One of the most serious issues fish keepers encounter almost on daily basis is choosing the right tank mates for their fish or other aquarium animals they might have. This is because this could be a dangerous decision to make which the live of your aquarium pets depends on etc. If you’re reading this article, then you must be searching for information to know if Sunfish could be able to coexist with Goldfish. I assure you, you will learn everything about that in this article.
Can Sunfish and Goldfish live together? No, keeping Sunfish and Goldfish together in a tank is dangerous, as almost all sunfish species are aggressive and will kill Goldfish.
Although these two fish are freshwater and could live in almost the same environment because their ideal water parameters are almost the same.
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They can get to almost the same size, depending on the particular species.
For instance, bull head, bluegills could get to 20 inches, while goldfish could get close to that or a bit more than that, depending on the specie and environment.
So judging from how big some of the species are, you will have to get nothing less than 100gallons tank for each group of these fish.
That’s by the way.
No specie of Sunfish has been successfully kept with goldfish without the former harming the later.
Related: Do Sunfish get along with Cichlids?
So keeping these two types of fish in a tank can be a cruel thing to do because the sunfish will definitely harm the goldfish, despite their sizes.
The only feasible way to get them to live in the same tank peacefully is to divide the tank and keep each of them in their own part, in that case, the sunfish will not have any reason to get territorial and aggressive unnecessarily.
Try keeping the Sunfish in a calm water with heater and filter at a parameter of:
They can only live in a water temperature of 70°F and pH of 6.8-8.0 with water hardiness of up to 8 GH
Goldfish too can comfortably stay in a water temperature of 68-79°F, pH of 6.0-7.5.
So the two fish are almost compatible with each other, but the issue of aggression is what makes them almost impossible to keep together because you don’t want to wake up one day and see your beautiful goldfish lying at the bottom of the aquarium with it’s fins and tails off.
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Apart from the issue of aggression, many sunfish species are not freshwater, so even if they can life peacefully with your goldfish, there is no how a freshwater goldfish could live with them and stay alive in saltwater.
Can Bluegill Live with Goldfish?
Talking of Sunfish coexisting with Goldfish, Bluegill is a freshwater specie of Sunfish and is one of the most aggressive species of Sunfish.
Can Bluegill live with Goldfish? No, Bluegill also known as Bream although can eat the same food with Sunfish, but they are aggressive and can harm and eat goldfish, especially smaller goldfish.
All sunfish are omnivores, including Bluegill or bream.
So they won’t take any chances in going after any specie of goldfish, especially those that are smaller than them in size.
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So try keeping bluegills with your goldfish and see your goldfish disappear into thin air one after the other because they will be eaten by the bluegills.
What Fish Can You Put With Goldfish?
If you’re thinking of keeping Sunfish and Goldfish together in the same tank, then forget about it.
This article can’t be complete without suggesting for you the possible fish tank mates for your goldfish.
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There are other fish that are suitable to be kept with Goldfish, some of them are:
Danios.
White cloud minnows.
Rosy red minnows.
Other Goldfish etc.
What Fish can live with Sunfish?
Also if you are interested to know what other fish can be kept with the sunfish species without having much troubles, the. they are:
Some different species of sunfish.
Bullheads.
Base, etc.
Conclusion
No matter how you try to do it, the fact is, Sunfish and Goldfish are not suitable tank mates in anyway because of their water differences and aggression.
To save your Goldfish, kindly keep them Iin a separate tank, or with suitable tank mates.