Fancy Goldfish and bettas together

Question
I have two goldies a black moor and a fancy chinese goldy. would I be able to put a Betta in with my current two in a tank 36" long. it has a heater and an oxygenation thingy so would my goldies be ok if the temperature was raised to suit a Betta. If not do you have any other beautiful coloured fish that would go well with goldies. I want a variation in my tank and want something with personality which i know Bettas have. Any help would be much appreciated

Answer
Good afternoon, Alex! Thank you for your question.

I am trying to do the calculations on your tank to determine the volume. Unfortunately, with only the length, and not the width or height, this may mean you have a 40 gallon High, a 50 gallon, or a 65 gallon aquarium! Please include your total gallonage, or the rest of the dimensions for your tank (width and height), if you have any other questions.

It seems to me that you may already know the answer to your own question! Bettas and goldfish really do not belong together. The high end temperature of what goldfish can tolerate is still too cold for bettas to thrive. Also, bettas are known to nip at long flowing fins, which is why guppies and bettas cannot be kept together. You may be able to experiment keeping a betta in there, but I would not recommend it. It just would not work in the long term...

Thankfully, you seem prepared for such a response! Frankly, goldfish are best kept in a species only tank. That being said, I cannot see there being much harm in introducing a school of zebra danios, or a school of white cloud mountain minnows, to your tank. No tetras at all, since they need warmer water and tend to be nippy. Corydoras have wonderful personalities! They like to be kept in a school of at least 3, although I have kept just 2 in my community tank for over a year and they have been happy together. If you do decide to try some corys, these should be bigger than the goldfish's mouth, since goldfish do like to mouth a bit of gravel now and then. If you want someone to clean up the algae, I would suggest some apple snails or a bristlenose plecostomus...not a *common* plecostomus, since these get enormous, tens of inches long!

I hope that helps. I think you will find that a shoal of fast moving hardy little fish (known as "dithers" in this case) will be fine in there, provided there is adequate space and you have a few hiding nooks and/or plants. A school of fish is entertaining to watch because of the group interaction going on all the time. My recommendation would be to quarantine the new arrivals, so you can keep an eye on them, and make sure they are not carrying anything...do stay away from "delicate" species like neon tetras, by the way.

Oh! Your filtration. You didn't mention any. Whatever the gallonage of your tank, opt for double the filtration power with goldfish. They are extremely messy fish! So if your tank is 40 gallons, get two power filters rated for 40 gallons, or get one rated for 80 gallons. Keep something like Chemi-Pure on one side. The other, stuff with biological media like sponges and ceramic rings. Rinse out the media (weekly is best) using the tanks own water, NOT tap, so as not to bleach out any of the beneficial bacteria. If you need help selecting a filter, ask a seasoned employee at your local fish store for help, or read about them online. You can also write me back, of course.

Also, change out a good bit of the water every week...about 30% is just right. Your fish will love you for it!

Here are some websites that I have been recommending to the owners of goldfish:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com (A wonderful site I read every day, with a search feature on the main page.)

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com (They have a message board here, as well as links on the left side.)

http://www.goldfishinfo.com (Looks like a good site for general information on goldfish and their care.)

Best of luck to you!

Happy to help,
Nicole