Beginner question...

[Cobranetta]

I am inquiring for my son. We are beginners as far as fish go so I hope we’ve come to the right place for advice 😊 He has a fancy goldfish that we kept in a 10 gallon tank.  (Learned the hard way about how much water a goldfish needs to live...started with 3 goldfish, you get the picture 🥴)  We had 2 panda corys with our 1 goldfish for about 3 months and that’s the most fish we were able to keep alive at once in the 10 gallon.  He recently got a 28 gallon tank with the intention of putting the 1 goldfish in there as well as more fish friends.  Here’s our question:

What kind of and how many fish would be recommended? 

There seems to be so much knowledge here and we don’t want to just add more fish without knowing what we’re doing. We want to be educated on our choices and mostly we want to keep them alive 😂  Any help is appreciated. Thanks so much. 

[Cobranetta]

[Cobranetta]

[Fish Folk]

8 minutes ago, Cobranetta said:

What kind of and how many fish would be recommended? 

Cory has a video on this you might want to watch:

 

[Colu]

Gold fish need  a lot space I have one 12in common goldfish with 2dojo loach in a 65gallon  very messy fish  

[Cobranetta]

Ok thanks! 

[Colu]

Gold fish will any small fish that will fit in there mouths 

[AdamTill]

1 hour ago, Colu said:

Gold fish will any small fish that will fit in there mouths 

True story. Those pandas will eventually be lunch, and may or may not get stuck in the goldfish’s mouth on the way down using their defensive spines. Then both fish die without fairly ugly surgery to remove the remains. 

[Cobranetta]

Yes, I believe this is true. Even though the panda corys weren’t that much smaller than the goldfish, when we found them it looked like one of them had been lunch!  The other one was just dead. Strange that they both died together. But that makes sense. The Goldie maybe decided to go after them? He’s a feisty fish!  

[CorydorasEthan]

I don't know much about goldfish, but I do know that panda corys and goldfish don't have the same temperature requirements. Goldfish will do fine without a heater in the tank, but panda corydoras need around 77 degrees fahrenheit (around 25 degrees celsius). Also, if you do plan on keeping panda corys in the future, keep them in larger groups, as they are schooling fish and enjoy company.

In the end, you might want to just stick with goldfish and snails of some sort in the new tank, as golfish can grow pretty large, and have different temperature requirements from most of the other fish you may find at the pet store.

Hope this helps.

[Cobranetta]

Thanks!  It does. We did have a heater on for the panda corys and then maybe wondered if the power going out may have been another contributing factor to their passing?  We’ve thought through every scenario possible 😂

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Goldfish dont need the heaters however if the heater is malfunctioning it can cause the death. In a 28 gallon I would say to get another goldfish. They do prefer the company of each other but can do well alone. Goldfish are all about water quality, not tank size, but you do want to make sure they have enough space to swim and enjoy so a 28g is much improved to the 10 for the fancy goldfish. The pandas are fine for now (I actually heard they even like cooler water for Corys) but you don't want to do that long term, once the goldfish grows up and if he can fit the pandas in his mouth. He will and it will likely kill him and the panda.

 

I am happy you chose goldfish for you and your son! If you ever have any goldfish related questions please do not hesitate to reach out and I would be more then happy to assist.