First I had Lacy, who was being chased by the other moor and my fantail. I saw her lay eggs a few times, but I thought my boys were too young for her....well they both got their breeding stars a day after Lacy laid eggs the first time. lol. I think one of the males actually attempted to spawn as the water was pretty cloudy one morning.

I wasnt worried about Lacy being chased by two males because she is about 3 times their size. haha...looked kinda cute honestly.

Now my commons are at it. Noticed it today. I always thought that Lily the shubunkin was a female, now I know it. Poor thing is being chased by THREE MALES! She looks a little tired, should I think about separating some of the males? One is the same size as her and the other two are about 1.5 inches smaller. Do you think this could be a hazard to her? I dont want them to run her down so much she is exhausted and gets sick or dies...any suggestions? Should I just leave it??

Put up a temporary divider of some sort in the tank (like a sheet of plastic mesh) & separate the males and female, for me that would be the easiest way.

So you think this is really neccesary? I dont have anything like that so Id have to go buy something. Great.

That's "mildest" form of separation I could think of without compromising on water quality and space for both parties

I tried putting up a divider when my commons spawned last year....my biggest male jumped over it to get to the girl, so I put it a little higher so there wasn't as much space. After that I think the boys got together to make a plan becasue the next thing I knew they had plowed right through the thing . I've got 3 males and two females... the males are a little bigger than my girls but they've never really hurt each other, at least no worse than a missing scale or two

Or you can do what I do - I put my fish into those noodle drainers. Gosh, can't think of the word for it now. Its plastic, and has tons of holes, and you put your noodles in it after you cooked them, so the excess water can drain.
That thing floats nicely in the tank, and held my last female, a 6 inch calico telescope, just fine. The fish still sees the friends, gets the filtration, but not the herassment.

A colander is what you mean. I have a big square basket used for pond plants that I have used. Or you could use any plastic basket as it will float. Its a great way to isolate a weaker fish or one that is constantly being harassed. The majority of my goldies have been males so I feel for you, its very frustrating.

I usually have 2 males chasing one of the girls. Sometimes she does look a bit tired and will kind of give you that desperate "help me" look when I go close to the tank. Sometimes feeding them will interupt it for a bit. But so far I haven't divided them because it usually only lasts a day or 2 and it doesn't get any worse than a scratch on them at times.
I guess if it's looking too bad ( commons may be different since they're faster?) then I would use the colander or basket like suggested.
Good luck and let us know how it goes with them.

Thanks for the advice guys. It seems they are taking a break today. But if this starts up again I might take your advice with the basket thing, or try to get some kind of divider...because 3 against one is hardly fair odds. Poor girl (or maybe happy girl? She's got all the fellas! LOL)

With Lacy, it was non-stop chasing for about 4 or 5 days. She is already so ragged looking it was hard to tell if there was any new damage (her tail is extrememly frayed, I think she grew that way plus Milo has done some damage).

Thanks again, you guys are always such a big help!

After witnessing the chase on several occasins and feeling sorry for the very tired girl, I began seperating my goldies into male/female tanks. I have no interest in breeding so it was an easy choice. Now when I get a new fish (after quarantine) I put it in the females tank and see what happens if anything. Any reason to have at least 2 tanks!

I was wondering if this would cause the females to be more likely to be egg bound? If there are no males, do they still produce eggs or does it dwindle off?

Kscoleman, I'd assume that egg production still happens, especically in the spring time. I will ask a friend who constantly has his males and females in separate tanks and see how his experience is. Hang in there...

Okay, here is what I heard back from a friend:
The females will still be developing eggs, its just their nature. Once you see them getting fatter, there are two options you have: Either get them a male or two in their tank to induce spawning and therefore dropping the eggs. Or you can fast them for 2 week, basically nothing to eat. What that does to the female is that she takes the nutrients she needs from those eggs and reabsorbs them into her body. Without the fasting the reabsorbtion isn't gonna happen, or not successfully anyway, and any eggs left behind might cause bacterial problems down the road.

Those are the two options when having a "female only" tank....

Hi im a little new to this fish breeding lark, first timers .

Basically my goldfish laid eggs on good friday (15 april 2006 i think) all the little ones are doing well 3 weeks old today im estimating i have around 300 still alive, i know ive counted to 200 and there were plenty more in the original tank. But my question is my female is looking a bit plump, now i cant figure out if shes having more eggs or if shes just eating too much. I know it sounds silly after being through it before but i couldnt tell then either.

Can anyone give me any advice on if goldfish do generally get fat by eating too much or indeed if she is having eggs how many times do they spawn ad frequency and is it depending on the eggs they lay e.g. if they only laid 100 it means they're going to lay more.
It gets all rather confusing, lol.