Goldfish breeding questions?!!

[TomCarter13]

Hi there,

I am very interested in try to breed goldfish. I decided about a week ago that breeding my fancy goldfish was going to my new project and funnily enough 2 days later a pair of goldfish had their first spawn. Sadly i had absolutely no idea about goldfish breeding yet so i most of the eggs got eaten and the ones that didn't went white.

Anyway i have been motivated to get more into it and i have done so much research staying up late at night so i can successfully spawn and raise goldfish. I am currently saving up for a brine shrimp hatchery and quality brine shrimp eggs to feed future fry.

I am also saving up for a air driven sponge filter and some extra air pumps and air lines etc...

I have a question about some medications.

Firstly, i read that methylene blue can be used to prevent fungus from infecting eggs. Is this true? Also if it is true, when is the best time to treat the eggs?

Secondly, i read that i can use formalin or prazi 2 weeks after fry have been hatched to prevent them being infected?! However i have bred tropical fish before and have researched that if fry get sick with parasites theres really nothing you can do. Plus if i treat parents a week before i prepare breeding and i provide fry with a clean home (i have a 40 gal grow out tub by the way) then shouldn't they develop these things?? Just wondering if this is necessary and true because i want the best for my fry.

Any help and tips would be kindly appreciated!!!!


Thank you!


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[mattcham]

Use methylene blue immediately after moving eggs into hatching tank. Move the whole spawning mop. Note that eggs turning white can be a sign of infertility or impotent methylene blue is not necessary but very helpful. Don't use it in main tank, it will destroy your biological filter.

Formalin and prazi are not needed for newly hatched fry. Many meds may kill newly hatched fry. Treat the parents, not the eggs/fry. Some bugs like hexamita protozoans can be dormant in the winter then spread like wildfire in the summer or spring and kill all fish starting from the weakened ones. For this reason some people treat fish prophylactically every 12 months, especially professional breeders whose livelihood relies on fish not dying.

Have baby brine shrimp ready. Anticipate 100 to 500 fry per spawning assuming healthy parents. Fry are hair thin and fragile.

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[TomCarter13]

Thank you!

I always treat parents with any breeding i have done anyway

And as for brine shrimp i will have 2 set ups going. They hatch after 24 hours and 12 hours after i set up the first one i will start the new one so the fry have a new lot atleast every 12 hours.

Just wondering about when to start feeding? Apparently they hatch after 3-5 days but the would still eat their yolk sack so just wondering when i should do first feeding?!

Thanks for the info!!!



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[Andy Sager]

Thank you!

I always treat parents with any breeding i have done anyway

And as for brine shrimp i will have 2 set ups going. They hatch after 24 hours and 12 hours after i set up the first one i will start the new one so the fry have a new lot atleast every 12 hours.

Just wondering about when to start feeding? Apparently they hatch after 3-5 days but the would still eat their yolk sack so just wondering when i should do first feeding?!

Thanks for the info!!!

As you stated, when goldfish eggs hatch, the fry will still have the yolk sac so you don;t need to feed the brine shrimp until they are free swimming which should be in about another 3-5 days depending on the temperature. ( The colder the longer it will take.)

If you want a cheaper way to hatch BS eggs you can see my setup in my albums section in the "instruction charts" album, pic #2. It's a simple setup with a 1/2 gallon glass bowl as the hatchery. That bowl cost me $.50 at a flea market. I also use glass pickle jars and or any other glass jar of at least 1/2 gallon in size which can be purchased rather cheaply. (Just use some bleach to clean them out prior to using them.) The key is to make sure the container is round enough to create a constant motion for the eggs or they will not hatch at a good rate. The only other expensive part to the setup is the heater. Make sure you have an adjustable heater not one that is preset to a specific temperature. The rest of the items necessary you should already have on hand. I've used everything from 1/2 gallon jars to 5 gallon water bottles as hatcheries. I don;t think I've spent more than $5.00 on any container. Much cheaper than commercial made hatcheries.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions

 

[mattcham]

My brine shrimp hatchery is based on a 2 liter soda bottle. Search youtube for brine shrimp hatchery for assembly instructions. Its one of the top viewed videos. Good luck and have fun!

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[jlk]

Hi there,

I am very interested in try to breed goldfish. I decided about a week ago that breeding my fancy goldfish was going to my new project and funnily enough 2 days later a pair of goldfish had their first spawn. Sadly i had absolutely no idea about goldfish breeding yet so i most of the eggs got eaten and the ones that didn't went white.

Anyway i have been motivated to get more into it and i have done so much research staying up late at night so i can successfully spawn and raise goldfish. I am currently saving up for a brine shrimp hatchery and quality brine shrimp eggs to feed future fry.

I am also saving up for a air driven sponge filter and some extra air pumps and air lines etc...

I have a question about some medications.

Firstly, i read that methylene blue can be used to prevent fungus from infecting eggs. Is this true? Also if it is true, when is the best time to treat the eggs?

Secondly, i read that i can use formalin or prazi 2 weeks after fry have been hatched to prevent them being infected?! However i have bred tropical fish before and have researched that if fry get sick with parasites theres really nothing you can do. Plus if i treat parents a week before i prepare breeding and i provide fry with a clean home (i have a 40 gal grow out tub by the way) then shouldn't they develop these things?? Just wondering if this is necessary and true because i want the best for my fry.

Any help and tips would be kindly appreciated!!!!

Thank you!

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Just thought I would add a few things here. I have never needed to use MB with eggs. If you maintain pristine water conditions with lots of oxygenation, this should not be necessary. White eggs does not necessarily indicate fungus issues- it just simply means they are infertile (which may an issue with either or both parents). Fungus will attack dead tissue first (an infertile egg) but will spread to healthy eggs as well which is why some breeders opt for MB.

ALL fish that you keep should be treated with a full course of prazi (well prior to any breeding). This means a full cycle on of four weeks or a cycle of three weeks on, one week off, three weeks on. Unless you are routinely doing gill scrapes, assume the all fish that you own have been exposed to flukes and/or are infected. Fry should be treated as well (I treat at 3-4 weeks initially) as fluke exposure during initial development will cause permanent mouth and gill damage and growth/developmental issues. All fish should be retreated annually (treatment protocols apply to all fish owned, including tropical and quarantine).

Have plans in place for where you plan to house future fry and what you plan on doing with them. A 40g may last month or two depending on the number of fry (along with daily wcs) though you should have realistically 2-3 similar sized tubs to split fry by size by 2-3wk mark. Larger fry will consume all other fry by the 4week mark (yes, they are cannibals even being fed 8-10x a day!).

The most important thing (aside from daily wcs and constant feeding) is culling. Start as soon as they are free swimming and continue at weekly intervals. It's much easier to do when they are tiny, especially if you have a average spawn (1000+ eggs).

Feel free to ask any questions!

 

[TomCarter13]

Just thought I would add a few things here. I have never needed to use MB with eggs. If you maintain pristine water conditions with lots of oxygenation, this should not be necessary. White eggs does not necessarily indicate fungus issues- it just simply means they are infertile (which may an issue with either or both parents). Fungus will attack dead tissue first (an infertile egg) but will spread to healthy eggs as well which is why some breeders opt for MB.

ALL fish that you keep should be treated with a full course of prazi (well prior to any breeding). This means a full cycle on of four weeks or a cycle of three weeks on, one week off, three weeks on. Unless you are routinely doing gill scrapes, assume the all fish that you own have been exposed to flukes and/or are infected. Fry should be treated as well (I treat at 3-4 weeks initially) as fluke exposure during initial development will cause permanent mouth and gill damage and growth/developmental issues. All fish should be retreated annually (treatment protocols apply to all fish owned, including tropical and quarantine).

Have plans in place for where you plan to house future fry and what you plan on doing with them. A 40g may last month or two depending on the number of fry (along with daily wcs) though you should have realistically 2-3 similar sized tubs to split fry by size by 2-3wk mark. Larger fry will consume all other fry by the 4week mark (yes, they are cannibals even being fed 8-10x a day!).

The most important thing (aside from daily wcs and constant feeding) is culling. Start as soon as they are free swimming and continue at weekly intervals. It's much easier to do when they are tiny, especially if you have a average spawn (1000+ eggs).

Feel free to ask any questions!

I will be doing the best i can i am only young and therefore i do not have much money for these extra bits and pieces. I do have a 40g tub and a 20g tub but i can only use one as that is the only amount of room i have and i only have limited sponge filters that i can get my hands on i am not a professional breeder or fish keeper i am just giving me something fun to do and i will try my best to give the fry a good life and if a lot of them survive then thats cool and if they turn out fine then thats even better i could even make a small profit from this However i am expecting to be doing a lot of culling as this is probably the fishes first time.


An idea just popped into my head and i was wondering if a 60g tank is okay for raising some fry? If so please tell my because i have a really good idea




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[icydeath]

It depends. Do you have anything else in the tank? Also, you can make your own sponge filters pretty easily.

 

[TomCarter13]

Hi there!

At the moment it is my show tank but luckily its a bare bottom and it only has two large pieces of driftwood that can be easily removed and there is also 6 adult fancies in there that i will put in the smaller 40g tub FOR NOW.




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[icydeath]

Oh that would work. But why don't you just use the 40 gallon tub as a grow out so your fancies don't get stressed/cramped? I'm sure you are more attached to the adults, so it's always good to take care of them first.

 

[NatureFish]

I leave my fancies to do their thing! I just get a lot of soft plants for them to leave their eggs in and then it's a waiting game. If you want fast results you could try hand breeding but I've never tried so I wouldn't be much help there. Do research on hand breeding! There aren't really many cons but there are quite a bit of pros such as the fact that you can chose which fish to breed. However natural spawning is a sign your fish are healthy.


NatureFish
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