Information on Goldfish Breeding Tank Setup and Spawning
First Two Weeks The hatched goldfish fry should be left alone for two days until their mouths develop and then fed fry food ever four hours for the first two weeks. Fancy goldfish breeds can be fed two or three times a day. Goldfish fry that are fed freshly hatched brine shrimp nauplii tends to grow fast and become more full-bodied. Algae is another good source of food for the goldfish fry. For the best goldfish care, water changes and cleaning will be required to eliminate excess food and waste. Do two 25% water changes a week. Remove any dead fry or uneaten food by siphoning the bottom of the tank using an aquarium gravel cleaner. To clean the water when the fry first hatch, add a sponge to the intake of the aquarium gravel cleaner to avoid sucking up any goldfish fry.
Second Two Weeks The goldfish fry will begin to develop fins and start showing color patterns. At this point, algae growth, if any is left will not be a sufficient food alternative. Begin adding micro worms to their diet to keep them well fed. Feed the goldfish fry at least twice a day. Microworms can last several hours in the water as the fry graze on them. The best specimens are not always the fastest growing goldfish so It’s essential to allow the micro worms to stay in the tank so all fry have a chance to feed and grow.
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Month Two This is the time to examine the growing goldfish fry and select the best ones to keep and cull (remove) the others. Cull any fry with defects and only pick quality specimens. Additional separation may be required if the goldfish fry tank contains a mix of long-finned and short-finned goldfish. The long-finned fry grow slower and need special care. Feed the long-finned fry a mix of foods to help them develop their bodies (in balance with their fast-growing fins.)
Month Four and Beyond Continue a heavy and diverse feeding regimen of the goldfish fry. Eventually, add a power filter when the goldfish are strong enough to swim in the current a power filter produces. Preform 50% water changes twice a week to keep optimal water parameters which are key to growing healthy goldfish fry. Continue to cull the fry but it’s best to let them develop more before deciding. It might also be time to place them in a larger tank or in an outdoor pond. An outdoor pond will help them grow faster, give them more food sources, and help bring out their color. Around month 6, the best specimens should be selected. Only 1% of all the hatched goldfish fry will likely make the final cut.
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Reviewed By: Tim Winter
Tim Winter has a strong affection for pets and wildlife. His years of experience caring for various types of pets has led him to share his knowledge with others on the best practices in pet care. Tim holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications.
Can shabunkin goldfish cross breed with black moor
Is it okay to keep a small sponge filter within them? Because the water gets cloudy as I feed them, (they are 4 days old after hatch)
a sponge filter should be okay and not be too much for your fry to handle.
How do I know if my fry have developed mouths yet? Are brine shrimp easy to find? How big should my fry tank be? How do I know if there are any problems with them? Sorry for all the quenstions I’m new to raising fry
Hey! Sorry for the late reply (this might be useless now) but you will know that your fry are ready to be fed when they become free swimming. The will stop laying in the ground or attaching themselves to aquarium walls/decor/etc and start swimming around the tank in search of food. You should begin feeding them once all fry are free swimming. Feeding newly hatched brine shrimp will make the water very cloudy and therefore very easy to find. Your fry should notice them very easily, but if you want to make sure they’re eating it you should watch them closely to see how they react. Fry will often make darting movements in the water when they’re eating. As for tank size, a 40g breeder is perfect for larger sized clutches however I personally raise very small clutches (15-30) I’m 5g tanks, and then move remaining fry into larger tanks (about 30g depending how many there are) after the 4 month mark. If you do your research and commit to your fry there shouldn’t be any major issues, however most of the fry will either die before reaching maturity or develope defects, this is where culling become very important. You should cull that fry that are sick, have defects, or don’t have the desired characteristics or traits, this will allow you to dedicate time and money to the remaining fry. Good luck, I hope this helps 🙂
Hi, is it okay to have gravel in the tank with newly hatched goldfish fry? Also should I keep a water filter (pump) in the fry tank?
Gravel is totally fine. Just be careful if you need to clean the gravel so you don’t harm any tiny fry. A water pump or filter is okay as long as it can’t suck up the fry. A water pump that blows air bubbles is likely safe as long as it doesn’t agitate the water so much that it makes the fry ill.
Hi everyone I need advice on what do with my fry because some are hybrids between butterfly telescope goldfish, and comets I know that when two similar varieties of goldfish like black moores and butterflies breed it usually results in relatively healthy babies but I’m wondering if it is ethical not to keep the hybrid babies rather than culling them all which I do not enjoy doing how ever I’m not sure yet as they are only about 2 or 3 days old. Thanks to anybody who gives me advice it is much appreciated if any one knows what they may look like or what issues a hybrid like this may have please tell me as soon as possible it would really help I don’t want to put them through any unnecessary pain and suffering I’d rather know what to do now so I can deal with any potential issues ?
Sorry every one I meant ethical to keep rather than culling them thanks hope you guys can help.
I believe it to be perfectly ethical, as long as any potential buyers are informed of what they are actually getting. I think that the comet influence may actually be beneficial for them, as you are crossing with a hardier fish.
I’m reading this goldfish article because one of my 20+ surprises was dead this morning. I’m doing my best to keep them healthy and everyone tells me to cull them for various reasons, so what did you end up doing with your telescomets? I bet the adults would be really cool looking and hardy. I don’t know if you’ll see this or not, Nadimah 1 at Aol dot com if you feel like answering ? best wishes to all of you fellow fish parents.
How long should fry be fed hatchling brine shrimp and when can you switch them over to flake food.
Hello everyone, a friend gave my family & I five goldfish a few weeks ago. One very large & one med. Size male orange, long & slender ones. And 3 fancy tail females from one very large white one to just a healthy small one probably the size of a silver half dollar…. The two biggest male n female were spawning last week, but was getting ready to leave & left them as they were. The next morning I did some research & found out the goldfish will eat their eggs. I quick made an isolation tank for all the large gold fish & kept the eggs in our artificial pond. Most of the eggs were eaten but now about 5 days later we have had about a dozen baby fry swimming around for a few days! My question is how long do I keep the larger 5 goldfish separate from the fry? Will they eat the fry as well? And is there anything at home I can feed the fry until I make it to a pet store with the proper food? I’ve noticed they seem to be feeding on the alge in the tank right now. I have dried shrimp hermit crab food, can they eat that? Since it crumbles so small? Any advice is helpful since this is my first time caring for goldfish fry… Thank you in advance…
Anxiously awaiting advise 🙂
Kimberly.
Hi Kimberly, keep the goldfish babies separated from the bigger goldfish for mabey a couple months, if they are still alot smaller than the others mabey longer. But it should only take a couple months at the most. If you have a male goldfish definitely keep the babies away from him. He might be territorial and eat the small fish, just be safe.
It is best if you put the fry in a fish tank where they can more easily be monitored a fed and put the adult fish back in their pond. The fry can be added in with the adults once they are to big to fit in the adult fish’s mouths
I have 6 gold fish it is in 6 cm long.how much time will take to it lay eggs?
I just find out how to breeding goldfish, those guys showing on YouTube seem easy because they lie, it’s not exactly like what they breeded.
I bought some 3-5 inches goldfish last month and one of those laying many of eggs last 2 days and start hatching right now, 1 or 2 of the fry start swimming.
If you keep adult goldfish in a pond or aquarium, you may wait for ever for them to lay egg.
If you are someone who wants to breed them to sell, I’d talk to a professional on how to get your fish to breed. And follow their advice as much as possible. If you want them to breed because you think it would be a cool experience, then I think you’d better wait. Obviously make sure that there is a male and a female. To see if your fish is a male, they tend to have white spots on their tails and be brighter in colour. And they might not lay eggs at all.
Hi,
I have been facing high mortality of my Pearl Scale gold fish fries recently. They did well in the first 5 weeks. I have done some bit of culling, taking out the smaller, under developed babies. But for the last 4/5 days I am finding the dead loss of 5/6 fries every day. The core food for the fries in the first 4 weeks was chicken egg your diluted in water. The fries that are dying are about 1/2 inch sizes. Could anyone one suggest what could be the reasons for such high mortality of the fries now when they survived well in the first 5 weeks? And what steps could I adopt?
What are your water parameters? Fry are more sensitive to ammonia and nitrite than adults. If after testing, the water quality isn’t good, do partial water changes.
hello. i have small 3 week old goldfish fry..a goldfish which i am not sure what its name is and a bright orange and white wakin..can you tell me what to feed them?. i bought prepacked worm powder,is that enough? can i use vegetables as well??..i rad somewhere cabbage is good..or was it lettuce??. Thanks alot for your help.
I would greatly appreciate your help, why are my goldfish fry brown? I have two that are about 6 months old and they are now showing some color.
All my goldfish fries dies out witin d 1st weak of hatching ….. sikkim is a cold place and specially during winter…pl suggest me d best acquirium tempt iin celcious degree and other cares to be given…
Keep the water temperature 20-27°c. This will be helpful.
20 Degree Celcius, rock salt one tsp for 10 ltrs, tetramycin or terramycin medicine for treating bacterial infections but should be used very rarely, methelene blue for treating fungus, double filter for removing large and fine debris. feed with nutrition rich food especially blood worms.
I don’t have an extra aquarium so i kept the eggs in a bucket with a air stone and a lamp light……the eggs hatched and now they are 2 weeks old they are growing fins but i am not able to clean gravel etc …what should i do?
It is okay to let the gravel be for the time being. Once they are bigger, you can clean the gravel. Be careful when doing water changes.
Get another bucket and get rid of the gravel. Water should be no more than 10 cm deep. Start looking for a shallow tub because the bucket is too small after a couple weeks.
I have goldfish fry that are ~ 8 weeks old. This past week I noticed that quite a few of the fry appear to have issues with bouyance. Some are floating on their sides and attempting to swim, some stuck mostly on the bottom, and some pointing up or down. I’m unsure what to do to treat them. It’s not like I’m able to provide them with roughage etc., since they’re only eating fry food. They’re housed in a 1 gallon tank w/ no aeration or heat. My house stays about 73 F and I perform partial water changes every week. I’ve tried treating them with a medication for swim bladder disease, but that didn’t seem to help. I’ve lost 8 fry in the last week. Any suggestions or ideas?
That’s a tricky one. I think what’s happening is that in their fragile state, their swim bladders are growing awkwardly compared to their other parts. There might not be much you can do other than seeing if they can grow out of it. Some just might not have the genetics they need to be healthy. Continue to feed them and hopefully they can make it. I would suggest performing some water test on the ph and ammonia. Water changes are always good. best of luck.
Your water depth may be too high. I stay under 4 inches for the first month and 6 to 8 inches for the next two months. You may be too late. Swim bladder development problems tend to stay with them. Constipation from dried food can also displace the swim bladders.
i have 2month old fry and i already put a small filter on my 2 1/2 liter aquarium water temp drops at 18-16 degrees ,i already feed them shrimp brine .black moore and long tail fancy goldfish i wonder how their baby look like .. is it okay if a give them much food in their tank ?
You should follow the recommendations on the packaging. They need food to grow so you should make sure they are well fed. Several times a day.
hi. i have a 55 gallon established tank and just purchased 6 new goldfish of various species. one was a black moore and one a red cap oranda (i think thats how its spelled). turns out the oranda chased the moore after 3 days in the tank together and eggs were layed. i never expected there to be fish but i managed to save a few fry. i have a ten gallon and i have put some water in it from the original tank and have purchased a sponge filter. my question is… will the fry be ok in this tank?
yeah, the should be okay since you got a sponge filter. try to feed them tiny micro worms or another type of food for fry. I’m not entirely sure a black moor and an oranda will make a good looking goldfish but who knows.
They should be, just don’t use the filter for mabey a month or 2. And then after a couple months you can put them in with the other goldfish.
Sir,
My gold fish pair and Gouramies paires laid lot of eggs and give birth for babies. I gave them parameecium and microworms in tree or four times daily. But no one succeed. All vanished within a month. Please help me by sending information to care the fry in my addres above.
I think what happened was the adult fish probably ate the fry. Next time, try to separate the parents from the fry or buy some java moss or something that the fry can hide in as they grow.
First you should remove the eggs or fish, they will hatch in 1 to 4 days. Then you can mix boiled egg yolk and water to form a paste, give them a drop 6 times a day for a couple months before giving them the kind of food you tried. Also in a couple months you should be able to put them in with the other fish. For the paste you feed them I just do it every 2 hours.
Hi! Please help me, I have some, goldfish which are the 28cence ones and I’m not sure how old they are, but they’re about an inch. Do you guys think that bey would eat microworms? I saw them on YouTube and they looked like something cool to have but what’s the use of having them if I can’t feed them to my pets? Do you guys think that they would eat them??? Please call me back, my number is:########, thanks! Amber
Hi Amber,
Just so you know, the comments you post here are visible to the rest of the world. I would not recommend putting your home phone number in your comment. I removed it for you.
To answer your question though. micro worms are meant for small fish that can’t eat regular fish food. If you have the micro worms already though, you can feed them to your goldfish and see if they eat them? Otherwise, I would recommend buying goldfish flakes since a goldfish of most any size can nibble on the sides of the flakes. Even if they end up sinking to the bottom, your little goldfish will enjoy picking at them while they dig around in the bottom of the gravel. Small goldfish might also enjoy nibbling on any green algae in your tank too. Goldfish pellets will be too big for a one inch goldfish, so avoid getting those. see this post on goldfish food