Horny Goldfish.

[MrsNoggin]

My fantail goldfishsh are horny. (I mean randy, rather than some new horned variety!).

I put some weed in, rather than the artificial junk they have had for years. Didn't want to change life for them too much when we inherited them from my SIL. But I figured the time has finally come, so I stuck some real stuff in.

They are very chuffed with it. So much so that Maxwell has suddenly remembered (if he ever knew - we didn't!) that he is a man and is beating up poor Felicity. He's been at it for hours. Should I worry? Will he get bored eventually and leave her alone? Do I need to whip him out for a while to give her a rest?

She doesn't seem particularly responsive to his abuse... I didn't know he had it in him, poor little lad, he's not the healthiest of fish.

Goldfish are always horny or hungry (sometimes both) There's nothing you can do to stop them, the weed you put in will help because it will be nice and soft. The male pushes the female into the weeds where she releases her eggs and he fertilises them.

If there's anything in the tank with sharp edges that you can easily remove like an ornament or bit of wood then I would take it out, they can get pretty enthusiastic when they are spawning. Otherwise just leave them to it, they usually wear themselves out by lunch time. You might want to check for injuries when they're done and you could treat with melafix to prevent any wounds getting infected.

Good lord, there are eggs everywhere!

Thanks EauRouge for your usual wisdom. Do I need to do anything else? Like clean the eggs out? Haven't really got room for my two, let alone anymore. Or are they unlikely to survive and hatch anyway? They're being nibbled now as I type. Some are down the side of rock formations, though, and pretty unreachable to the fish.

Nah, they'll eat the eggs and if any of them do hatch then they'll eat the babies. It does sound harsh but goldfish spawn so often that if you try to raise any of the fry then you'll be overrun with the buggers.

Ok, I've given in and rescued a couple of strands of weed with eggs on. I just couldn't help myself. I'm far too pregnant to see those little eggs wriggling away and let them just get eaten. But haven't nicked too many from the tank, I swear! (Yes, I'm far too sentimental).

But what the heck do I do if they start hatching?! Can I feed them regular fish flakes?! I can't imagine them chasing chunks of veg around like Ma & Pa. The websites I've seen say they don't eat for a couple of days, but then start prattling on about fry food. Our little pet shop has only one brand of flake, so it doesn't seem hopeful for stocking that kind of nonsense!

Ooh, you've given in to the fish broodiness those little fish babies are super cute....

You can get special fry food, it's called 'liquifry' and you need the stage 2 one. It's higher in protein than normal fish food and it is in tiny, tiny pieces like a really fine powder. I don't think you'd be able to grind normal fish food down that small. It's only in a tiny pot so you should be able to get it mail order fairly cheap. Yes, you don't need to feed them until they start swimming around, they will still be feeding from the yolk sac before then.

If you don't have a fry tank set up with a mature filter then you'll need a breeding net, these are also cheap and small, try ebay.

Fry are very delicate and just like human babies they need feeding every few hours and cleaning more often than adults. So they are a bit of a bugger to raise but they are very cute. Just make sure you've got the room to keep them, they don't always turn out very pretty (goldfish breeders cull massive numbers of fish) or healthy because of a limited gene pool so you may end up with fish that only a mother could love and no pet shop will take.

You are such a star! Will be digging around on eBay tonight then. And resisting the urge to rescue the rest of the eggs. Have no idea how I'm going to cope with these - the parents are still crammed in their 40L! Freecycle is not my friend at the moment.

And I don't mind frankenstein fish, a little disfigurement adds to their charm, eh? And with a dad like theirs they don't have much if a chance!

Make sure you get a breeding net and not a breeding trap, a trap has bigger gaps and they'll just swim out.

Here is a guide to goldfish tank sizes so you can figure out how much space you'll need.

You are right, I think funny-looking fish are more loveable

EauRouge, help me! I have no idea what I'm doing.

There are now about 40 odd fry in my spare plastic bathroom drawer. Some hatched on Sunday and the rest on Monday. I have a breeding net, but it takes up a lot of room in my tank, and they started off in the drawer, so they might have to stay there a while!

I dropped them in some liquifry, but they aren't interested. It just sank to the bottom and sits there looking messy. I gave them another splodge this morning and it has gone the same way. One of the babies is sitting on top of it. But I think that is an accident more than anything. Do they not need to be eating by now? Should I clean out the food before it makes the water filthy?

Help. I'm a rubbish fish mother and they're all going to die!

40?! Are they common or fancy goldfish? If they are fancies then you are going to need to build an extension to keep them all...

You need to get a filter for the drawer, one like this is best because there's nowhere for the fry to get sucked in. You'll also need an airpump like this (the make isn't important but get the smallest one) and some airline which is a really thin plastic tube. Get some extra airline and you can use it as a syphon to clean the tank.

It would be best to move them to another container, either a glass tank or you can use these storage boxes but the container has to be food-grade plastic so it doesn't leach anything into the water. I would go for at least 40 litres but you will need something much bigger in a couple of months when they start to get bigger.

The amount of liquifry they need is pretty tiny so feed them gradually and if they don't seem interested then leave it a while. Yes, you do need to clean out the uneaten food as soon as possible because it will be breaking down and releasing ammonia.

Have you read this?

Hope that helps a bit, I swear it's easier to raise human babies than fish babies

They should end up as fantails. I didn't think that many would hatch! Oops. I thought save a couple of strands of weed, just in case the survival percentage is low. But Maxwell must have super sperm. Our pet shop says they will take some eventually. But I'm guessing my good intentions will be pointless at some point soon and I will have to pick out the frankensteins and feed them to their parents .

Now, am I being a complete numpty, or will a blowy air pump (as opposed to a sucky one) go with that filter? We have a blowy one that came with the fish. SIL thought it was a filter and happily puffed bubbles into the tank for years thinking it was cleaning the water... It's in the back of my fish cupboard somewhere. Will it do?

I shall promptly move them to a 40 ltr storage box. I have one right beside me now. I just have to empty it of knitting stuff. Do I need to keep the water shallow for a while? Common sense (or maybe not) is telling me I do so they don't get squashed by the water. And do they need gravel or plants or anything? I really should just buy a book and leave you alone .

Are they supposed to be swimming about yet? They just stick to the sides unless I make them jump.

You are very kind to help me. Thank you!

Don't buy a book, they're all pretty out of date. I have my finger on the fishy pulse You can always google stuff or join a fish forum if you need more info. There's a lot of dodgy advice out there though so make sure you check multiple sites.

Yes, the air pump you have sounds fine. Is the storage box you've got food-grade plastic? You don't need any gravel but a plant or something to hide in would be good. I'd go for a silk plant so you don't need to worry about it dying and fouling the water. The water doesn't need to be shallow, a greater volume of water will help to dilute the ammonia so fill it right up.

Yep, sticking to the sides is normal. That's probably why they aren't eating yet, they don't really eat much until they're free swimming. I think that's around 5-6 days, it's been a while since I raised any goldfish.