Guppy nipping at lionhead Goldfish

[10GallonHat]

I have a tank with a small lionhead goldfish, a small black moor, a shubunkin, two minnows and a guppy. The guppy chases the lionhead around, nipping at his back. If I didn't know better I'd think he was cleaning him or something, but I'm worried that he's attacking him. As you probably know, lionheads aren't exactly olympic swimmers, so he can't really get away very well.

Is this a problem, and/or should I stop it...one way or another?

[EzieG]

it is not advisible to mix guppies with gf, gf should keep in preferable species only tank if u keen to breed them...

[eruna]

Gf are cool water fish and guppies are warm water fish, so they really shouldn't be mixed anyway.

[big blue]

10 gallonhat, eruna is right about the guppy. He/she is a warm water fish, while the goldfish are cooler water. Also the guppy does much better with salt, which is a no, no for gold fish. Just a little info on your gold fish. There are 3 groups of gold fish as follows:

Group 1-Pond comets/Shubunkin. Two lobes on tail with one being above the other. This group swims faster than groups 2 & 3, and will eat most of the food. They will usually nip the fins on groups 2 & 3.

Group 2-Fancy gold fish. Two lobes on tail fins arranged horizontally with one to the left and one to the right. Includes, Fantails, Black Moors, and Orandas.
Swim much faster than group 3. Will eat most of the food, and will usally nip on the fins of group 3.

Group 3-Very Fancy. Ranchu, Lion Head, Bubble Eye, Celestials. This group has very limited swimming ability. Very slow movers. Will be nipped by group 1 & 2.

All groups should be kept seperately. They should only be kept with others mentioned in their group. All the goldfish in these three groups are the same fish species, Carassius Auratus, and could possibly interbreed.

Koi on the other hand are a species known as Cyprinus Carpio. They will certainly grow too big, swim too fast, and will eat all the food. They will nip all gold fish from groups 2 & 3. They can get along with fish from group 1 for a while, but not always. Shubunkin or pond fish do get large, but are not koi.

Hope this helps you some on your decission to keep goldfish. Please take a look at this web site. aquariumfish.net. This sight is run by the Bailey brothers who have been in the fish business for 35 years. They have tons of information, and some super fish for sale.

[ilovelucy]

the other peoples are right but not entirely...
guppy are generally warm water fish but if they are raised in cold water they become cold water fish so it doesnt really matter.
and your problem is totally opposite to mine i have a lionhead that keeps nibbling at my guppy.

[freakism]

Goldies thrive in salt, according to what I've been told and researched. Don't know much about guppies. But save your goldfish from the evil guppy!! Haha. I'd chuck the guppy in a body of water outside the house to control the Aedes population. Put them to good use, I say. ;p