  Could you buy a light for the tank?

Fish stores usually will not give you cash for fish that you breed, but sometimes they will give you store credit for food and supplies.  However, unless your guppies are the fancy type, they won't be interested at all.

The rosy barbs can handle themselves with the loach, but the guppies might have some problems.

Answer 4

never put goldfish with other fish they have separate needs and they are alot dirtier also putting the goldfish in would increase the risk of disease.  

Answer 5

allot of your fish need to school in groups of 6 or more

like your glass catfish

Answer 6

WOW. okay well let me first say that for a 4 foot tank it better be very wide and pretty darn high, otherwise you have WAYYYY too many fish in there. unbelievable!

secondly, i don't understand how your tank's temperature can fluctuate that drasticly. 1 degrees would be okay, but if your tanks temp is constantly changing, this will cause you fish to become very stressed.

are the shebunkins true single-tailed goldfish, or are they actually calico fancies? if they are actually shubunkins, you can't keep them. either get a pond, and extremely huge tank or give them away. these little beauties are very active and WILL reach over a foot long. if they're kept in anything too small they will be stunted and die. ever hear that goldfish grow to the size of their tank? it's true. BUT while their bodies stay small, their insides will continue to grow and this will kill them. if they are fancies (and this includes your redcap) they will grow to about 6-8 inches, so they will need a biig tank. absolutely no less than 20 gallons per goldie. all goldfish produce massive amounts of waste for their size, adding to the need for a large tank and regular maintinance. also, it's not a very good idea at all to mix common varieties with fancies. fancies with fancies only, commons with commons only, black moors with black moors only etc.

if they are in a dark spot get a light for the tank. they cannot go in with the others. not only is your other tank probably vastly overstocked (ask in another question if you're not sure), goldies make one of the WORST tank mates possible for your tropical pets. the sheer amount of waste they produce is far too much for the others. they will most likely suffer from ammonia burns or die from ammonia poisoning. goldies need completely different water temps to the tropicals. tropicals: 26-28. goldies: 16-20. they will eat your smaller fish once they grow a bit. some of the other fish, like the guppies, will harass the fancy and nip on its tail. the fast movements of the other fish may spook the fancy. there is not as much dissolved oxygen in warm water, far less than in cold water and hence not enough for any goldfish to live happily. they have different eating habits. the list just goes on and on. it really can't happen without disaster striking.

to answer your questions:

1) possibly not kill them, but definetally shorten their life span.

2) they could, but the fancy is a slower eater and may not get enough food without you overfeeding the rest of the inhabitants. for optimum health they should be fed a variety of foods that is designed for their species.

3) yes.

no, the pet store probably will not. not only will they have to be fully grown/matured adults, they would have to be purebreds and of the uttermost quality, also all in good health. even then they most likely will not buy them off you. you'd be lucky to get a heater for a bucket of them. let the other fish eat them. it may seem horrible, but trust me, i've been there done that and you really don't want them. they will overrun your tank. why? okay, let's go over it.

you separate the babies. they start growing. more fry (baby fish) keep coming. you can no longer keep them together, the older fry will eat the youngsters. they are becoming sexually mature. you have to separate the males from the females before you get more pregnant females. you eand up having to have tank after tank after tank for all the different generations of male and females. finally, at the end of it all, you end up trying to give them away in the paper because you can't get rid of them.

by letting your other fish eat them, they get the benifits of live food which will brighten their colours, let them hunt like they do naturally in the wild, they will benifit from all the protine and other good qualities that you find in fish,they will be happier, more active, they will live longer, you don't have to spend a fortune on equipment, etc.

as for your pakistani/yoyo loach, the activeness is probably normal. as for the agression, i would watch him for a bit. generally they are quite peacefull, but these fish can become quite agressive towards others of the same kind or different fish completely. if you think he's causing damage, take him back to the pet store. you could sell him or give him away if they won't take him back.

hope this helped, i spent a lot of time on this answer, lol. and just so nobody thinks i copied/pasted my answer from a site, i'm telling you now, i typed the whole thing myself :P  i hope everything works out :)

Answer 7

I HATE IT WHEN THESE NEW PEOPLE READ ALL THESE BOOKS AN D SAY HEY HIS TANK IS OVER CROWDED AND THEN ALL THE NEW FISH HOBBYIST USE THE 1 INCH PER GALLON ITS RUBBISH

Answer 8

1) Don't put your goldfish into the tropical fish tank.  First of all, the temperature change would not be good for your goldfish.  Secondly, the ammonia produced by your goldfish would not be good for your tropical fish.  Goldfish are very dirty fish and that's why they need to be kept in species only tanks and not mixed in with tropical fish.  You'd likely cause a disease outbreak in your tropical tank if you put your goldfish in with them.  And yes, they'd probably eat your guppy fry and possibly some of your smaller guppies.

2) Your goldfish can eat your tropical fish food.  It won't hurt them at all, although it's probably more expensive than goldfish crumbles as it has a higher protein content and probably has color enhancers that your goldfish don't need.  Feed your goldfish some green pea innards along with the tropical fish food to make sure they don't get constipated from the richer food.

3)  I already covered this in 1, but yeah, your goldfish will most likely eat your guppy fry.  

Oh, and most stores will not buy guppy fry.  Large chains (PetCo, PetSmart, WalMart, etc.) usually will not touch fish from local breeders and even those small local fish stores that will buy from local breeders want adult fish or have certain size requirements for the fish that they are willing to buy.  Some might be willing to take your guppies, but they will most likely either give you store credit or just offer to take them off your hands for free as feeder fish.

Your loach sounds like he is having territorial issues.  If he continues to chase your fish too much he may stress them out and make them ill.  Do your loaches hang out together?  Do your cories hang out with your clown loach?  If these fish are not socializing together, you may have a problem as they are social fish and need others of their own kind.  Cories and clown loaches should always be kept in groups no smaller than 3.  Sometimes clown loaches will hang out with cories & vice versa.  If they have adopted each other for a group, then that is fine.  Otherwise, you need to get some more so that they can have a group.  You have a huge variety of fish that should be kept in groups, but you have small numbers of each.  You should really cut back and have more fish of fewer varieties.