Greetings from Tacoma/Seattle WA, USA.

I'm new to the board, new to goldfish raising.

purchased a single oranda back in November 2005 as a young fish, placed in a 10gallon tank, with no partners. (however, I do have some token free-floating fake plastic fish from Disney's "Finding Nemo" toy that I let float around in the tank; he seems to play with them and even demonstrates a sort of "schooling" behavior around his fake friends, following wherever the current from the filter and the airstones take them.)

Until now I thought it was a "he." Named him Sushi.

Until recently, I have been making the mistake of overfeeding him, though it seemed to not have any adverse effect other than making him huge!

He is playful and happy and healthy, with having only had a short case of finrot during the winter, which he is now fully recovered from.

But recently the whether has been very hot for my part of theh world, raising his tank temp to 82 degrees Fahrenheit (it was near 100 degrees outside). Then, recently, the weather cooled off, and his tank has dropped down to 72 degrees.

My fish Loves me so much it seems, always excited whenever I near the tank. The past couple days (after reading that I have been overfeeding him) I decided to feed him less frequently, AND I have added to his menu some fresh lettuce, some peas, and even some fresh cantaloupe.

Anyways, last night I noticed something unusual: he'd go to the very top corner of the tank and wiggle as fast and as hard as he could against the corner of the tank without going anywhere at all, almost as if he were trying to "buldoze" the corner of the tank by swimming hard against it. But now that I look at it, it almost seemed like spawning behavior.

THEN....

today, after leaving to go to the store, I came back to find....

EGGS all over the aquarium! EVERYWHERE!

So it turns out, my "he" was a "SHE!"

BUT this is my question:

Can a female oranda SPAWN without a mate? Or is my fish some kind of hermaphrodite? Or is she in love with....me? (lol, jk, kind of). All this time, between the temp changes, my constant attention to her, and my overfeeding of her, did I somehow cause her to release her eggs even without a male oranda to stimulate (and fertilize them) for her?

Or is it simply natural that a female oranda can release eggs whether or not there is a male oranda to father her eggs?

AND, most importantly, can these fatherless eggs HATCH?

As I type this messege to you now, most of her eggs are being EATEN by her as we speak. Should I save any? SHould I go out to the store and buy a male to fertilize her already-expelled eggs? How long do the eggs remain viable before the window to be fertilized expires?

I was really suprised to discover that this oranda can spawn without a partner.....to the point that my curiosity makes me wonder if it is some kind of asexual reproduction freak of nature and can these eggs actually hatch?

So fascinating to me. Any help would be appreciated. I haven't gotten her a mate, and my wife is making fun of me because she says I'M the fish's mate, lol. Funny thing is, my wife is also currently pregnant. Does this mean I am an expecting father to both a pregnant wife AND a pregnant FISH?!

You are lucky she released them. Most females reabsorb them and sometimes infections can occur. The change in temperature would most likely have helped her release them and they will not be fertilised so best to let her eat them or take them out before they pollute the tank.
You dont need to get her a mate as you would need lots of growing on tanks for up to 500 babies.
Maybe build a pond for next summer and then get a male.

Thank very much for the info Ms. Sandy!

I was wondering though, how do I "take them out" of the tank (the eggs, I mean). They are all over the place, stuck within the substrate, on the objects, in the filter, even on the plastic fish friends. Do I put my hand in there and try to pick them out one by one? The only way to get them out that I can think of is clean the whole tank out overhaul style, but, had these been fertilized eggs, I ask also, because one day, if I'm more equipped and experienced to care for fry, in case she spawns with a mate, I want to know how to save the fertilized eggs that may end up all over the tank when I'm not expecting it.

She's eaten most of these eggs, yet still many many remain visible to me mixed amongst the substrate and under objects and such. Is it time for me to do an overhaul cleaning before they pollute the tank?

The way I saved my eggs was by taking out my fish that were in there and putting them into another tank. Also if you don’t want to do that and you don’t want to physically touch the eggs you could remove the objects form within the tank that the eggs are stuck to, like the plants or the objects. I hope this helps.

To avoid polluting the tank, i reckon doing 50% water changes with a gravel vac for a few days should get them all. When the water is low enough you can get them out with your hand i would think.
100% water change and a good clear out is of course another option.

Ms.Sandy

Suits you, Ms Sandy!