What fish can I mix with my red-cap oranda?

[Monker]

Hi, I've recently purchased a small 10 gallon Biorb and have been advised to only add one goldfish or 4 small shoaling fish a month to it. I have a small red-cap oranda fan-tail who's doing very well and am wondering what to add next. I've read that the fan-tails do well at near-tropical temperatures 20-24C (68-76F) so was thinking maybe some tetras or danios. Anyone have any suggestions cos I'm very new to this. Thanks .

P.S. Don't worry I'm not going to overstock - I know 10 gallons isn't a lot. Maybe one more goldfish and some shoalers.

[kevkoi]

Many of the American goldfish boards go for the 10gal to 1 goldfish rule. By that rule, ur redcap oranda is the only fish u will be able to keep in the Orb.

Be aware that Orandas can get big.... World Record Oranda, 'Bruce' was 2ft long! It's a half truth that fish will grow to the size of their confines. In a small tank, don't expect your fish to grow to the size of 'Bruce', but don't expect that the goldfish will stay at 2inches either. A 3-4inch goldfish within 2 years should be expected of.

If you want to add any more fish, I would suggest either 3-4 zebra danios or 3-4 white cloud minnows.

[Monker]

Thanks for your reply. I intend to get a 'proper' sized tank in about a year so space won't be a problem then. I'm so attatched my my oranda now that I would never see him in cramped conditions! Your suggestion sounds good - I think that would make a nice display. Would the oranda be ok at 75F cos I've heard that they do well in warm water.

[freakmaster]

Originally Posted by Monker

Would the oranda be ok at 75F cos I've heard that they do well in warm water.

Look at it this way Monker, most of the fancy goldfish are bred in South East Asia where the weather is hot and humid all year long. The important thing is not to let the temperature plunged too low. They'll even do fine at 30 degree Celsius.

[Monker]

Excellent! Thanks a lot - I can't wait to give Hovis some friends!

[frenchie]

Nice to meet you.

It's always sooo exciting to get friends for our pets. I noted that you will eb upgrading in a year. I see no problem with adding another gold or two to the 10 as long as you are good at keeping up with maintanance and you have sufficient filtration and airation. one of the reasons why it is suggested not to add more then 1 gold to 10 gals is that golds tend to soak up a lot of oxegyn. While theya re small you can cheat this theory by making sure you have more the recommened filtration and airation for the 10,, With golds I tend to double the filtration,, either a filter that is one size up from the size recommended fro a 10,, orrrrrr,, I add another source of filtration with extra airation.

In my experience,, mixing tropical varieties of fish with gold's in a confinded space is generally not a good idea. Danio's, and tetra's by nature tend to be aggressive and wont' think twice about picking on soneone bigger then they are. Adn if you don't add the correct ammount of schooler's, in some cases,, golds have been known to turn on them.

The rules and structures in tropical fish communities is quite different then in cold water fish communities. In a large tank or pond situation you might be abelt oget away with mixing the two species ,, Tropical fish tend to be territorial adn tend to need a more cleaner environment then a Gold is used to. Golds tend to be pretty messy but can tollerate a littel more then a tropical can.

OK,, I think I've given you enough to chew on for now. good luck with your decision making and hope all goes well.

frenchie

[freakmaster]

Hello people!

I'm thinking of getting a new 3ft x 1.5ft tank soon. And I'm also thinking of stocking it with 3 baby red cap oranda. And I also happened to have a lot of guppies at the moment. So I'm thinking of mixing the two together. Anyone sees any problem in that? I'm also thinking of putting maybe 6 - 10 neon tetras in there too. Any advice, anyone?