breeding fish

[holden]

I have a few large goldfish. How soon will they start to breed. i live in australia and we have summer and hot right now.

[andyjevs]

Obviously, you need to make sure you have both males and females first. But sexing them is not an easy task as they only tend to show very slight sexual differences when in spawning condition. Females become very plump and males develop spawning turbicles around the head and gills (lots of small white spots)

You will need a pond or a large tank. If you have a pond, there needs to be a shallow area that is very densly planted with feathery leaved plants as well as thick roots from marginal plants.

When the female is ready to spawn, she will be driven into the weed by up to 6 males. Spawning can be quite exhausting for the females and can last anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days. It usually takes place in spring and starts first thing in the morning and you will often notice a lot of splashing.

Thousands of clear light brown sticky eggs are laid in the weed and they are about the size of a pin head. The parents are avid egg eaters so make sure there's some very thick weed. The fry hatch in about 48 hours and will remain in the shallows where it is a) warmer and b) safer. You may never notice any babies as they are dark brown in colour and very small.

Babies grow fast but you may still never see any babies for a few years until they start getting their colour and become bolder. I got rid of my goldfish and put some pretty large koi in the pond. When i built a bigger pond and moved the koi, there was also a baby goldfish about 1" long in there which must have been in hiding for at least 2 years.

Hope this helps a bit

[logman]

Hi holden, I saw your other post re your pond pump, hope you get it sorted, I'm no expert but I would imagin it would have some kind of cut-out switch to stop the motor burning out, if it becomes clogged.

In answer to your Q re gold fish, in the UK its usualy from about, from april to about mid june when gold fish are breeding, so i guess in the southern hemisphere, it may be from about, oct through to about mid december, but this may vary a lot between southern and northern Austrailia!

I would make sure you have plenty of oxygenating weeds in your pond to make sure you have some safe spawning areas. Best of Luck..

[andyjevs]

Most pumps do not have a thermal cutout switch.