Well, I guess I have at least one female in my tank of shubunkins! I have been working a lot lately and obviously havent been paying attention to my tank. I was checkin up on everyone today and realized there are hundreds and hundreds of eggs! Theyre in my plastic plants and all over the driftwood!

Some are fertilized, and some are so developed I can see the tiny babies inside! (I can see the eyes and little spines). I have kept goldfish most of my life and have NEVER, ever had them breed!

So, it has been cold here, in the 50s, and over the weekend it warmed up to the upper 60s. I guess between that and my water change this weekend, it triggered a spawn!

I am in awe. I dont know what to do, because I definitely do not have space for babies (Im overstocked as it is). But you know how much I love my shubunkins. i know if I raised them I'd want to keep them all!

Here are the eggs on the driftwood that I saw first:



And this must be the mama fish, because she is the only one without tubercules!! I have wondered if she was a girl, and Im pretty sure she is. This plant has the more developed eggs on it, but they are hard to see on here.

Wow! I love shubunkies! And shubunkin fry!! Hope you can keep them...

Congratulations!!!! This is so exciting! Good luck to you and your new additions!

How exciting! Congrats!

That happened to me last Friday--TOTALLY unexpected!! Must be something in the water!!

I decided to give it a try and I have about 20 fry--4 days old. They are soo small and sooo cute.

Congrats!

Congrats hun, looks like Love is in the air this year

This is wild! Ive been checking on the little guys all day. Im obsessed with them! Amazingly, I saw several hatch in the main tank! It was so neat because Ive only ever read about this before.

I have set up a little 10 gallon nursery tank and have moved a bunch of the plants into it. Several were hatching as I moved them so I dont know if they will make it or not.

I really dont know what I will do with baby fish but it seemed like such a shame to not try to save them. Shubunkins are so special to me. All but one of the fish in this tank were feeder fish rescues. I know they will make some beautiful babies, too!

For now I just have an airstone running in the tank for circulation, and its not heated. I hope that will be okay. I will get a sponge filter later on.

Now, my eggs seem to be in different stages of development, so how do I know when to start feeding?

Isn't it fun to watch?!! I'm totally obsessed with mine too.

To answer most of your questions you may want to take a look at my thread. Koko has been guiding me through it and I'm jsut a few days ahead of you. Here's the link:

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=39543

Okay, heres my update: I now have some free swimmers! They will swim around for a bit and then land on a leaf or the wall. Is that considered free swimming? Do I start feeding now? I dont see yolk sacs on them.

I put in a few drops of liquefied egg yolk and it just seemed to dissipate throughout the tank. How do they find it?

Jenny that is great!!! As koko said "love is in the air"...........

Oh, they'll find it alright. If not eaten, it will sink to the bottom someplace, and the fry will definetely find it. They are searching for food just like their adult conterparts - on the ground. Once more and more hatch, thats where you find most of them.

Thanks Andrea! They are all in such different stages of development, I want to make sure I do this right. I still cant get over the fact that I have babies!

BTW come summertime, if you're needing any additions to your ponds, I may be able to help you out a bit…

dang...I missed in all the excitement....congrats on your new fry...if you can...try to get to a lfs and get the first bites baby food by Hakari company and also, if you can find it...a baby brine shrimp hatchery and raise brine shrimp for the little guys..they will love you for that

LOL Im actually feeding them the liquid hard boiled egg yolk, and I have frozen baby brine shrimp that I feed to my saltwater tank. I think I will start that in a few days when they get just a bit bigger. I still cant get over how teeny tiny they are. Im so fascinated, thinking that all my goldies started out like this!!