Continued from page 1
* Make sure you make
new tank a natural spawning area with bushy natural plants, artificial fibers or spawning mops and coconut fibers, all materials that can receive spawn. Goldfish need such props for spawning.
Size of spawning tank: You will need at least a tank that can hold 20 gallons of water. If fish were bigger than you would need a bigger tank.
* Now that fish are clean and tank is clean too, do not feed fish anything for next two months except some amount of live food like insect larvae,worms, and brine shrimp. This preparation will help females develop healthy and males, milt that is needed to fertilize eggs.
* If winters are too cold in your area, you can consider using a heater.
* Watch male goldfish developing breeding tubercles that look like white pimples on their gill covers and pectoral fins.
* Watch females become rounder body as it fills up with roe or eggs. How do you spot spawning moment?
* Spawning usually happens in early morning.
* The colors of all goldfish will look brighter then before.
* The fish would group together while swimming.
* The males will be chasing females at random.
* Finally active males zero in on one particular female and chase her more than before.
* The chase will intensify with male getting aggressive and pushing against female goldfish till she ejects her eggs. * As eggs are out male will fertilize them by depositing milt over eggs.
* The eggs will fall through water, landing on plants. They stay in same spot till they hatch.
* The spawning may begin again after some days of rest.
Point of note: Goldfish eat their eggs. Of 10,000 eggs that are laid in one spawning session, hardly any will be left if fish are not removed. So once eggs are laid, move parents back to another tank.
Having 30 years experience in everything Goldfish, Dane Stanton has spent the past 18 months researching the most pressing questions on Goldfish. This information has been recorded in his book titled - "Goldfish Secrets Revealed" - which you can pick up by going to his website - http://www.infotrate.com/goldfish.htm
