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Fish Breeding

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  • 16-07-2012 12:22am
    #1
    Renno123
    Registered Users Posts: 338 ✭✭


    Hi guys,
    ive set up a pond a few months back and now have 4 goldfish.
    ive had 2 since march and they have grown a lot.
    they are around 3 1/2 inch mark at the mo.
    one of them swims underneath the other and chases the fish around.
    it doesnt seem to be an agressive thing as they swim happily together.

    does this sound likw one of them has eggs?


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    #2
    slim4life
    Closed Accounts Posts: 79 ✭✭slim4life


    Renno123 wrote: »
    Hi guys,
    ive set up a pond a few months back and now have 4 goldfish.
    ive had 2 since march and they have grown a lot.
    they are around 3 1/2 inch mark at the mo.
    one of them swims underneath the other and chases the fish around.
    it doesnt seem to be an agressive thing as they swim happily together.

    does this sound likw one of them has eggs?

    SOunds like it alright, plus the time of year fits right in. Unfortunately, this is really tough to control in ponds as you dont know exactly when they will lay the eggs and more often than not they get eaten. The best thing you can do is place plenty of live plants into the pond. Most fish will go into the plants to lay the eggs and they are less likely to be found. I have a pond for the last couple of years, I see them spawning every year and in that whole time I have got 1 single baby fish out of it (and that was by total luck when I was cleaning the pond and saw him in the bottom of the net).


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    #3
    él statutorio
    Registered Users Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭él statutorio


    If the pond is big enough and has enough plants then you'll get fish. We always had about 30/40 new fish in our pond each year at home (I'd sell them in the summers for pocket money).
    I used to supplement the goldfishes diets with white maggots during the summer to fatten them up. This doubled up as they'd be in great condition for breeding and leading into the winter they'd have a lot of body fat on them.


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    #4
    slim4life
    Closed Accounts Posts: 79 ✭✭slim4life


    él statutorio wrote: »
    If the pond is big enough and has enough plants then you'll get fish. We always had about 30/40 new fish in our pond each year at home (I'd sell them in the summers for pocket money).
    I used to supplement the goldfishes diets with white maggots during the summer to fatten them up. This doubled up as they'd be in great condition for breeding and leading into the winter they'd have a lot of body fat on them.

    When you say big enough with enough plants...how big and how many plants are we talking?

    Did the maggots not cost you a fortune over time?


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    #5
    él statutorio
    Registered Users Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭él statutorio


    slim4life wrote: »
    When you say big enough with enough plants...how big and how many plants are we talking?

    Did the maggots not cost you a fortune over time?

    depends on the size of the pond really.

    If it's a decent sized pond just pack in more pondweed. There is then a trade off with being able to see the fish and giving them somewhere to spawn. I tried to leave a few areas weed free.

    Nah the maggots were cheap, I'd get a week out of a 1lb bag which i think only cost me about £1 (this was in the 90's). Just be careful not to overfeed them as you'll just pollute the water.


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    #6
    slim4life
    Closed Accounts Posts: 79 ✭✭slim4life


    él statutorio wrote: »
    depends on the size of the pond really.

    If it's a decent sized pond just pack in more pondweed. There is then a trade off with being able to see the fish and giving them somewhere to spawn. I tried to leave a few areas weed free.

    Nah the maggots were cheap, I'd get a week out of a 1lb bag which i think only cost me about £1 (this was in the 90's). Just be careful not to overfeed them as you'll just pollute the water.

    Il definitely try this, would love to have some babies out of the pond. Did you just leave them to grow in it or remove them until they are bigger?
    Thanks for all the advise by the way!


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    #7
    él statutorio
    Registered Users Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭él statutorio


    slim4life wrote: »
    Il definitely try this, would love to have some babies out of the pond. Did you just leave them to grow in it or remove them until they are bigger?
    Thanks for all the advise by the way!

    I left them in there. A mature female goldfish will drop a few hundred thousand eggs every time she spawns. Obviously they don't all make it to maturity but if there's enough places for the fry to hide, then some of them will make it to a decent size.


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