How Do You Encourage Spawning In Goldfish

[Guest Calico Pearlscale]

Hi I was wondering how to measure goldfish and do you measure the length from head to tail or just the body? Also I would like to know ways to encourage spawning in goldfish? I currently have a large, plump female calico pearlscale, a small(? inches) calico goldfish(possibly fancy or ryukin), a small white goldfish with red cap, and a small white goldfish with an orange pastel tail. I am very sure that the two calicos are worth a lot of money because my uncle from Hong Kong(a goldfish breeder and seller) visited me and told me that the female pearlscale is probably worth around $40(i got it at vvvv for $5.99) and the little calico worth $30 when it grows bigger(got it for $3.99). He also told me that a secret of his to maturing his goldfish fast: he would put a bunch of baby goldfish with a couple large plump female goldfish that are eggbound, supposedly the mature females give off chemicals that make males mature and grow faster. He told me that if the little calico is indeed a male I should pursue breeding it to the large female pearlscale, but my only problem with getting them to breed is that I don't know how to induce them to breed and i need to see if my little calico is male. If he is I'll probably go to vvvv to look for a larger male one.

[kusackaid 1]

For information about the breeding check out this page.

It has good info on breeding behavior, and a link to another page that explains how to figure out what sex your goldies are.

kokosgoldfish/breeding

[ranchu.org 0]

artificial insemination

[ranchu.org 0]

ranchu shadowing

ranchu shadowing

spawning

[d_golem 2]

Mate, before u think of breeding ur fish, think of all the work involving it. I've bred goldfish, and believe me mate, it's harder than taking care of human babies.

Any pics of your fish & tank set up, mate? I'd like to see if your uncle is right about the pearlscale & calico. Btw, I do hope u got a proper-sized tank for them.

PS: U can measure goldfish anyway u want, just make sure to mention u include tail or not.

[daryl 11]

Pearlscales are one of the mutations in fancies that are "far down the scale" of mutations. This means that to get a pearlscale, you really have to breed two fish that are carrying the pearlscale mutation. You will not get a fish showing pearlscales by breeding a pearlscale with any fish that is NOT demonstrating the pearls.

I can certainly attest to the care that d-golem is refering to!!!! The baby fish need daily care and fussing - requiring great delicacy and time. Feeding is a bit of a finesse. I fed the first batch I had incorrectly - resulting in too deep of bodies - and the fish are not as stable as I would like. That batch is probably bound for a local fish store - to be sold for only 30-60 bucks @. My "daddy" fish was $650 when I bought him (much smaller size than now) and I have been offered over $1500. for him. I turned the offer down.

Out of over 1185 fry in another spawning, I will be lucky to get 1 or 2 that are close to Dad's conformation...... So much can happen. The water parameters slip, I add too deep of water, I feed too much carbs or too little carbs, I move a tank (bending backs - I did that! It was a dumb idea!), the fry are crowded and become "stunted" (did that!, sigh), etc etc etc.

Fry are wonderful! Fry are sooooo much fun! Fry are thrilling!

Fry are a lot of work, and I can tell you right now - you will not make money breeding fish - at least in the US. If you are lucky, you will find a place for all the fry to go - perhaps selling a few!

I hope you do try it. There is nothing so thrilling as seeing tiny little baby fish in your tank!!! But do your reading and set up the proper tanks and volumes you will need. I have added over 300 gallons of water for one spawning alone - and still have them too crowded!

It is commonly said that to encourage breeding, you need to properly condition your breeders the fall before. FEeding higher volumes of protien in the fall will encourage good development of eggs in the spring. When you have a female fish that is gravid with eggs, you can encourage her to drop the eggs by changing out 50% of the water in the tank every day for about 3-4 days before you wish her to spawn. She will generally drop her eggs just at dawn when the sun hits the water and warms it slightly. In a tank, warm the water a bit, but let it drop by 1-2 degrees at night. In the morning, have the heater raise the temp by 1-2 degrees as you turn the light on. The drop in air pressure just before a storm will also encourage the female to drop eggs. Pouring a cup of cold water in the prepared tank just before dawn will do much the same thing as the heater - cooling the water by a degree or two and then allowing it to rapidly heat again.

[yazooo 2]

Just about encouraging fish to breed...

I dont know if the wormer Flubenol 15 is available in the US but one of its 'side effects' is encouraging breeding behaviour.

From their website

Flubenol is not fully water soluble therefore an ingredient is added to allow Flubenol to pass the gill rakers and allow it into the blood stream of the fish and then up taken by the parasite.

A side effect of this ingredient is that it increases the leutenising hormone levels within the fish, upping the production of eggs and sperm as an end product and can induce spawning in many species.

This same ingredient induces rapid reproduction of beneficial filter bacteria and speeds up the new-tank syndrome process; that is the reason why the water in tank becomes clear within a couple of days of using Flubenol.

All the chemicals in Flubenol are there to allow the active ingredients to enter the fish without having to resort to using a toxic solvent.

Ive used this particular product for treatment of gill flukes on my goldies. Can certainly vouch for the production of bacteria sides of things.

Dunno how advisable trying to chemically induce your fish to breed is though thought id throw it in for anyone who hasnt heard of the product before.

[Guest Calico Pearlscale]

Sorry I havent sent a reply in so long I just thought that this forum sends emails when ever a new post is entered. I'll have pictures of my goldfish in this thread as soon as I get a digital camera (probably a long time from now). My fish have grown so much since when I first posted. The pearlscale is about 5 inches now and has mor blue and red integrated into its body, and the other calico is only 4 inches with little color change(longer more een fins though) my other two goldfish are just red and white; one of whichhas an all white body and an orange tail(plan on using to develop canakin strain), and the other is a slim all white gf with a red head(tancho?) both are about 4 inches as well. I hope they start breeding soon. o yeah my tank is around 150 gallons with a large canister filter, a heater at 74 degrees because my tank fluctuates from 68-76 degrees, two bubble wands, four airstones, gravel, a fluorescent hood with 4 tubes(bulbs), aquatic ground clover, elodea, large masses of vallis, a gigantic clump of hornwort, six bamboo shrimp, three gold mystery snails, and i feed the goldfish regular flakefood, hikari lionhead pellets, and freezedried brineshrimp in small quantities three times a day(two flakes, a pellet per goldfish and a small piece of the brine shrimp ball). My tank was cycled for a month using bottled bacteria, gravel from my neighbor's tank, and some floss from the filter of my ten gallon tank. The tank as a whole looks simple but not bad. The whole ground of the tankis covered with clover (my pearlscale actually swims around and disappears under the clover and my red and white fancys and the calico like swimming through the elodea forest in the back of the tank and sometimes push eachother into the mass of the hornwort). and I think they will breed soon because the calico fancy and the re tailed fancy already have white bumps on their gill plates.

[Guest Calico Pearlscale]

also where do you get flubenol 15 ? when i searched on google most websites say that it is available in the uk or australia but what about the US(california)?

[Guest swai123]

i read that turning the heat of the tank 70 during the day and 50 during day will encourage them to spawn

[Guest swai123]

do goldfish change there markings as they grow older???