Goldfish breeding?

[pattyfurg]

So currently in my 67 gallon tank I have 3 male goldfish trying to breed with my 1 female goldfish :S
I'm not really sure what my question is but what are the chances of this happening 2 days after I moved them. (iv had them for about 5 years in a pond)

 

[jlk]

Temperature & water change from the pond to the tank incited the breeding behavior. What type of goldies are they? Males can be quite aggressive and will bully a female to death so I would keep an eye on them. I keep my males & females in seperate tanks for this reason.

 

[pattyfurg]

The female is a comet along with two of the males but the third one is a stunted fancy.

 

[pattyfurg]

Ok. Now there's eggs :S
I have no idea how to save the fry :/

 

[jlk]

Lol!! Congrats on the eggs! Goldfish will eat their eggs. If you want to try & save them, they will need to be removed to another tank.

 

[pattyfurg]

Lol!! Congrats on the eggs! Goldfish will eat their eggs. If you want to try & save them, they will need to be removed to another tank.

Yeah I was going to get a 30 gallon but I would still need to wait for it to cycle :/
How often do they spawn?

 

[jlk]

They can spawn frequently (typically 2-3x in short frame of time) if the conditions are favorable. Dont be surprised if you see more eggs in the near future. Goldfish will also eat their fry as well as the eggs. Good luck!!

 

[pattyfurg]

What if I get the 30 gallon and do a water change everyday? Or twice a day?

 

[jlk]

Give it a try!!! The fry that survive will be the fighters of the bunch. Goldfish can lay well over a 1000 eggs so I dont think you need this many anyway. Keep us posted!

 

[pattyfurg]

Most of the eggs are white though :/ does that mean theyre unfertilized? Only about 10 are clear

 

[jlk]

Most likely the opaque ones are not fertilized. The clear ones most likely are. I would wait & see what happens. The clear ones may start to develop black dots in them & you may be able to see movement. Hatching can take anywhere from 48hrs to a couple of days depending on tank temps- the warmer the tank, the sooner they hatch.

 

[pattyfurg]

So what temp would you suggest?

 

[jlk]

Honestly, leave everything be. Your tanks temp was sufficient to induce spawning so it should be fine for the eggs. Lets wait & see what happens!

 

[pattyfurg]

Aha well I probobly wont be able to get the tank untill next week seeing as I finish work at 6 and school starts again tomorrow :/

 

[jlk]

Well, whoever hatches & survives not being eaten will be the toughest of the group!

 

[pattyfurg]

Ok well I decided to move the fish back to the pond because my filter isn't working :/
So I'll keep you updated XD

 

[Andy Sager]

With all due respect...

Honestly, leave everything be. Your tanks temp was sufficient to induce spawning so it should be fine for the eggs. Lets wait & see what happens!

Goldfish spawn on the warmup after being cold for a period of time. The temp jump only needs to be about 5 to 10 degrees from the colder water to induce spawning.
As for the temp to hatch the eggs, you want to try to keep them at 65 to 70 degrees. Warmer water will speed up the hatching of the eggs but that rapid growth is not good for the fry and you'll have a larger percentage of non viable fry that will die off rather quickly. At 65 degrees, the eggs should hatch in about 7 to 9 days.
If you try to breed them again, you want to have more females than males in the spawning tank then remove the parents when the spawning is complete because the eggs are sticky and you won't be able to remove the ones that are on the glass and any decorations that are in the tank.
Another trick is to use spawning grass or in the old days we used to use new cotton mop heads in the tank which the parents spawned amongst.

Hope this helps...

 

[pattyfurg]

All of the eggs werent fertilized anyways
The filter wasn't working anyways
Thanks for your help though

 

[Andy Sager]

Not to be a stickler....

All of the eggs werent fertilized anyways
The filter wasn't working anyways
Thanks for your help though

...but you don't know that the eggs weren't fertilized, what you do know is that fertilization didn't happen. (What can I say? It's a technical thing )
For what it's worth, I've always used a first spawning of any egg bearing fish for verification purposes only. That means that you are looking for 1 egg that hatches. If you get that 1 hatched egg, you definitely have proof of a fertile male and female. Most first time spawners don't get it right the first time anyway. Spawning is like everything, perfection comes with practice.

Goldfish tend to have 1 season where they will spawn (mostly springtime into summer depending on how cool the water is.) You may need to wait until next year to try spawning them again.

I need to make a correction to my previous post, the correct ratio is 3 MALES to 2 FEMALES not the other way around as I mentioned. The females will produce a huge number of eggs so the more milt available, the better the fertilization odds. Sorry for the confusion

Hope some of this helps

 

[pattyfurg]

Thanks for your help lol I wasn't actually planning on breeding them haha it just happened :S
Well a terrible terrible thing happened
My dog... ATE my fish -.-
My favoritest fish!!! Stupid dog!