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Will a goldfish be compatible with 3 syno cats and a rainbow shark? If so, what kind? thanks! I was going to get a cichlid, but decided to get goldfish instead, thanks.

WOGGIES wrote:Will a goldfish be compatible with 3 syno cats and a rainbow shark?

No. For the simple reason that a cold water species doesn't belong in a tropical setting.

if you like orange fish in with the Syno's and the Rainbow Shark, go for this one:

Barbus schuberti.

not everyone's taste, but it's a genuine, orange barb from Asia and it's very easy to take care of, completely harmless with any other fish and the bigger it gets the more orange it gets (with proper feeding etc of course). youngsters are kinda bland, adults are very flashy.
the pic shows an adult.

BTW it's a shoaling fish; 2 or 3 won't do, i suggest at least 6-7.

Barbus and Synodontis is a perfect match. the only offmatch would be 1 foot Syno's and riny barbs, cause then those get eaten. never seen it wrong on any other occasion.

One of my friends has had only good results from putting different man made "goldfish" in with his redtail.
Almost got in breding condition ;)

some of the fancier goldfish actually do better at (sub)tropical temperatures of 75-78F and therefore can be kept with synos. I kept a s. eupterus with fancy goldfish for a while with no problems. it's not the best, but it's certainly possible.

I've since gotten away from goldfish and moved to more cats and cichlids, and don't regret the move one bit.

I still have the eupterus, who is on duty as "fry patrol" in my mbuna tank.

EDIT - they're not compatible with the rainbow shark, just because of aggression. That might be an issue with the synos, too, but not as likely. good luck!

No. For the simple reason that a cold water species doesn't belong in a tropical setting.

I wish. I believe the first fish Jools caught here in a South Africa river was a guppy. The second most collected fish by me (in the Limpopo system especially) is probably goldfish.
So an accurate, modern South Africa Limpopo River biotope would have guppies, goldfish, and S. zambezensis.
-Shane

Goldfish is a subtropical/warm temperate species, not a true coldwater species. It does just fine at tropical temperatures, which is why it's become a pest species in e.g. the Amazon, Madagascar, and Australia.

Mike_Noren wrote:Goldfish is a subtropical/warm temperate species, not a true coldwater species.

One could say that goldfish adapt well to higher temperatures, yet a species that should be kept between 10 and 20 degrees C is a coldwater fish imo. And in winter the water temperatures easily drop below 10 degrees C., which doesn't seem to bother goldfish.

Marc van Arc wrote:a species that should be kept between 10 and 20 degrees C is a coldwater fish imo.

I would agree, but that would be considerably colder than the average water temperatures of its home areas in southeastern china, taiwan, and southern japan.
I don't have temperature tolerance data for Carassius auratus, the asian goldfish, but I do have for the european version, Carassius gibelio, which will be less tolerant to high temperature than the asian goldfish, so these are kindof minimum estimates: C. gibelio has a temperature optimum between 16-30 celsius, and maximum critical water temperature, where the fish will not survive indefinitely, is 36 celsius. It will reproduce normally at temperatures between 17 and 24 celsius but temperatures over 28 C kills the eggs.

(Source: Temperaturpräferenzen und -limiten
von Fischarten Schweizerischer
Fliessgewässer.)