Hello
I'm new to goldfish and to this most excellent site.
I live in London and have built a raised brick pond 6'x2'x1½', about 160 gallons, in my garden and stocked it with plants and four 5" Sarasa Comets.
The pond has a filter and water pouring down a large rock.
After reading some posts, I have decided that one is female and three are male as I observed three of them harrassing the one.
A few weeks ago I saw what looked like miniture tadpoles, wriggling. Could these have been freshly hatched fry?
A couple of days ago I saw one tiny ½" transparent/grey fish but haven't seen it since.
Today, when I was removing blanket weed, I found tiny orange specs with black dots and am assuming they are eggs. I think I'm hooked.
They've only been in the pond a couple of months and I'm not sure that more fish in such a small pond is very wise but it would be nice to think they are content enough to breed.
I was feeding them fish sticks but stopped after a few days as they just didn't seem interested in it.
I've also got lots of snails that must have come in with the plants. Should I be removing them?
Happy to receive any advice from all you GF experts!
Many thanks
Ann

Hi Ann!!! Welcome to KoKo's!!!! Glad to meet you! Well,from everything you've said,it sure sounds like you are doing something right. I think I would feel safe to assume that they were baby goldies!!! YEAH!!! Especially seeing a little gray one If you have plant,and a few hiding spots,cances are that there may be more babies in there! I unfortunately don't own a pond(someday......*sighs*) so I have no experience whatsoever in that area at all. The good news is that there are al;ot of people who do own ponds and are doing quite well with them! I'm sure when they catch your post-you'll meet some of them.Alot of great people here! Well,look around read up on some of the articles and posts,and ENJOY!!!! If you have any questions,give us a holler!!!!! Good Luck!!!!

Devs
11:09 pm - Thanks for your reply & you're right!!!!!!! Tonight I saw four babies!!!!
I had friends around and, as we were in the garden after dark, I switched on the lights, which include one in the pond. With the light from underneath, it was much easier to see and I counted four, although there could be more hiding under all the plants. They are still no more than 1cm long. Is there anything I can do to help them survive - I don't have any tanks?
Ann
PS - I'm sooo exited

Okay - I definately have three males (they've all got tubecules) and one female and they seem to be spawning constantly. I can now see two sets of fry, one about ¾" and one about ¼" (lots of these).
Can anyone tell me, how frequently could they be laying down eggs? and how big do they have to be before the fry have a good chance of surviving to adulthood?
Thanks
Ann :goldfish
PS. they're eating from my hand now!

Hi, Ann, and !

Congratulations on your fish fry. Its strange, some of us try like crazy to get our fish to spawn, and nothing happens, while others have all the luck without sweat!
The fish seem to spawn more frequently in the spring to early summer, when there are more fluctations in the water temperature. And during this time, they can lay eggs every 2-3 weeks.
If the fry survive at this early stage depends on how hungry the adults are. Unfortunately, goldfish are not the best "parents" in the world, and eat their offspring. When you have plants, floating or otherwise, in your pond, or a few rocks to hide under, the fry has a much bigger chance.
Not to worry about feeding them any extra food, the pond most likely is full of tiny organism that the fry will eagerly devour. ......)

Wow! Congrats once again!!! I probably would just let nature take its course. If you have lots of plants,nooks and crannies,I'm sure a few of them may make it.Eggs every 2-3 weeks???? Good gosh!!! The thing is ,we'd all love to experience the breeding side of goldies,but then I read stories like this,and think where will you put them all????? I still want to try it once..... Keep us updated Ann!

Thanks guys. I feel a bit bad now. I hadn't originally planned to have fish. I built the pond with a big rock just to have some water in the garden, it isn't that big. It was when I went to buy the plants that they suggested it. So I went home and thought about it and thought it would be nice to have a little life in there. I took their advice on the setup and then went back after everything had settled and acclimatised and bought three fish. I soon lost one to a passing heron and then went to get another two. I hardly saw them for the first 4-6 weeks but now they actually seem pleased to see me. They let me stroke them and take food from my hand. They look happy, hence, I guess, the frequent spawning.

I don't want to rub salt into wounds but I keep getting exited and can't keep it to myself - I saw an egg this morning while I was weeding, with little eyes and tail.

There's lots of floating plants and some anchored, though no rocks. I hope some survive - though I don't know what I'll do with them if they do!

I'd be excited and peeing my pants too!!! It's normal to feel that way. For now enjoy the excitement of it -love your fish-and let nature take its course. If babies survive,and it comes down as to what to do with them-you can cross that bridge then. Good luck!

Really, keep us updated!! I have a pond too; and it's smaller than small [[I mean, smaller even than your's!]] and so I don't very much think our fish our breeding...but hey, I did see some eggs once...I just left them, though. Time will tell if We've got fish, boys!

Well, I thought I'd lost them all as I haven't seen any babies for a while. Today, however, I was feeding them when I saw movement in the pond weed and after staring at the same spot for a while, it swam past, a single 1¼" fish!

I guess it owes it's survival to it's ability to hide so well from the adults, hence I missed it too. Now I'm wondering if there are others in there.

I have no idea how old it is as there were several batches.

My pond also has a new inhabitant, a common frog. It's fully grown and a complete mystery to me how it got there. I'm in a fairly urban area and I'd be surprised if there were any other ponds closer than the one on Wandsworth common about ½ mile away.

I'll update with any further developments. Good luck with yours SaneRedFox, you never know.

For anyone who's interested - I have at least 7 babies who have survived infancy. They seem to be growing very slowly, they're still only 1½" long, but now look healthy and stong and have come out of hiding. They don't seem to be bothered by the adults, the frog or my dog taking a drink!
Ann
PS because I feed the fish by hand, when the dog drinks, they all gather round and nibble his toungue!

There were actually nine survivers but now I'm confused. They are at least five months old but are still black and still only about two inches long. They all look perfectly healthy. Is there some reason why they have not progressed or could I have something other than comets in there?
Any ideas?