Oranda Tankmates

[AquaticTim]

I am considering setting up another tank and will likely be putting most of my fish in it in hopes of setting up my current 55 gallon tank for a couple orandas. I never thought I'd be keeping goldfish, but the fact that they can live so long really intrigues me! Reading my signature, what do you think I can attempt to keep with 2 orandas? (Please respect others ideas as what may work for some may not work for others and vice versa).. My thinking is to keep my plants and deco as is. I would also be keeping 9 danio glo fish and 6 cory's. According to aq advisor, the only issue here is temperature, but I've also read that fancy goldfish can be in warmer temps then it says (and can actually help with disease prevention) and I've also read that cory's can be in cooler temps then it says (and apparently they breed in 70-74 degree water) so I think a 74-76 degree would be ok from what I understand? So again, I'd havbe 2 Orandas, 9 glo fish danios, 6 cory's, and my listed plants (which appear to be multiplying soon). My filters I have is a Aqueon Quietflow 55 and a Top Fin powerfilter 20 (I've also had no problems with my rainbow shark with current set up.. would he be an issue?) Has anyone kept Orandas with any of these species and what were the results? Any other comments or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[bassbonediva]

That's pretty much what I was going to suggest! lol I think the biggest concern with keeping the orandas at the higher temperature is that it tends to shorten their lifespan (speeds up their metabolism). If the cories breed in 70F water, though, you should be able to get away with keeping them at that. I know goldfish are most comfortable up to 72F, so it'd make everyone happy. My ryukin is much more active now that his tank is at a steady 69F.

 

[nanu156]

Ornadas are goldfish. (seems you know that )

The thing with gold fish is they can live with the amonia they put out, the thing with other fish is they can't. 55gal is the right size tank for a pair of ornadas (questionably a trio) but that would be about it with the livestock for that tank.

They are really cool fish, you can pet them (they like their lumpy heads rubbed) and they love frozen peas for a treat. They are also somewhat trainable.

 

[aakaakaak]

Looks to me like aqadvisor gives you a temp range of 71.6-73.4F if you select albino corries. Sounds like a sound plan to me. Just be careful with dirty water and be ready to upgrade the TopFin 20 if needed. Aqadvisor isn't perfectly accurate and could be screwing up the goldfish output.

 

[AquaticTim]

Am considering doing everything as listed, but just using one Oranda instead of a pair.. Would that make a considerable difference in water quality? I am also propbably going to upgrade the 20 gal filter to a much larger one such as a marineland 350.. any suggestions on a great large filter that is a good price for the product?

 

[nanu156]

Aquaclear makes the BEST hang on back filters. For a 55 you want the aquaclear 1000, you could get away with the 70 but price difference is only about 10.00 so I would go with the 1000 if it was me.

Honestly filter choice won't improve your goldfish situation. Go with a pair of ornandas and nothing else. Even a clean goldfish tank is going to have measurable ammonia. It's just how they roll, that being said you REALLY need to stick to only gold fish if you get gold fish.

The ornandas are cool, maybe instead of going with other fish try to select larger fish to start with, did i mention they are trainable? OR that they like peas?

I kept a large black moor and a calico ornanda for years I really got a kick out of them. Honesly if I had a tank of 55g or larger die off I would probably replace it with ornandas because i think they are that neat.

If you want larger fish but want to go with a tank that you can mix species with I would recommend taking a look at SA cichlids. Maybe some Jack Dempsys and Parrots, OR some texas blues and green terrors. With those types of mixes you could also add a mid sized catfish to clean the bottom with out a problem.

 

[bassbonediva]

Am considering doing everything as listed, but just using one Oranda instead of a pair.. Would that make a considerable difference in water quality? I am also propbably going to upgrade the 20 gal filter to a much larger one such as a marineland 350.. any suggestions on a great large filter that is a good price for the product?

If you go with just the one oranda, it would open up your stocking considerably and it would help quite a bit with water quality. I have a male ryukin with gold barbs, white cloud mountain minnows and leopard danios and only had a water quality issue when I was underfiltered, but I kept on top of it with bi-weekly water changes.

As far as the filter, I would honestly go with a canister filter on a goldfish tank...especially a large goldfish tank. There is a canister filter available on eBay that is manufactured by Marineland, but is sold under the generic name of SunSun or Perfect. I know someone who has one (on a tank with a goldfish in it, no less) and he absolutely loves it. They're a great price, too. I'm considering getting one for my coldwater tank. They range in price from $36 plus shipping ($15) for one rated for 100 gallons (235 GPH) TROPICAL AQUARIUMS FISH TANK EXTERNAL CANISTER FILTER - eBay (item 190488109199 end time Jan-14-11 18:35:25 PST) , up to $100 (with free shipping) for one rated for 200+ gallons (flow rate of 530 GPH, which is insane for a canister filter!) AQUARIUM CANISTER FILTER - 530GPH - UV - BRAND NEW!!!!! - eBay (item 250753764682 end time Jan-17-11 14:24:04 PST) .

 

[nanu156]

I would suggest again that you go with an aquaclear 1000

Canisters make a huge mess when you clean them, have been known to blow apart if not properly assembled and you have to change out the filter media.

the aquaclear 1000 runs bout 70, the aquaclear 70 is around 60. BTW filters are ALWAYS over rated. If they say they do 70 they do 40-50... In ANY brand.

The aquaclear uses a sponge that you just rinse in the fish water when it pops up to tell you it's done

 

[bassbonediva]

Not trying to argue, but I've never heard of anyone having problems like you mentioned with canister filters. I've had my Cascade 1000 running for almost a year and have yet to change the media or even bother cleaning it. I have no disease in my tank, my parameters stay nice and steady and I only do water changes every other week (this is in my 55gal, which is heavily planted, so basically I do water changes to make the white pool filter sand look all pretty). I even burned out the original motor on it because I wasn't priming it correctly and Cascade sent me a replacement free of charge (even though I got the filter used). I have four media baskets filled to the brim with blue filter pad, white pillow batting (clean and unused), and a bag or two of zeolite chips.

 

[AquaticTim]

Sounds like although it CAN be done it probably isn't ideal? The ammonia produced by the goldfish worries me that if I missed a water change or two it would become detrimental to the other tankmates.. It sounds like it has been successfully done by others, but is probably not the most ideal plan unless you are a very strict fish keeper? I'm thinking of keeping what I have, and when I graduate college and move out 'for good' I will consider getting a pair of orandas at that point. I do appreciate the input.. and still may change my mind.. My main concern is that if I am away for more than a couple weeks at a time, I wouldn't trust my roomates (read: mom and dad) to take proper care of them...

 

[achase]

I even burned out the original motor on it because I wasn't priming it correctly and Cascade sent me a replacement free of charge (even though I got the filter used). .

A little off topic but......
Don't a lot of newer canister filters self prime?

Sounds like although it CAN be done it probably isn't ideal? The ammonia produced by the goldfish worries me that if I missed a water change or two it would become detrimental to the other tankmates.. It sounds like it has been successfully done by others, but is probably not the most ideal plan unless you are a very strict fish keeper? I'm thinking of keeping what I have, and when I graduate college and move out 'for good' I will consider getting a pair of orandas at that point. I do appreciate the input.. and still may change my mind.. My main concern is that if I am away for more than a couple weeks at a time, I wouldn't trust my roomates (read: mom and dad) to take proper care of them...

Anything can be done....but I would agree it isn't ideal for a college student (I'm a college student and I know fish-keeping can sometimes take a back seat to school). I think if you want to do this set-up you have to really think about how much extra time and effort it will take (in comparison to your current setup). Parents (I still live with mine) are never to be trusted with aquarium/fish care....although I did let my dad feed them one day. *SUPERSMIL

 

[bassbonediva]

A little off topic but......
Don't a lot of newer canister filters self prime?

I wouldn't consider mine "newer," to be honest. I'd say it's about 3-5 years old. You have to depress a big button on top of the motor housing in order to create suction for it to prime. My problem was that my hoses were too long, so it couldn't create enough suction to pull water out of the tank, but I didn't realize it, so I just let the motor run to see if that would work. Ended up burning out the motor (just quit working).

 

[achase]

I didn't think yours was newer...I was just referring to new filters in general. My filter which is under a year old self-primes or so it tells me. I was just confirming that some can self-prime and that mine won't be burning out soon....because I' am not gifted when it comes to fixing aquarium equipment.

 

[bassbonediva]

Actually, most of the canister filters I've looked at you have to prime. Hang-on-back filters tend to be self-priming, though.