Can I Keep A Telescoping Goldfish In A 10 Gallon Tank?

A week ago I went to my local hobby shop aquarium store with some friends that breed fish and fell in love with the telescoping goldfish I saw there. Can I keep a telescoping goldfish within a 10 gallon tank for at least 3 years. I am in college so with dorms I cannot keep more than a 10 gallon tank, so for the next 3 years I would need to keep it in a 10 gallon but am concerned due to reading some other forum posts that the insides of the fish may continue growing and kill the fish. After college is complete I can purchase a 30 gallon tank or release the fish into my pond at home. Essentially...
1. Can I keep a telescope goldfish in a 10 gallon tank for 3 years safely (and without putting it in great stress/pain)?
2. If I wanted to keep amano or ghost shrimp to accompany the goldfish and clean the tank, how many would you recommend without greatly effecting the nitrogen load?
Sorry if I come across uninformed or if they are stupid questions, I'm new to aquarium keeping, but my buddies are have been informing me and helping me, but do not know much in the way of goldfish.

 

Your goldfish will do wonderful in a 10 gallon tank. As for the shrimp, they should be fine, as this particular species of goldfish are neither predatory nor fast enough to catch them anyways. Make sure to ad good filtration as goldfish produce a rather large amount of ammonia.

 

I apologize for disagreeing but a telescope goldfish is a fancy goldfish. They get up to 8 inches when full grown. One requires at least a 20 G tank. They are also big poop machines so a 10 gallon would have way too much ammonia build up in it. You will have to change the water everyday. I just took one out of a 10G and put him in a 29G. I really was changing his water every night to keep him alive. In regards to the shrimp, Pictusboss is right, fancies aren't fast swimmers. However, if he catches the shrimp he will without a doubt eat it.

 

I also disagree. At least a 20 gallon tank would be sufficient though!

Welcome to the forum

 

Wow! Mine was in a 40 with a few other fancies and maxed out a 5inches after years in that tank. I believe if he had some good filtration along with the shrimp cleaning up waste should not be an issue. Size, on the other hand, made be if they really can get eight inches. However, fancies are typically slow species and therefore don’t need a huge tank. For three years he should be fine in the 10, as long as you do end up moving him eventually. Good filtration is a must.

I may be wrong though. I am not that experienced with goldfish just the 40 I was talking about and a 20 a few years back.

 

Yours probably only got to be 5" because of the tank he was in. Rule is 20 G for first fancy and 10G for each after that. I have 3 with a bristlenose pleco in a 55 now and they are very happy and getting large.

 

Yeah I don’t think that’s why because I only had three in the 40 gallon tank. My water parameters were always excellent as well

 

Wow! Mine was in a 40 with a few other fancies and maxed out a 5inches after years in that tank. I believe if he had some good filtration along with the shrimp cleaning up waste should not be an issue. Size, on the other hand, made be if they really can get eight inches. However, fancies are typically slow species and therefore don’t need a huge tank. For three years he should be fine in the 10, as long as you do end up moving him eventually. Good filtration is a must.

I'm very sorry. You said yours was in with a few others (few means 3) so I figured you had at least 4 in there plus other fish. My mistake. 3 could fit in a 40.

 

Aren’t goldfish only supposed to be in with other goldfish?

 

There really isn't a goldfish that will do well in a 10 gallon. I actually think 30-40 gallons is the minimum because they like company and you could keep a friend with him with a larger tank.

ETA: By the way .. it's a telescope ... not a telescoping.

 

Fancies should be with fancies, commons and comets together. Telescope ones should be together because they have poor vision. Fancies can't swim as fast as Commons or Comets so may not get enough food. They can have a small pleco with them (bristlenose only get to 4").

 

It could also have been breeding that it was so small. A runt if you will but most get bigger.

 

I see, well that disappointing, but I'd hate to have it die days after getting it, and buying all the tank supplies for nothing. Thank you all so much for your advice! I guess I'll have to wait until after I get out of college to keep fish.

 

You needed a 20 gallon tank for a fancy goldfish but I don't know about a telescoping goldfish.

 

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I see, well that disappointing, but I'd hate to have it die days after getting it, and buying all the tank supplies for nothing. Thank you all so much for your advice! I guess I'll have to wait until after I get out of college to keep fish.

You can put a betta in a 10G if you have a filter and heater.

 

I see, well that disappointing, but I'd hate to have it die days after getting it, and buying all the tank supplies for nothing. Thank you all so much for your advice! I guess I'll have to wait until after I get out of college to keep fish.

There are lots of other options for a 10 gallon if you're interested, but if all you want is a pet goldfish, that's cool. Feel free to hang out and ask questions in the meantime. The more preparation and knowledge you have going in, the happier your future pet should be.

 

Haha, thanks for understanding! I really only have the resources to keep a colder freshwater tank up here where I am in NY, and had my mind quite set on the telescope goldfish. Most freshwater fish I looked at that could be kept in a 10 gallon looked a bit too much like guppies or bait fish to me which is not what I desired. And I'm not a big fan of betta fish and their aggressive nature as it would limit what I could keep in the 10 gallon tank with them. Fortunately I haven't thrown too much money at this endeavor yet and I've still got receipts for what I got.

 

Haha, thanks for understanding! I really only have the resources to keep a colder freshwater tank up here where I am in NY, and had my mind quite set on the telescope goldfish. Most freshwater fish I looked at that could be kept in a 10 gallon looked a bit too much like guppies or bait fish to me which is not what I desired. And I'm not a big fan of betta fish and their aggressive nature as it would limit what I could keep in the 10 gallon tank with them. Fortunately I haven't thrown too much money at this endeavor yet and I've still got receipts for what I got.

Yeah, I think the cold water part is more limiting than the tank size in your situation. I can only think of a handful of readily available fish that do well in cooler water. White Clouds, which I'm guessing are what looked like bait-fish to you when you were researching, do come in a few different color and fin morphs, but they all still look like minnows. Maybe some small variety of Kilifish would do okay in a 10, but they're pretty aggressive and are a little harder to find. Shrimp are surprisingly fun, but might not be what you're interested in if you're looking at fish.

Goldfish will still be here when you're in a better place for keeping them, though. Better to wait and still be excited about it when you can keep them than to get something you're not that into right now and losing interest in it all together.

 

You could do some celestial pearl danios or Boraras brigittae <3