In Dec 2018 one of my fancy goldfish started be having oddly, she was struggling to keep upright, she would float with her tail up but only towards the end of the day, then sleep at pretty much 90′ in the night.
She was also being chased by the two males who had white spots on their gills, so guess this was mating behaviour.
After a time this all stopped and the female fish got back to normal, so didn’t think more about it.
Then a few march I noticed a tiny baby fish in my tank! So the much have mated.
I didn’t see the eggs. It’s a very heavily planed tank. and I guess most of the eggs/fry were eaten. But luckly one survived.
I got a net enclose and put the baby in there to protect in.
Then a couple of day later I spotted a second baby. I looked round but really couldn’t see any more.
After a week or so in the net I set the babeis up with a new 90l tank.
Video here:
Since then the have been growing quite a it, but still retain their silver colour.
Here is a video a month later:
I’m waiting to see what happens when they get their colour.
Mum is a schubunkin and the dad could either be an orange pearlscale. or a red and white ryukin. I’m guesing from their shape so far that the ryukin is dad.
Babies are so beautiful and really GIGANTIC. You’re really taking good care of them. It shows. I would love to have some goldfish babies, but it just never seems to happen. You’re really lucky. Enjoy them,
They’re huge
You were waiting to what would happen when they got their color, and now you see. All of the fish are gorgeous. The one with the black on top; never seen anything like it. I hope it keeps the color
Sorry to hear about the mom. The females really take a beating, and most of them have short life spans. It’s really sad, but there’s little we can do for them. You made the right decision. No reason to let them suffer. From what I’ve seen (and I’ve seen plenty) once a female starts having issues, it’s downhill all the way
You’ve done well by your fishy friends, and thanks so much for sharing
Hi, I though I’d let you see how the babies are doing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cusNdWVX4g
The first baby to change colour is now huge, he’s the biggest in the tank. He’s the large orange one in the video.
The other is very oddly coloured. She started changing colour at Christmas, and unlike the other that changed in a week or so, she is still changing colour. At the moment she is half orange and half black which I think looks stunning. At this rate she might be all gold by next Christmas.
Sadly last week I took the decision to euthanize mum fish. She had struggled ever since having eggs and finally got to the point where she struggled too much and so I though it kinder to let her go. At least she got to see her babies almost all grown up.
Hi all
sorry I’ve not posted in a while.. the babies are doing extremely well, and so can I say is Mum.
A couple of months ago the first baby started changing colour. their body turned form dark grey to yellow orange, and then finally about a week after the colour darkened and the fins changed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvX2XsvLj20
Weirdly the other one hasn’t started changing yet, still the lovely silver, but the first baby is bright orange now.
Here they are today. I have just introduced them to the parents tanks and their other one was getting too small.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_R1k7rWVB4
Then finally, mum who had horrendous problems after laying eggs. is ‘almost’ back to full health. She still tends to float a little tail up, but I think that’s just here now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHyCLsmmBxM
Ah…..I’m afraid you’ve smashed all of our dreams. You had us all fantasizing about a tank that filled an entire wall. Still, 60 gallons ain’t half bad
My largest tank is 170, but it’s a stock tank. They’re so much cheaper than real aquariums, I can have more fish for the money. The tank is really big, so it was hard to wrap my head around an aquarium that could hold almost twice as much water. A dream come true
How on earth do you get any work done having the babies on your desk? That’s much more distracting than television
Ah I’m very sorry I go my measurements wrong in the other post, I’m in the UK so we think in litres, but probably from reading a bunch of posts here I started getting confused in gallons. The large tank I have is 240L so I think that’s about 60 gals. Gosh I’d love to have 240 gal tank. Sorry for the mix up đ
The babies are a lot of fun. I have their tank on my desk so get to watch them constantly. It looks like so much fun to be a baby fish darting around, especially in a cloud of baby food, they seem to get so excited. They already both are starting to have different personalities. The larger one, I found first, is very keen on watching me (or the cat) and will follow us round the tank, and the smaller one follows the larger like a shadow, but hasn’t started to react to me yet.
The funniest thing is when I feed mum peas (shes in the same tank for the moment) the babies try to eat one and it looks like they are trying to play soccer, headering it around the tank.
I wasn’t expecting babies at all. I thought at the start that one of my fish was being bullied until I read about the signs of mating and the gill spots. But it was still a shock to find a couple of fry.
Their colour is beautiful at th moment, though I’m keen to see how they turn out. Years ago I had three guppies (red, yellow and blue) and after A LOT of accidental breeding I had guppies of all the colours of the rainbow.
I’m not sure about inbreeding problems. I know you couldn’t stop it with the guppies. They would breed before you could tell the boys from the girsl and separate them. Though in the end I had so many I had to rehome the whole lot to a aquarium store as they got too much and loo many tanks, I ended up with about 200 guppies. Though I’m hoping that I don’t get that problem with my goldfish. Mum might end up staying separate from the boys if I get many more.
Great post! Love those babies. I’ve had eggs in my tank one time that I know of. I wonder if the huge size of your tank and the fact that it’s planted saved those babies- lots of space and some hiding places. Thanks for posting.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to have 250 gallon tank. It must have cost a small fortune. Is it in your living room? It’s like a dream come true. I just love your new babies too. That I know of, my fish haven’t bred before, but I’m always watching out for eggs or babies. I wonder if my fish are all girls or all boys. I only have four fantails in a thirty gallon aquarium. Would it be possible to see a photograph of the aquarium from a distance so I could see how large it looks? Nosy aren’t I?
What a fantastic post you’ve created with videos and photos too. I was amazed watching the movement of the fry. They have so much energy. They’re movements are quicker than the eye
Their color is the same as the original coloration of their ancestors, and even though I know it will change, isn’t it beautiful?
The size of the plants behind them tells you just how tiny they are. Makes me want a baby or two. They grow as fast as they move. I guess this fast movement helps them stay safe in the wild
Thanks so much for sharing, and yes, please keep us posted on your progress
Love the expression on the one baby’s face in the last photo. Also gets me wondering; if hatchlings breed together, will their offspring have greater chances of deformity?
Thanks for sharing. You’re so lucky to have this experience