angelfish amd goldfish

Question
My tank is 46 gallons, hang filtration (marineland) used for 70 gallons but just wanted to be safe and an undergravel bio-filtration system, one week it has been cycling (changed from 10 gallons to the new 46 gallons). The tank contains 1 ryukin, 1 redcap oranda, calico ryukin, and a common pleco. I have not done an ammonia reading because my tank is fairly new.

My Question: Can I add some angelfish to this assortment of goldfish? I went to a exotic fish store who looked like they knew what they were doing judging by their assortments and conditions of fish, and i noticed they had angelfish with fancy tail goldfish. Is this a good or bad idea?

Answer
Hi Alex,

You need to re-home your pleco asap.  Regardless of what any petshop employee will tell you plecos should never be housed with goldfish.  They will suck the slimecoat right off of a goldfish.  This will leave them exposed to bacteria and parasites.  I have answered too many questions from people asking why their goldfish have bacteria infections when their tank has great water and then I ask if they have a pleco and the answer is always yes.

The tank being newly set up would be the number one reason you would test for ammonia.  You just moved 3 heavy bodied fish into a newly set up tank.  You need to keep a good eyeball on both your ammonia and nitrites to make sure you can take action if need be because a spike will kill off all of your fish.  You should always have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5-20 ppm nitrates.

Goldfish require 20 gallons for one and 10 for each additional with double filtration so I am happy to read that your fancies have the appropriate 46 gallon home and over-filtration.  This is excellent.  You really shouldn't add anymore goldfish.  If you want a few companions for the goldfish you can try a small school of 6 white cloud mountain minnows.  The goldies might go after them at first but they will relax in a few days.  I keep a small school of the gold variety mountain minnows with my 4 goldies in a 55 gallon tank.

Angels are tropical and require temps of 78-80 F.  Goldfish thrive at temps of 64-72 F.  Angels and goldies cannot be housed together.  Occassionally you will see goldfish in tanks with other tropical fish at the store, one, because they have superior filtration than anything you could put on your tank and two, they usually put them in there to re-cycle a tank that's off kilter or they put them in there to scavenge.  It's not a suitable permanent arrangement.

Good luck : ) April M.