fancytail goldfish

Question
A friend of ours gave us a fancytail goldfish. Pretty big. About 6" including fancytail. We have a 55 gallon tank with 10 other fish, including  a gourmi and tinfoil barb. It looks as if probably the gourmi has been nipping at the tail of the goldfish. My question is does this hurt the goldfish? Or is that part like a fingernail to us? The gourmi is a bit testy at times with the other fish, but I haven't seen him nibble before. Is it just the frilly tail he's interested in? Or should we just get rid of goldfish? I don't want the poor guy to be eaten alive by the gourmi.

Answer
Hi Kristen,
I'm afraid the other fish (especially the gourami) might pick on him too much. Fancy goldfish are prime targets for fin-nipping as you have found out.

I feel it would be best to either give the goldfish his own tank or maybe take him to a petstore. Otherwise, his fins will likely be nipped and shredded and worse.

Sorry about the bad news.

Happy New Year!
Karen~