Facts About What Fish Can Live With Goldfish? – Healthy Foods & Puppy Training

Goldfish is a beautiful and adorable fish for pet fish lovers. It is a friendly and easy-going fish. Goldfish can easily live with any other fish but all fish are not safe for the goldfish in the tank. There are so many fishes that are safe for your loving goldfish. So that you must have a clear concept of safe fish.

Each and every fish has different demands and conditions for comfortable living. Some of them like cold water, some like warm water, some may be upper level, or some like down or medium as they comfort. When you want to choose the best tank mates for your loving goldfish, you must have to consider the temperature and tank size.

As a fish owner, you always like to see your fish healthy and happy. So it’s very much important to choose the best tank mates and also tank for your fish. Choosing the best mates is really a wonderful experience for a pet lover.

What fish are compatible with your goldfish?

Goldfish are used to live in artificial ponds, bowls, and aquariums like most of the pet fish. They should not share their habitat with other fish species in captivity. Because of their different care requirements and some behavioral difficulties, goldfish have a negative reaction to other fish.

Here are some general principles to follow about goldfish:

Keep an eye out for aggressive fish that may prey on your goldfish. Goldfish are generally peaceful fish that do not get along with aggressive barbs, African cichlids, or other large cichlids.
Consider your goldfish’s speed. The common goldfish (also known as single-tailed or comet goldfish) is a quick swimmer who is prone to consuming anything they shouldn’t. Because fancy goldfish are significantly slower, they are more likely to be bullied by other fish.

Small, spiky fish should be avoided. Goldfish are curious and prefer to eat everything, including food, substrate, plants, and other fish. So when choosing tank mates, keep the maximum size of a full-grown goldfish in mind. Also, keep an eye out for tiny fish with spines, such as otocinclus or cory catfish.
Other fish who are able to live properly in similar conditions to goldfish should be considered. Goldfish prefer lower temperatures of 50-70°F, though they can survive without a heater at ambient temperature. This location is at the lower end of the temperature range for several of the fish on our list.

With these guidelines in mind, here are our top 10 tank mates for goldfish that we’ve personally tested and verified to be compatible:

10 Best Tank Mates For Goldfish

1. Rosy Barbs

Care Level: Easy
Size: 6 inches (15 centimeters)
Diet: Omnivore
Minimum tank size: 30 gallons (113 liters)
Temperature: 64°-72°F (18°-22°C)

Rosy barbs and goldfish can coexist, but it has been done correctly. Rosy barbs must be kept in groups of five or more at all times. Because they are schooling fish, keeping them in a small group can cause them to become hostile.

The larger the group of barbs, the more likely they are to be preoccupied with each other instead of the goldfish. Keep a close check on them to avoid fin nipping.

Rosy barbs are charming tiny fish that like to shoal together. The most common color in the trade is a solid orange-red.

These little fish are robust and low-maintenance. They eat flakes, small pellets, and most frozen foods and are easy to keep.

Because goldfish are fast swimmers, you’ll want to make sure they can acquire some food before your barbs swoop in and take it all.

They’re a terrific size that’s way too huge for a goldfish to eat, measuring 6 inches (15 cm) in length. Just make sure your tank is big enough for both species because they’ll need a lot of space.

2. Zebra Danios

Care level: easy
Size: 2 inches (5 centimeters)
Min tank size: 10 gallons (38 liters)
Diet: omnivore
Temperature: 65°-75°F (18°-24°C)

Zebra danios are small, fast-moving fish that can easily handle temperatures in the same range as goldfish. They’re small enough that adult goldfish can devour them, so be careful.

They are, nevertheless, exceedingly fast, far faster than most goldfish. Mixing these two species poses a risk, although danios can dart swiftly and should easily outswim a goldfish.

Zebra danios have a thin body with blue and yellow stripes running from the nose to the tail. As they dart around the tank, their bodies are covered in an iridescent sheen that shimmers and catches the light.

They’d be a nice contrast to your goldfish, who would be rushing by in a school. It’s a good idea to provide the danios some tall artificial plants so they have somewhere to hide if they need to.

3. Giant Danios

Care Level: easy
Size: 4 inches (10 centimeters)
Diet: omnivore
Minimum tank size: 30 gallons (113 liters)
Temperature: 70°-75°F (21°-24°C)

The zebra danio’s bigger cousin is the giant danio. They have iridescent blue and yellow stripes that span the length of their bodies, yet they are twice the size of zebras.

They’re also schooling fish that must be kept in groups of at least five. They are more likely to get agitated and violent if their school is too small.

It’s a good idea to give them tall artificial plants so they have somewhere to hide if they need to. Because these fish swim considerably faster than goldfish, you’ll want to make sure they don’t outcompete them for food and live peacefully.

4. White Cloud Mountain Minnows

Care Level: easy
Size: 1.5 inches (4 centimeters)
Diet: omnivore
Minimum tank size: 10 gallons (38 liters)
Temperature: 64°-72°F (18°-22°C)

White Cloud Mountain minnows are another little fish that will need to move quickly to avoid being eaten by greedy goldfish.

This tiny fish is an underappreciated gem in the hobby. In the same temperature range as goldfish, they can flourish.

They have a thin body, vivid red fins, and an iridescent stripe running from nose to tail. It has a silver body that, depending on the light, might appear blue or yellow.

They’re fast-moving fish, nearly to the point of being excessively hyperactive. They can outrun any goldfish, which is fortunate because they are so small that they may be devoured whole.

5. Dojo Loach

Care Level: easy
Size: 10-12 inches (25.5-30 centimeters)
Diet: omnivore
Minimum tank size: 75 gallons (283 liters)
Temperature: 65°-75°F (18°-24°C)

If you don’t have at least a 75-gallon tank, this species is best avoided. They’re a unique bottom feeder that gets along well with goldfish. They can grow up to 1 foot (30 centimeters) in length and should be kept in groups of three or more.

This species is a tank destroyer. When you add goldfish to the mix, you’ve got a lot of bioload that necessitates a lot of filtration and a stringent maintenance regimen.

Dojo loaches (also known as weather loaches) have a long eel-like body and swim in a serpentine pattern. As it searches the bottom with its facial whiskers, this species performs a fantastic job of keeping the substrate clean of uneaten food (called barbels).

A sand floor is preferred by these odd fish. They prefer to burrow into the substrate during the day to conceal and then emerge at night to look for food.

6. Banded Corydoras

Care Level: easy
Size: 4 inches (10 centimeters)
Diet: omnivore
Minimum tank size: 30 gallons (113 liters)
Temperature: 61°-74°F (16°-23°C)

Banded corydoras are a type of catfish native to South America. The fish should be kept in groups of at least five, with more being ideal. They are extremely tranquil.

The beetles have a flat belly, a high forehead, and a cluster of barbels around their lips, which they use to find food at the bottom of the ocean. They’re a terrific tiny cleaner fish that’s also entertaining to watch

This species might be hard to come by at live fish stores. It’s a fantastic fit for goldfish, though, because it can endure a wide variety of temperatures and grows up to 4 inches long, which is much too huge for a goldfish to ingest whole.

7. Platy

Care Level: easy
Size: 2.5 inches (6 centimeters)
Diet: omnivore
Minimum tank size: 10 gallons (38 liters)
Temperature: 70°-80°F (21°-27°C)

Platies are commonly viewed as tropical fish, yet they can readily coexist with goldfish in the low 70s. For such a small fish, platies have a robust body and come in a wide range of patterns and colors.

Platies are livebearers, which means that instead of laying eggs, they give birth to live young. In an aquarium, they will easily reproduce. Adult fish, on the other hand, will frequently devour the fry unless they are kept in a separate tank.

Although juvenile platies may be appealing to goldfish, they are a fast-moving species that should be able to outswim most goldfish species. Make some hiding spots for your platies with artificial plants and another decor so they can get away from the goldfish when they need to. Platies are fast swimmers and avid eaters, so make sure your goldfish has plenty to eat.

8. Hillstream Loach

This bizarre fish resembles a small stingray and behaves similarly to a plecostomus (or pleco). It eats algae, scavenges for food crumbs, and clings to the glass so firmly that goldfish are unable to remove it.

Its best quality is that it is a fish that prefers lower temperatures to live at, just like goldfish. The reticulated hillstream loach, Borneo sucker loach, Chinese butterfly loach, and many other flat-bodied loaches fall into this category.

9. Brochis multiradiatus

Cory catfish aren’t recommended for goldfish aquariums since their fins are often spined and they’re small enough to go into a goldfish’s mouth. Brochis multiradiatus, sometimes known as the hog-nosed catfish or Corydoras multiradiatus, is a species of catfish.

This docile bottom-dweller resembles an enlarged cory catfish with a maximum size of 4 inches. Because they enjoy digging into the substrate and sweeping out any remains, they make excellent clean-up crew members. Yes, they have spines on their pectoral and dorsal fins, but we haven’t found them to be a problem because they’re too large for goldfish to mistake for food.

10. Ricefish

The magnificent ricefish are in the same vein as the white cloud minnows. There are various species and color variations in this cold water family, including platinum white, orange, and blue.

They aren’t as cheap as white clouds, but they are easy to breed and make a lovely complement to many of the other species on our list. Just keep in mind that they will contribute to the overall bioload (or waste load) created in the aquarium, so make sure you have enough tank capacity for both the goldfish and the other fish to live in.