Guest Doc_ Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 (edited) Hi everyone, I have a Ryukin (please exuse the spelling ) in one of my 10 gallons. I just bought a Calico Ryukin and the first one (grump is his name) keeps harassing the poor smaller calico! I caint tell which is a girl and which is a boy. mabey there might be something elese going on between those two? help please? Edited July 28, 2008 by Doc_ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member CountryLovah Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Hi Doc and welcome to koko's!!! : ) I'm sure this is NOT what you want to hear, but if the two are sharing a 10 gallon tank, that may just be the reason itself. Fancy goldfish require a minimum of 10 gallons a piece. Although it seems like it's plenty of space, and can be fine for temporary housing, 2 fancies in a 10 is not enough space in the long run. I found out the hard way, having 6 in a 29 gallon and losing all 6 : ( Seperating the two fish would be best, not only to reduce the harassing, but also to maintain better water quality in the long run. I have two fish in a 10 gallon right now, but it is only temporary until I can get their 38 gallon tank cycled and ready to go. If you can't afford a larger tank right now, another good temporary solution can be to move on fish to a rubbermaid, that has a filter & aeration, and some filter media from the 10 gallon tank. I'm sure there will be other members with their own input as well. Whatever happens, I hope you can resolve this issue and have two happy healthy goldies! Good luck with everything!!! Oh forgot something. Another thing you can try, in the meantime, is rearranging the plants, ornaments etc that are in your tank. Sometimes if a fish has been in the tank longer, it can establish it's own territory, and adding a new fish will cause it to feel that that territory is being invaded. Moving the objects around can sometimes cause those boundaries to blur, and the original fish may be more willing to share it's space. It won't be a fix long term, but it may help out for now! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chrissy_Bee Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Well, it could be breeding behaviour or it could just be a territorial fish. But the real problem you need to be aware of is that your tank is too small for two goldies For fancy goldfish you typically need at least 10 gallons per fish. The best thing you can do is either return the new fish or set up another tank for it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Doc_ Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 (edited) Thanks! (and sorry about the fish) I am working on cleaning out my other ten gallon (and believe me, its a job, I am never putting a tank by a window with all the algea!). I thought that they were mating or something, but the 10 gallon thing makes more sense! Edited July 28, 2008 by Doc_ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chrissy_Bee Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 and believe me, its a job, I am never putting a tank by a window with all the algea! Haha, I can just imagine! And don't be 'sorry' about the fish, I think most of us here made this mistake before as well 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Doc_ Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Thanks! He's so small, ( the calico) and he gets pushed around alot. Now is it ok for a Pleco to be in there with the gold Ryukin? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member CountryLovah Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Even though it's a lot of work cleaning I bet this will really things out! It's great that you had an extra 10 gallon! YAY! Once you get things set up we would LOVE to see pictures!!!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Doc_ Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Oh, of course, of course! Once I get it cleaned, and get some "decor" pics will be the next thing on my list! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Acupunk Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Hi and welcome to Koko's. No, unfortunately the pleco is not okay. See these thread for more info: http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=50587 http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=70866 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chrissy_Bee Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Welllllllll......not to give you more bad news.....but plecos can really be bad news with goldies. Search the forum and sadly, you'll find lots of horror stories about seemingly peaceful plecos hurting goldies (I had this happen before myself). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Doc_ Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 ouch, thanks for that info. I was reading a thread and one of them said that if you put a cave in the tank, you'll be fine. My pleco hardly ever comes out of that cave, and if he does, its to eat, or stay on the glass for a few minuets. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chrissy_Bee Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Even with a cave, they're not ok Mine had plenty of hiding places, but he still took the eyes out of one of my fish 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Acupunk Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 I was reading a thread and one of them said that if you put a cave in the tank, you'll be fine. My pleco hardly ever comes out of that cave, and if he does, its to eat, or stay on the glass for a few minuets. Unfortunately that is not the case. The problem is that plecos grow so fast that they are very, very hungry all the time. As they get bigger they tend to go from being herbivores (and preferring algae) to being carnivores (and preferring the slime coat and fins of any fish that they can get a hold of). If you will read the second thread that I linked above, I had a bristlenose pleco (they are supposedly less aggressive) in a large tank with a cave that only he could get into. He was provided with lots and lots of algae, as well as supplemental food including zucchini and algae wafers. He was fine for about two months, then my goldfish started turning up in the morning with damage to their fins and scales. My black fish seemed to be particularly appealing to the pleco and I had one black moor that actually died from the damage he caused. When I removed him from the tank all the damage to my goldfish stopped immediately. Before I returned the bristlenose to the LFS I had him in a tank with an apple snail. One night I woke up to an awful clattering sound coming from the tank. I got up to check and found the pleco bashing the snail against the rocks and the glass, trying to shake it out of its shell so that it could eat it! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member lynda441 Posted July 28, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 28, 2008 Yes, the threat of plecos eating the slime coat is very real and is reason enough to not keep them together, but to get back to the original problem of overstocking, you also can't have a pleco with your goldfish because it's a 10 gallon tank. One pleco alone is going to require at least 10 gallons of water all on its own and more and more the larger it gets and they get very large. People tend to overlook counting bottom feeders into the bioload because they think bottom feeders are cleaner fish and are exempt. The fact is, they poop just like any other fish and it's the poop that makes water toxic. I always make sure to tell people who are interested in getting bottom feeders, get them because you're interested in the fish, not because you want a cleaning machine. So, there are two reasons you can't have a pleco in with a goldfish. Welcome to Kokos We are happy to have you! Please feel free to ask any question you want. We love to help! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Doc_ Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Well, thank you for all your help, and I will take all your advice in to action! Once again, thank you, Doc. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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