the busy tank

[mikey]

Here's some pics of my fish




and let's not forget..

Don't have a SLR camera yet, these are captures from some movies from my video cam.
Thanks for the help Martin!

[Setsuna]

Forgive me for being a bit slow and dence..... Is that a goldfish in your tank?

[angelfish83]

I see at the top you have a weather loach as well.. And some Clown and Yo-Yo loaches and what appears to be a very large goldfish..

Here's the thing though- there are fancy goldfish which keep well at about 79F or so, but that kind of goldfish you have needs to be around 72-73 as do the weatherloaches for optimum long term happiness and health. The clown and Yo-Yo loaches like it warmer, and the Clowns especially so- like 84...

So your fish don't really work so great together from that standpoint.

[mikey]

Yes, that's an ordinary .10 feeder goldfish! My daughter had asked me to buy some for her tank (my old 30gal.) and then wanted me to see if I could grow one bigger in my big tank (now she wants me to grow all her fish and put them back in the 30gal. I finally convinced her putting some 14in. fish in the 30gal was not possible)! This was kind of an experiment for me and the goldfish anyway. This fish is approximately 7 months old. The only downside to having this fish is that she eats every plant, every type of plant I have every stocked in my tank. These plants you see are fake.
As for the temperature, I run at 76-78 degrees fahrenheit. I know that this is not perfect for every type of fish in my community tank, but the best balance for all. I do not want 1 tank for 1 species at this time. Diversity and balance, tolerance and enlightment makes the world go round, and places like this so profound. Or should!

[Emma Turner]

"Tolerates" is not the same as "lives happily".

Emma

[Ken]

I don't agree with mixing goldfish with most tropicals but goldfish and koi can obviously thrive at relatively high temperatures. There are huge numbers being farmed in very tropical places that rarely get cool, including areas near the home waters of clowns. Since they are breeding naturally, they must be "happy".

The main problem with keeping them in warm water is that their metabolism speeds up and they become massive waste producing machines which is why I don't think they should be mixed with tropicals.

[mikey]

To Ken, please understand that it was not my intention to have a tropical tank combined with goldfish. She just got too big for any other tank I currently have to use. There seams to be quite a bond between her and my other large loaches oddly enough. I think until about 2 months ago she thought she was a misshapened yoyo! As she grew wherever the yoyo's went she was sure to follow. I'm also sure that most of the waste that I clean from my tank is from her. Some day she will have a seprate tank.