Breeding goldfish is not as easy as you think. Creating the right environment for your fish, finding fertile ones, encouraging procreation and ensuring proper incubation and egg birth are all essential steps. It can be an expensive and time-consuming task, so it's hard to make a profit. However, if done correctly, you may be surprised. Like many tasks, the key lies in attention to detail and patience.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Creating the Right Breeding Conditions
Step 1. Make a plan
It takes time to create the right environment for fish to mate. Buy the fish about a year in advance. July and August are the best months to buy, as goldfish mate in the spring. Fish need to be comfortable in their habitat and stress-free before mating season arrives, so plan ahead!
The first thing to do (assuming you already have a small aquarium of at least 15 liters) is to clean your newly purchased fish
Step 2. Create the right environment in the aquarium
The aquarium in which you intend to keep your fish should have at least 120 liters of water. Plus, add anything that makes for a natural habitat for a goldfish. It includes a bottom and real plants that aid filtration by absorbing pollutants.
- When females lay eggs, they usually anchor them to something solid. If you let them grow naturally, you will need to create a lush environment. If you want to grow them artificially, plants are not necessary even if they improve the quality of life (and act as a filter for the water) when the fish do not mate.
- Consider investing in some depositors. The depositors are nylon strings between which the females lay their eggs. You don't need them if you have a lot of plants, bushes or other fibrous material, but they are an easy and efficient way to safeguard the eggs of your goldfish that as they grow, tend to eat the ones that are not anchored.
Step 3. Start improving your fish's diet
Without changing overnight, introduce a non-pelleted food such as pickled shrimp or live black worms into the aquarium. You will thus simulate the natural explosion of spring, when the fish mate. In general, here are a couple of hints on goldfish nutrition:
- Feed your fish little but often. Feed them three times a day but be careful not to overdo it. Many breeders make the mistake of overfeeding fish, uneaten leftovers fall to the bottom of the aquarium, decompose and spoil the water.
- No matter what you give them, make sure you crumble enough so that the fish can eat properly.
Step 4. Simulate spring by lowering the temperature and then gradually raising it
Goldfish mate in the spring so you'll need to replicate the warmer water temperature. To do this, first lower it between 10 ° and 12 °. Then, when you are ready to mate, increase it by 2 ° per day, until it reaches 20 ° -23 ° C.
Step 5. Check that the water has a daily recycle
The partial water change is important for the general well-being of the fish and to stimulate the specific conditions for mating. Remove up to 20% of the water daily, making sure you don't overdo it.
Remember to add a water conditioner. Neutralize chemicals harmful to fish and remove chlorine, counteracting chloramine
Part 2 of 3: Identify Gender and Isolate Goldfish
Step 1. Know how your goldfish look
Identifying sex is probably the most important task in breeding; obviously, if you want to put together a group of males because you can't tell them apart, you won't have any fry. Here are the characteristics of the females:
- Look for the shape of the sphincter. It is that small opening between the anus and the anal fin from which the fish secretes sperm or eggs depending on the sex. The sphincters of females are rounded and convex, like the button navel.
- Feel the abdomen. The abdomen, between the anal and pelvic fins, is very soft and variable in females.
- Look for the pectoral fins. In females they are short and rounded.
- Most importantly, goldfish females tend to be smaller than males, which are longer and more pointed. However, this is the least reliable method of recognizing them.
Step 2. Learn to distinguish males
Males tend to be somewhat smaller than females. They can also be distinguished by the following traits:
- Presence of small white stars or tubercles. Tubercles are small growths on the fins, head and gills when they are ready to mate.
- A concave or inward-pointing sphincter. Males have a sphincter that instead of protruding outward, points inward.
- Feel the abdomen. In males it is stiffer and harder than in females.
- Look for the pectoral fins. In males they are more pointed and longer than in females.
Step 3. Look for distinctions in behavior
During the mating season the males begin to chase the females, first in a more apathetic way then with increasing fervor. Introduce a female into the aquarium and watch the reaction of the others - the males will be very interested while the females will show no signs!
Step 4. Consider isolating males and females for a few weeks before mating
Many separate couples at least a few weeks before mating to increase the great desire. Just like with humans, absence increases craving!
Part 3 of 3: Pairing up the Pisces
Step 1. Choose the best pairs
Young and robust goldfish are ideal due to their high fertility rate and sexual inclination. As for the females look for young ones with large pectoral and posterior areas, then find an equally large mate (about 10-13 cm) that swims quickly. Males with many small tubercles behind their heads and gills are ideal companions.
For a perfect match, try to isolate the three best males and the two best females
Step 2. Introduce the five fish to the same aquarium and look for natural spawning marks
You will notice that the males have a slight discoloration in the stomach area and will swim quickly in the aquarium, behind the females. The females will lay their eggs on one of the plants once the fish has distributed the sperm to fertilize them. If you miss the moment of procreation but see the eggs among the plants, they have probably already been fertilized.
Step 3. If natural mating is unsuccessful, artificially inseminate the fish
Introduce a male to a female in a shallow aquarium. Gently hold the male and rub the sphincter removing the sperm. Mix the sperm with the water and repeat the same process with the female's sphincter, causing her to release the eggs. Stir the water again to combine the sperm and egg.
- Pay attention to the artificial method. Your goldfish could get hurt easily, so apply gentle pressure when rubbing the sphincter.
- You don't have to keep the fish underwater when doing this. Goldfish, like other fish, can breathe out of water, even if they can't. Just make sure you don't keep them out for more than 30 seconds at a time.
Step 4. Separate the fish from the eggs
Unfortunately, goldfish in captivity have a tendency to eat their eggs. This makes it necessary to separate the parents from the eggs almost immediately after laying. Fertilized eggs should hatch within 4-7 days depending on the water temperature.
- When the eggs finally hatch, you can give the fry the same food as the adults. Just make sure they are much smaller bits than adults to help digest them.
- Try to keep the eggs in the same water they were laid in. Move them at your own risk.
Step 5. Be patient as your fish develop and reach maturity
Soon you will have a whole brood of young goldfish. Make sure the tank is large enough to hold all of your young fish.
