Goldfish and angelfish are some of the most beautiful fish you can have in a fish tank, which leads many newer aquarium keepers to wonder, can goldfish and angelfish live together?
No, goldfish and angelfish cannot live together. The reason is simple – the fish require vastly different temperatures to live, so having them in the same tank is not healthy. Of course, there are other reasons you should not have these two fish in the same tank together, which we will cover in this article.
3 Reasons Why Goldfish and Angelfish Can’t Live Together
There are three reasons goldfish and angelfish can’t live together. Really, there is one main reason and all the other points are effectively moot points because the main reason is that much of a deal breaker to the health of the fish.
Water Temperature
The first reason goldfish and angelfish can’t live together is the simplest and most critical reason – goldfish and angelfish have vastly different requirements for water temperature.
Angelfish are a tropical fish that require a water temperature between 79° F and 84° F, which is obviously very warm.
Goldfish are not a tropical fish and come from a much more temperate environment. They require a water temperature in the range of 69°-74° F and even lower for some species of goldfish!
With that in mind, goldfish and angelfish simply can’t live together because keeping a tank with that wide of water temperature is impossible.
It’s unfortunate because these fish would look great together, but the water temperature differences would make one of the fish very unhappy. It might actually kill one of the fish.
Water pH
The next problem with goldfish and angelfish in the same tank is that the pH requirements of the two fish are also slightly different.
Goldfish aren’t too picky about pH. They prefer a more basic water with a pH of 7.2 to 8.0 being the ideal. Again, they aren’t too picky about pH and have a fairly large range on their pH.
Angelfish, on the other hand, are much pickier about their pH. Fortunately, it does overlap to some degree with an ideal range being 6.4 to 7.2. 6.8, of course, is the ideal pH for angelfish.
I know, this isn’t the biggest problem in the world for the fish living together, but the pH combined with the more important water temperature difference makes it a terrible idea to have the two types of fish in the same tank.
Attitude
Now, even if you want to overlook the water temperature and pH problem and put goldfish and angelfish together you still have an attitude conflict. Goldfish are a generally peaceful fish that won’t fight other fish.
Angelfish, unfortunately, are not that type of fish. They can become very territorial with other fish and have a tendency to chase other fish. This problem is only exacerbated when the fish are in an unhealthy environment.
Basically, what would happen if you put angelfish and goldfish in the same tank is that the angelfish would endlessly chase the goldfish around until either the angelfish or goldfish die from living in an unideal water temperature.
Final Thoughts
Well, that about covers it for if you can have angelfish and goldfish in the same tank.
You can’t have angelfish and goldfish in the same tank – the water temperature requirements are too vast to overcome. Don’t bother trying it unless you want to kill your fish.