I know this has been asked before, but is my goldfish depressed?

Question

I have a goldfish we got at the fair almost 3 years ago. She's about as long as the tip of your thumb to your wrist. She's in a 30 gallon tank with two Cory cats. Two or three weeks ago, she had four Danios in there with her, and I know tropicals don't go with goldfish but...they were doing fine for the three years. I got a few more Danios and put them in, and...she ate them. She didn't go after the larger ones that had been there since the beginning but ...anyway, I got a 15 gallon tank and set it up for the Danios, thinking she's only going to get bigger and they aren't, and they may end up looking edible. We got another little goldfish to put in with her, but he's very small and she was kind of picking on him, so we moved him out. Now all she has is the cats, and she just hangs there like a big gold teabag. When I go up to the tank she livens up and is very excited to be fed, but half an hour after that 'event' is over, she's back to just hanging there. I see no fungus, or ich or blood spots...she just literally looks like she's bummed out. Is this possible? Maybe goldfish and cat fish don't hang in the same circles, but their presence is apparently not good enough. What do you think? Could she actually be depressed?

FuzzyMuffin · Answer

Depression I do believe is possible in fish. My betta had it happen to him once, despite being in perfect conditions.

However, your Goldfish is NOT in perfect conditions, so I'm guessing it's a water quality problem and not depression. 1) the tank is too small. I'm guessing she's a common/comet goldfish, and if that's the case you need to double the space she's in right now. 60+ gallons to make her comfortable! 2) Why are there cory cats in there? There shouldn't be. They're tropical and enjoy groups of 6+.

My advice? Get a larger tank and cycle it. Add her to it and then convert your 30gal to a tropical tank. Add the danios to it (15gals is too small for them) get more cory cats and even add a school of tetras if you like! 
But back to your goldie, she needs a proper tank. How's your maintenance on it? Weekly water changes? If not they need to be, maybe even twice a week because of the overstocked conditions. Is your filter rated for twice the size of the tank? Because if not that also needs to change.

Test your water parameters. If you don't have 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite and 20 or less Nitrate, then something is wrong and you need to do water changes until you get it down to the correct levels.

And if she IS depressed, try training with her. Goldfish are pretty smart as far as fish go and I'm sure she'd enjoy it. Try going through a hoop, coming to your fingers for food, etc.

noselessman · Answer

A comman goldfish from a fir would be better off in a bigger longer tank.  The only fish that will be good company for a comman goldfish is another comman goldfish.  you should get a bigger tank and filter and possibly one more comman goldfish,  Or you could look for someone with a goldfish pond, and see if they will add your fish with there fish!  
Than you can make your 30 gallon into a tropical tank, and get 3 more of the same species of cories and then some other species of fish can be added.

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I know this has been asked before, but is my goldfish depressed?

2 Answers