Hi, I have about 350 to 400 goldfish fry that hatched 12 days ago and until yesterday were raised in a bowl with water about 3 inches deep. They were all doing just fine in there, swimming normally and growing fast - I fed them special baby powdered food and sachets of brine shrimp (not live brine shrimp) which they all eat, however much of the food would end up at the bottom of the bowl and the water become cloudier and it began to smell. So I decided to take them outside and put them in and old small paddling pool. The majority of the fry are about 10mm long after 12 days of life.
I was very gentle when I transferred them - I slowly put the bowl in the pool and left it in there for 5 mins so that they would have time to escape and then took it out. However within just 24 hours the fish in the paddlig pool are struggling to swim, many of lying at the surface, about 50 or so even died and few are actually able to swim and balance themselves in the water without continually floating up to the surface and lying on their side.

I'm really annoyed about this. How could this have happened? The water in the paddling pool was exactly the same temperature as in the bowl and approximately 5 inches deep. I'm still feeding them 3 times a day, as much as the can eat within twenty mins. The fry have never been exposed to the air either. I just get the feeling that this is gonna be a disaster.

did you also dechlorinate and match ph in the pool water?? fry are sensitive to changes in water

Well the fry originally hatched in some net material in the pool water which I put inside, so the water ph should be the same. I've checked on them just now and more and more seem to be lying on their side at the surface of the water not moving. It just amazes me how quickly they have detereorated, I was so careful when transferring them as I know how fragile they are.

yes fry can be quite fragile, are you sure they are all getting to the food...can you see the food in their stomachs(there stomach will be same colour as the food.)

Yes all of them have food in their stomachs so hopefully they will continue to grow However I estimate that at least 80 of them are stuck at the surface not moving at all as they seem to have bubbles stuck inside them. I suppose from what I've read of other members of this site who have raised fry, it seems there are many that will be deformed or die off.

I've decided to keep them outdoors though, they're far more likely to grow quicker out there which is what I really want (can't wait until they get grow!). All I can do now is give them the best care possible and hopefully they will grow to become healthy fish.

I'll post some pics soon to show how they've progressed.

well good luck with the rest of your fry. looking forward to seeing pics of them


btw people have had decent luck raising their fry in green water, you might want to consider it.

My fry thrived in green water

Just on the paddling pool - did you clean it out with any chemicals beforehand? Do you have any air in the water? Are you checking the parameters? Any ammonia etc?

Hi (sorry for the late reply - my internet connection has been playing up).

I might just put some green water in then if that helps, I have a lot of it in the goldfish pond. The paddling pool that the fry are in was used as a spawning pool for the fish when I put the large spawning net in and I have checked the temperature and made sure to change 10% of it every day.

I've just checked on them and they are really beginning to grow now, in fact all of them are now swimming normally Some have died off, but so far I would say that 80% of them are survivors.

For feeding them I put in an old biscuit tin lid (making sure it is clean first) onto the bottom of the pool and hold it just above the surface with small stones just to make sure any fry on the bottom aren't killed and then put all their baby powdered food onto it. Then I remove it half an hour later to make sure any uneaten food doesn't rot in the water. There is a lot of algae on the sides of the tank which they also appear to be eating as well.
The fry that appeared to be floating on the sides with bubbles in their bodies are fine now, they obviously managed to burp out the air.

I'll try and post some pics in a few hours if my internet connection is still working.

Just thought I'd give a quick update on the fry. Most of them are doing just fine, they are growing very fast and some are as much as 1.5cm long now though it's difficult to measure them.
However some are swimming in a circle and aren't growing much which must be a sign of deformity. Should I cull these or just leave them? I hope it's not a disease that could affect the other fish as there are so many that are growing really fast (I'd estimate that there are around 200-250 healthy fish and about 150 less healthy ones with around 50 fry that have died).

I'm going on holiday tomorrow for a week and I'm a bit worried about them. Some of them are only about half a cm long while others are over twice the size so some of the small ones could get eaten. However there is lots of food available for them in the pool. I found literally hundreds and hundreds of tiny mosquito larvae in a large bucket of water the other day and they are just the right size for the fry to eat so I put them in, they are difficult to see though but I'm assuming they are being eaten. There is also lots of surface algae at the bottom and sides of the pool. There are also lots of other tiny water insects that I put in from the pond.

Hopefully when I come back they will be okay and will have grown significantly

great to hear your fry are doing ok now I think the biger fry will eat the smaller ones if they fit in their mouths. its good that they are getting lots of natural live foods..and that they are in a pond like environment, I think they will grow better there than if they were raised in an aquarium. Is there anyone you can get to check on them while you are on holidays??just in case?I dunno, you dont wanna retun home to find the pool deflated and water gone or something(i presume its a paddling pool?)

Hi all just a quick update from me.

The fry have grown since I came back last weekend but not as much as I would have expected - they was lots of algae in the pond which they seem to nibble on. A few of them have just reached the one inch mark but most are still around half an inch to 3/4 of an inch long which is a little disappointing considering it has been exaxtly one month since they hatched from their eggs. Perhaps it could be the weather - last month was the hottest month on record here in the UK but it has turned much cooler this month - I assume lower temperatures means less growth?

The water in the paddling pool is 6 inches deep, I change approximately 4 litres of water a day (2 in the morning and 2 in the evening) and I give them several different foods including baby mosquito larvae from the pond, tetra baby powder food and brine shrimp (not live but in sachets). I feed them 3 times a day in the morning, late afternoon and just before it gets dark.

Is there any way I could make them grow faster? Cheers.

WEll, there are a few things that come to mind that you could give a try.

When you feed heavy, you also need to provide them with fresh water accordingly. And that means more water changes. I know its hard to estimate how many gallons a wading pool holds, so 2 l in the morning and 2l at night might not be enough. When you do water changes and add the new water back in, be careful to do it slowly, so fry can get used to the new water. As you already know, they are extremely sensitive.
I have a few tiny holes alongside my fry tub, about an inch below the rim of the tub. In my case its mostly overflow protection for the daily heavy rains in Fl, but you can use it quite successfully to do water changes. When my fry was really young, I hung the hose into their tub and have it only drip in there. Any overflowing water would come out through those holes. You can safely leave the whole setup alone for a few hours, that gives them a nice water change, and you don't have to stand there during the whole time. Its nice and easy.

With a month old now, you also can raise their water level savely all the way up to the top of the wading pool, if you want. More water is important for such a large number of fry.

It is also perfectly normal to have different sized fry in one batch. My wakin fry are roughly 2 1/2 months old now, and I still see some 1/2 inch fish swimming in there, while all the others are all between 1-2 inch. I can't do much about it, just making sure that everybody gets somewhat of a fair share of food.

I also feed mine 5-6 times a day, but of course you hav to really watch you water readings with such large feedings. Mine get water changes at least 3 times a week, and today or tomorrow I plan on dividing them between a second 160 gl tub. I'll pick the bigger ones out from the smaller ones and put them separately. That should give the smaller ones a nice chance of catching up.

Thanks Andrea, I will do more water changes then, if that helps them grow. It's difficult to estimate how much water is in the paddling pool as it's a triangle shape but it's probably about 60 litres or 13 UK gallons from rough measurements. I've also noticed some of the large fry beginning to attack some of the smallest fry, so I might seperate the large ones from the small ones like you have. I'll try and do about a 10 litre water change in the morning and again in the evening. Thankfully most of the fry tend to stay near the bottom of the pool which makes it a lot easier to change the water with a small bucket (I have a filter but it would be too strong for the fry).
I have some free time next week so I'll try to feed them 4-5 times a day. I look forward to seeing them grow