Will my goldfish eat my minnows?

**CSegetin** · 10-23-2012, 10:50 PM

I recently added 5 white cloud minnows to my goldfish tank. (it's a big tank but still too small for full grown goldfish, before anyone asks when they get bigger they are going to a friend with a pond and I won't get more. I didn't know they needed a massive tank when I got them) and after hours of searching on the internet everybody seems to have a different opinion about weather or not they will be alright with my goldfish. As far as I can tell it's different from fish to fish, some will eat them all in a day or two, others will live happily...
Anyway, my question is if the goldfish hasn't eaten any after a few weeks is it likely that he will eat them later? If it's a problem I can move them into my old goldfish tank (the one I got before I knew they needed a waaay bigger one) but if they are ok together I would like to add a few more.

Thanks for reading and any help would be appreciated, I'm super new to this but want to surprise my husband with more minnows (the tank is his thing really) but don't want to stuff it up and have everything eaten!

**Brhino** · 10-23-2012, 11:28 PM

the general rule is "if it fits in a fish's mouth, it may become food". Goldfish are usually not predatory hunters, but if a minnow swims in front of a goldfish's mouth, and the goldfish is big enough, it may give it a try. I mean, they try to eat their own poop if it attracts their attention!

So, if your goldfish are too small to swallow the minnows, and you're planning to get them in a pond before they get too big, they should do okay. If not, your minnows may start disappearing.

**mermaidwannabe** · 10-28-2012, 10:35 PM

They may also eat the tiny glofish danios. I'll be rehoming my remaining shubunkin because I caught him sucking in and apparently swallowing whole one of my glofish in my 65-gallon. He just started doing this -- he didn't used to bother any of them. The smaller comet is too small to do that, but he's going to the friend's pond, also. In short -- no more goldfish. I want to try a different variety of compatible coldwater fish in my 65, and I think my goldies will be happier in the pond, anyway.

-- mermaidwannabe

**HarryB** · 10-31-2012, 11:28 AM

a stated already goldfish are known to eat pretty much anything if they get the chance but they arent going to chase your minnows around the tank like a predatory fish. I cnt see a problem with adding more minnows if you have the tank space, in my opinion the bigger the shoal of minnows the less chance of them getting eaten as the shoaling instinct would kick in to avoid any chance of danger :)