Goldfish babies

[jaynebxl]

My kids are completely obsessed with the idea of our goldfish breeding. Of course I am less keen. How likely is this to happen with 3 random fish?!

It depends. If you've got a male and a female and they're fed and happy then it's not so much likely as inevitable. Are they in a pond or a tank?

In a tank. No idea if we have males or females but the kids are convinced one is pregnant already!

They don't get pregnant, they lay eggs which are fertilised outside the body. How big is the tank and how big are the fish?

I used to have fancies in a tank and they bred every couple of months all year round. If you're lucky you can see the baby fish moving around in the egg right before they hatch. If you do want to breed them then make sure you've got homes lined up.

I don't want to breed them! Not sure what size the tank is... I think it was 30l which is why we got 3 goldfish ... We were told to allow 10l per goldfish. The fish are um ... Not very big!

Ooh, whoever told you that was telling you massive porkie pies. It's more like 10 gallons per goldfish, not litres. Sorry :( They're small now but they get enormous. Here, take a look at this.

Don't worry, the parents will eat the eggs and any of the babies they can get to so it's rare to end up with loads of babies.

See I have fancies and feel cheated in the two years I've had them not one baby!

Mind you, maybe they have laid eggs and then eaten them.

How many have you got? You might have all males or all females. You can usually trigger spawning by spoiling them rotten with a fresh diet for a week and then doing a large-ish water change with cool (not cold) water. This mimics the start of the rainy season which is their signal to get jiggy.

I have five. Did water change yesterday actually and made water slightly warmer........what fresh diet? I often shell cooked peas for them.

Bit of blanched romaine lettuce and some high protein live food should get them in the mood.