[allison]

I admit, I know nothing about fish so you guys will have to educate me.
I would like to start out with a few comets, maybe 3-5 small ones. I know they get pretty big, so I want to have a large tank, but when they are young is it best to have them in a smaller tank to start off? I would eventually like to also get a couple of Oranda, Fantail, and a koi. So what is the final tank size I will need? Thanks in advance.

 

[susankat]

With what your planning to have I would go ahead and start with a bigger tank, like at least a 75 gal. I would leave out the koi as they will get at least 2 feet and will need a big pond.

It really isn't a good idea to mix comets with fancies as they are a fast swimmer and eater and it stresses out the fancies and the food will be gone before they get a chance to eat. If you want both kinds I would suggest a tank for comets and a tank for fancies. And big filters in each as they are big waste producers and lots of water changes.

 

[allison]

Ok. So if I had 2 tanks, would they both need to be 75 gal?

 

[djrichie]

I like to say get the bigest ank you can afford maintain and have space for...... The number of fish you can house, is really limited to the size of the tank. In other words you could have 2 29 gal tanks and have less number of fish in each. Than you want to make sure they are compatible. I personally don't see a problem with the fanies and commets, I see alot of tanks with both in them you just have to make sure you put enough food so that all get some with out over feeding. You will learn to adjust as you go.

 

[allison]

At Petsmart (I work there through a parrot rescue) they have a huge tank (maybe 90 gal?) with commets, fancies, some small koi, a few plecos, and a huge knife fish and they all seem very happy. I can see not getting koi as I know they get huge and I'd want to make sure that they have a pond if I did get any. I'm still on the fence about mixing fancies and comets. How many fish could I house in a 75 gal?