# Goldfish&Plecos



## Ghetto (Jun 10, 2005)

Ok right now I got 2 gold fish, and one cory cat in a 10 gallon tank. I was wondering if it would be ok to buy a pleco. Mind you I do have a 50 gallon tank I just need to buy the stand for it.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

I'd wait to get the pleco until your 50 gallon is set up and cycled.

I think common plecos wont eat the slime coat of a goldfish, but others might.

And watch out for your goldfish trying to eat the cory. especially if the goldfish are large, or the cory is a smaller species, their horns will get stuck in the bigger fishes throat killing them both unless you remove it with needle nosed pliars.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2005)

1 cory is bad. corys are schooling fish and you should have 6 to make a happy group.


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## Ghetto (Jun 10, 2005)

is six the minimum?


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

heheh ghetto goldfish


When you get the 55 up and running I'd make the group 6. unless the goldfish are going to eat them.


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## Ghetto (Jun 10, 2005)

nah the goldfish wont eat them or atleast not the single one I have now. He's gangsta


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## euRasian32 (May 19, 2005)

Ghetto said:


> is six the minimum?


No, just a round about number. IMO 3-4 would be minimum in your case with a 10 gallon, only because goldfish are said to be dirtier than other fish. In numbers of six or more you'll notice the schooling behavior, and the fish are more happy and comfortable in numbers.

You're limited with your ten gallon. Have you thought about constructing your own stand for the 50? A couple hours of measuring, cutting, banging and screwing... and voila! then you'd have a stand... dirty minded folks are going to have fun with that one. Most of the time it's cheaper to build a simple stand, unless you find one on clearance sale. Simple meaning, no cabinet doors and what not... but you could plan for it later in the construction of the frame.


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## Ghetto (Jun 10, 2005)

I've never thought about bulding my own stand I'll look into that thnx for the tip.


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## Pac-Man (Mar 18, 2005)

also, common goldfish will get too big for the 50. MUCH too big. they generally need a pond. if you keep them in a 50, you will stunt their growth, which is very painful. the fish's insides keep growing and the actual fish dosent., It also dramatically reduces the fishes life span.

*edit*...srry...for some reason I read through it and thought you had commons. as long as they are fancy, they should be fine. my mind is going, lol


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

When you move the goldies over you should leave the cory in the 10 and like stated I would add 3 or 4 more. Then you can get a few fish that stay small for upper swimmers in the tank.
In the 55 gallon You can keep the goldies for quite a while as long as you keep up on the water changes. I have 3 in my 55 gallon and that is all it can handle. Since the pleco will grow to about the same size that would be your complete stock for that tank. I have a 55 up on cinderblock with a wood 2x4 frame with a sheet of ply on top. If you want to get fancy you can staple a nice material skirt around the stand to hide the cinderblock. Its a nice cheap alternative to the wrought iron stands for sale.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

i also say you should wait to add the pleco, and i would definatly add a few more cory cats once you have the 55 setup.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Also as someone stated some plecos will suck the slimecoat of goldfish. If you keep a eye on them looking for hickeys you should be fine.


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## Ghetto (Jun 10, 2005)

Yeah thnx for the feedback guys it's greatly apreciated. I got 2 more corys today, and I also bought a betta I have him in a 5 gallon.


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## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

Your goldies in a 55 gal will do fine along with 3 corys and a Bristlenose or rubberlip pleco. You need to have a piece of driftwood for digestion if you decide on the bristlenose. The rubberlip does not need the wood. Both of those plecos will not suck on the goldfish as long as they are healthy. I have had both of those plecos in with my goldfish and it works out fine. I never see any of them even getting close to the goldfish, however, I have another goldfish in a different tank. He has a swimbladder disease and I added some otos to his tank. They promptly attached themselves to him. I moved them out and added applesnails instead. Otos are a bad idea in general with goldfish, because the goldfish will get large enough to eat the otos. Bristlenose and rubberlips are safe with them. Like everyone says you should wait until the 55 gal is set up and it is a good idea. Both my BN and rubberlip have no problem eating algae wafers and sinking pellets, shrimp pellets and veggies on a veggie clip so if you feed them on the side with those items they will do fine even with only a small amount of algae growing in the tank. But neither of them are good cycling fish, so for that reason I would also recommend you wait until the 55 gal is cycled.

Stay away from the common pleco and the Chinese Algae eater, both of them are known to suck the slime coat off of goldfish. Even the very usefull Siamese algae eater is a bad idea if you have fancy goldfish because the SAEs eat hair algae and often mistake the flowing tails of the fancies for food. I have them too and while I never saw if, my goldies did have ripped fins while the SAEs were sharing the tank with them. The fins healed after I moved the SAEs out. So I believe the report from other people that have witnessed it.


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