What else can I keep in my coldwater tank?

[ilovemyfestivehens]

I have a good sized tank setup in my lounge. I've lost the piece of cardboard that dh had written down how many litres it contains , but it's perhaps about 25 gallons I think. I have an external filter which seems to be working very well.

I have one large goldfish (Jim) in and another moderately sized goldfish (Biscuit). That's all.

I can't keep white clouds because my last lot were eaten by the rapidly growing Jim!

Any ideas for anything else I could keep in there? Perhaps a weather loach? I've had these before and they're a bit crazy.

Any shrimps that live in cold water?

I don't want a Pleco because they grow too large.

[EauRudolph]

I would say you were fully stocked with 2 goldfish in a 25 gallon tank. What are the latest water readings? Goldfish are tricky to house with other fish, weather loaches are probably the only suitable fish but as they get to 10 inches long and goldfish also get massive, you'd need a HUGE tank to house both.

This is a guide for goldfish tank sizes and size/life expectancy.

[ilovemyfestivehens]

The water readings are fine with ammonia and nitrite at zero. Ph is fine and nitrate is at an acceptable level. I have a very good external filter. Jim is almost 8 years old now. I'll get dh to measure the water volume again as the tank might be bigger than the volume I've posted.

[TheLogLadyMBE]

apple snails

[ilovemyhens]

Thank you for that. I think the aquatic centre has these.

[ilovemyhens]

I now have a coldwater pleco called Pete and three zebra snails

[gibbberish]

We have four little minnows in with our goldfish. Absolutely love them! You do need to feed them tropical fish food but that's really no bother.

[ilovemyhens]

lol I used to have four white cloud mountain minnows in with Jim, but he grew and grew and ate them!

[EauRouge]

Yes, minnows and goldfish are defo not a good combination! Coldwater plecos can be dodgy too, some that are sold as coldwater plecos are not true coldwater fish and others need a very specialist set-up. If you're thinking of getting any fish you should check what the scientific name is so you can check.

[gibbberish]

Oh no what a shame! We have had our minnows and goldfish together for years with no problems though, even when we introduced two new tiny ones a few months ago.

[ilovemyhens]

gibbberish, that's what I thought until Jim suddenly started to grow and grow and grow and grow!

I bought the pleco from a specialist aquatic store, so it's definitely a coldwater variety.

[EauRouge]

Minnows are full of protein

What sort of plec is it, one of these ?

[gibbberish]

LALALALALALALALALALALALAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[ilovemyhens]

Yes, it looks a bit like that. They live in cool water and need a lot of filtration apparently. I have an external filter and lots of aeration. I hope that's okay for it .

Should I buy some extra food for it? I have some pleco granules in the cupboard. It's currently stuck to the side of the tank sucking away.

[EauRouge]

They like munching on the tiny lifeforms that grow in algae. One way you could supplement their diet is by doing the 'pet rock' thing. You just need 2 or 3 big pebbles and a windowsill. Stick the pebbles in some dechlorinated water and put them in full sunlight and they should start to grow algae. Then you can rotate them, one in the tank for the fish to munch on and the others growing algae.

They do need a very strong flow of water and for this reason I wouldn't recommend they are kept with goldfish (especially fancy goldfish) because goldies are pond/still water fish so can't cope with the fast flow. But you've already got him now and if you haven't got the space for a specialist river set up (which look brilliant!) then all you can do is keep an eye on him and keep the water as oxygenated as possible. An extra airstone or 2 might help.

[ilovemyhens]

I have rocks that have grown algae on and I bought it some pleco biscuit things, but it didn't seem to take much notice of those. There is algae growing on the back and sides of the glass tank. I only clear the front off.

I have good aeration with two airstone bubblers going and the filter. The specialist river setup looks fab I think my water is clean/agitated enough. I'll keep an eye on the nitrate levels, but I also change 20% water each week as well.

[ilovemyhens]

The snails are just trailing around looking like.....well, snails really

[LordOfTheFlies]

Has anyone seen those cool little cream coloured frogs? Tiny about 1cm long.Do they need a rock to come out of the water or are they completely water based?Are they cold water?Will the fish eat them?Saw in pet shop but didn't want to ask in case DS wanted them.

[TheChillinator]

The most common 'cream coloured frogs' are in fact Albino African Clawed Frogs (Xenopus laevis). These originate from West Africa, so they're not coldwater species and do require an aquarium heater to maintain a tempature around 24-28°C (75.2-82.4°F).

They also don't stay very small for long, these frogs easily grow to 5"/13cm in a short space of time. Xenopus laevis is entirely aquatic.

Mixing amphibians and fish in the same tank isn't normally a very good idea. The adult size of African Clawed Frogs means they will attempt to grab small fish and if they're kept with large, boisterous fish, they will probably be out-competed for food and will eventually starve.

Keep these in a species tank.

[LordOfTheFlies]

TheChillinator thank you. Yes I remember now they were Clawed Frogs but didn't have a good look.They did have really spooky little red eyes,but very cute.We've got a coldwater behemoth goldfish so I reckon frogs are off the agenda.