Fish Question

My two fantailed goldfish are behaving oddly. I don't know if they are mating or if they are ill. The one is larger than the other and is probably a female based on a photo from a site on goldfish. The smaller one seems to be attacking her. She is slow moving and almost drifting. Once or twice she was belly up, which is how I could tell she was female. She is also very round compared to the other. I've pulled them out of the pond and put them in a five gallon bucket. I don't want to separate them if they are spawning, but I don't want the large fish to die if the smaller one is just attacking her.

This past week about a dozen mating toads left behind strands of eggs which are now turning into tadpoles. Could the fish be sick from eating eggs? Should I put them back into the pond and just wait to see what happens?

your goldfish are spawning :) The fat one is an egg laden female . The males will chase and rub up against the female as she lays eggs in order to fertilize them .
Here is a good page on goldfish breeding from Robyns ponds
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/gfish3.htm

hth;s
Teresa

Thanks, Teresa. Since they've been in the bucket, she's been swimming upright and not floating on her back. They are still chasing, which is why I didn't want to separate them. I wasn't sure if the pond with all the toad eggs and tadpoles was causing problems or not.

You are welcome LOL , I remember thinking the verty same thing the first time I saw a pond full of spawning goldfish ! Now you can look forward to having little goldfish :)

Should I put them back into the pond?

Iyes ,do :)

I put them back into the pond. Since she was swimming around and looking more lively, I guess she's okay. When I saw her belly up this morning, I was upset.

Sometimes a female will get exhausted from spawning activity . she probably appreciated the break you gave her !

Oh, thanks so much - I have one goldfish that was behaving the exact same way, and because she seemed swollen, I thought she had dropsy. That was last week and I separated her from the others. She's now back to normal, but I'm glad to know what it really was. I'd better go out and look for eggs - can you see them? - Dax

If there are baby goldfish coming, they will have to fend for themselves. I couldn't find the eggs if I wanted to. I'll keep checking up on her and pull her out again if necessary. My DD was laughing at me this morning because I was upset over a fish.

Well, I saw both of them drifting on the surface, so I've pulled them out again and have them in a bucket. I think I will leave them there a few days until things calm down in the pond. It's thick and green and tadpoles are developing. This weekend, I'll drain some of the water, refill it, replace the fish, and see if they will be okay again. They perk up when I put them in the bucket of clear, clean water. I prepared it earlier and added declorinator.

I won't feed them in case they've gotten too much of toad's eggs. I don't know for sure if they are spawning. Here's a picture of them in the bucket.

I tried to get as close as possible so that anyone who can "read" signs might see if they are healthy or not.

Here's a clearer picture.

Are they gasping at the surface like they're trying to get air? Maybe the pond is low on oxygen. How much agitation do you have in the pond? If you have an xtra pump or use the pump you have to really agitate the surface, make it boil at the top this helps the gas exchange and traps oxygen in the water.

Lana

I think agitation may have been the problem. The water was sluggish even after cleaning the filter. The spitter worked fine. If I get more fish (they did die), I will get an extra pump so that if toads invade the pond, I can stir up the water more. Their eggs were all over the filter. The problem may have also been a thing called bouyancy disease and / or eating too many toad eggs. This morning, the pump is not sluggish at all. I guess all those eggs hatched or the thread degraded.

Oh my, now that's weird! I obsess over my little pond now, you've just given me another thing to worry about. LOL

There's a lot of surprises.

We stocked a large pond with Bream and Catfish about 8 years ago, and soon after many of the 500 bream started dieing. We found it to be from eating fire ants that fell into the pond. I don't know if they kill other fish or not, but might check for the possibility.

trois

No fire ants are in that vicinity. I haven't seen any of the big mounding beds around for several months, although they've given me a lot of trouble in the past.

You are so lucky.