Goldfish and newt

[sandra]

Hello. I got a small (2 inch gold fish). I have a fire belly newt that is about 2.5 inches long. I put the fish in froogles tank yesterday and they both seem to be doing fine. Neither of them are too small to be eaten by the other or too big to eat the other. Froogle spent most of the time at the surface of the water on his floating plants but now that the fish is inside the water he is mostly under the water looking at the fish and sometimes tries to follow it. It is okay to have both of them together?

 

[sandra]

Oh and i forgot to mention that the fish stays clear of the newt wont go near it to peck it or anything.

 

[heather]

Read this:http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml
Its never a good idea to mix species together. Your fish and newts may appear to coexist for a time with no problems, but in my opinion you are gambling with the lives of your animals. Take the goldfish out - all animals involved will be better for it.
Heather

 

[jennifer]

Overall, its safer not to have the fish, but it's not absolutely impossible. A goldfish will not directly harm a newt. The main danger posed by goldfish is the amount of waste they excrete. For one goldfish, the tank should be at least 10 gallons. I would recommend testing for ammonia often during the first month, and testing for ammonia and nitrate at least monthly thereafter. Don't skimp on the recommended 20%/week partial water changes. To keep the goldfish and newt together, I highly recommend that you read everything you can find on the subject of water quality, so that you understand what is necessary to keep the water healthy for both of them.

 

[abrahm]

To add on to what Jennifer said, goldfish are big mess producing fish, but they are also large fish. Your goldfish is small right now but they can obtain large sizes quite quickly. Your average fancy (globular or round) goldfish will eventually need a 30 gallon aquarium to contain their 6 inch lengths. Comet goldfish and other "torpedo" shaped goldfish, which are more streamlined in shape, will need a bigger aquarium due to their longer length of up to 12 inches and greater speed.

If you feel the need to keep fish with your newt it would be best to keep fish with a smaller full length like white cloud minnows.