I’ve had this goldfish for over four years. On Saturday, I decided to get a bottom feeder as a friend for the fish and a tank cleaner. In order to have a good environment for this fish, I had to put a filter in the tank (long story why I didn’t already have one).
Anyway, the goldfish seems to be getting along alright with the new fish and doesn’t seem to mind the filter. He’s acting the same, but he’s not eating like he used to. I’ve been feeding him goldfish granules since I got him and he would always swim to the top of the tank to eat when I feed him twice a day. He doesn’t do that anymore. I sometimes see him at the top of the tank, but when it’s feeding time, he won’t go to the top. The granules do eventually sink down to the bottom and he tries to catch them on their way down. But that’s the only way I think he’s getting food. Just a note, I turn off the filter during feeding time to make things easier for him.
My thought is that he could be upset over either the new fish, the filter, or both, even though he doesn’t seem to mind either. What do you think, and what should I do? I don’t want to take the new fish back to the pet store, and the filter cost a lot of money and is actually better for him. Thanks.
Update:
I don’t remember what kind of bottom feeder fish I got, but someone at Petsmart helped me pick out the fish after I mentioned that I already had a goldfish. She said that the fish should get along fine (which it does seem like it)
Also, a couple minutes after writing this question, I saw my goldfish swim up and eat one of those granules for him, but that was just that one time. I am watching him and making sure he’s getting something.
Update 2:
As for finding the food, he doesn’t even try to look for it. He used to get all excited (don’t ask how I know he’s excited) and swim to the top and eat, but he doesn’t really do that anymore. Sometimes as he sees the food sinking down, he gets those.
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✅ Answers
So he is eating, just not finding his food as fast? He is probly a little stressed from the noise and other changes, and he needs to get use to things. Make sure it gets enough food, see if it gets back to normal soon, and look out for other symptoms.
The new filter could be stressing him just because it is new, and he doesn’t know what to think about it, but he will get use to the filter. The other fish might be a bigger adjustment, a lot of fish take awhile to adjust to new fish.
It doesn’t necasaraly mean you need to return or rehome the other fish. I wish you had said what kind of fish it was though, not many fish are compatable with goldfish. Most “cleaner fish” are tropical fish that require a heater and can not live in a cold water tank.
Your goldfish is probably not used to the noise and current produced by the filter. When you turn it off before feeding he probably doesn’t get the memo until he sees the food dropping.
FYI a “cleaner fish” cleans nothing. Anything it eats is just converted to fish poop. The most common of these fish, the Common Pleco, can grow to about a foot long, and are extremely high waste tropical fish that are not temperature compatible with goldfish.