FishProfiles.com Message Forums

A question. Obviously.
Sunday morning I awoke and headed downstairs to give my goldfish and his rosey red companions their breakfast. I opened the lid and Iq the sarassa comet bolted for cover rather than coming up for his meal as normal.
Curious, says I. The rosey reds are cowering under their pot. Hmmm.
Closer inspection revealed, well, the tail-end of a tail sticking out of Iq's mouth. (I swear he looked embarrased about it.) Half an hour later or so, he was able to get that down too.
Iq is about 5 and a half to 6 inches nose to end of tail. The rosey red he put down was about an inch and a half long. Iq is looking plumped AND smug.
So far, no ill effects. For Iq. The rosey red - not so much. But.... with such a sizeable meal for a goldfish of his size... will he be able to digest all that without ill effect?? Any thoughts from fellow killer-goldfish owners?
I haven't yet noted anything coming out the other end.

Haha! That is the first time Ive heard about a carnivorous GOLDFISH... Are you sure its a goldfish?

Most fish will eat other fish as long as they can fit in their mouth. Goldfish will eat smaller fish, your goldfish cold possibly get bloat and a swim bladder disorder. I would feed it a shelled pea as soon as possible.

Just out of curiosity, how large is the aquarium are they in?

Shelled pea. Check. Thanks.

The tank is a 20 gallon long.
1 comet and (11 - 1) = 10 rosey reds.
A touch crowded but a little overfiltered with an Aquaclear 200 (200gph) since I eventually would like to upsize.
I'll be upsizing sooner than later if Iq keeps up with meals like that.
I knew they'd eat whatever they could put in their mouths but I really didn't think he could get that much in there.
Thanks again.

Comet goldfish need a 125g pond... They get to be 2 feet long and will stunt and die in your aquarium. Rehome it ASAP.

Yep goldfish are known for eating whatever they can....normally they'll leave faster swimming fish alone, but goldfish are carp, and carp are fast in their own right.

Compleatly agree with jonn.stone on this....no matter how much filtration you put on the tank you're stunting the goldfish...he needs to be moved to a much larger tank (footprint of a 125 @least) asap.

^_^
[link=Contest Rules]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Aquascaping/44382.html?200412022138" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link][/font]

Other than he is in a tank too small for his size/type of fish...I had a comet, and they are not as sweet and loving as you might think...and the thing is they probably don't mean to swallow others, but it happens...Shearonlynne (haven't seen her in awhile) had the same problem once...all turned out well, except for the fish that became a snack...
Heidi



Last edited by hmlaird at 13-Dec-2004 19:41[/font]

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle