hiya I was wondering can anyone tell me if these are breeding stars or something other sorry bout my fish being in the net below the water but it was the only way I could get a pic of these markings on his cheeks as I definitely dont want to take my fish ouuta the water and he was moving to fast for me to take a pic of him while he was swimming in the tank they definitely look like breeding stars my other male has them too but of course he is all white with the red cap so makes it very difficult to take a pic of them without squinting to see them

so i'm assuming no one knows if those speckles are breeding stars?????

Sorry but that picture isn't clear enough, not to mention the coloring of the fish.
What spots are you refering to? And what color are they?

Breeding stars look pretty much the same on every fish. Small white "dots" along the pectoral fins edges and some along the gill plate. Is this what you are seeing?

yep the ones i'm seeing are on his gill plates there are about 9 of them on each side that i have counted so far sorry my pics arent clear enough kinda hard with a calico my red cap has them too not to mention they are the white dots on his side near the gill plate they look bigger in the pic the color of them are white i enclosed the pic i circled the area where i see them

Sorry, it really isn't coming across on the picture. With that coloring, you would have to probably see it in person. As long as the fish is doing ok it is probably stars.

k if they are stars and they truely look like them is that an indication that he and the other male are ready to spawn with a female fish that is in my tank and full of roe ? and how long does that take? just curious as i have no clue about these things i'm daft ya know

Well to be honest, I am not sure. One of my males always got stars but never wanted to breed. So sometimes they can be too imature or even old I guess.

i know he is like 5 inches with the tail hmmm i guess i'll just have to wait and see if they spawn wondering what a calico oranda and red ranchu will come out with as color wise a breed i guess they call them oranchu's

Early morning is when most fish spawn. I believe they like just breaking daylight.

i'm up early too lol my 16 mnth old daughter thinks 5 am is her time to wake up so if any spawning does go on i'll hopefully be able to witness it

I've read the fish normally spawn around 5am, or after it's rained (because of the temperature difference). I've had males and females who've been very fertile, in the same tank, and they never spawned. It depends on the fish.

You can sort of trick the fish into spawning by making them think it's mating season. To do this, put your two males and the famale into the same tank. You will need to cool your fish tank down to about 70 degrees farienheit, and keep it at that for a week or two. Do a 15% water change 3 times a week.

During these 2 or so weeks, feed your fish a LOT. If you feed them a lot, they're more likely to spawn, because instinct tells them that there's plenty of food for their young to eat. Feeding them a lot also makes them more fertile. So, feed them about 4 times a day. But be careful, don't feed them too too much; fish will eat until they die.

After 2 or so weeks has passed, and you've kept the tank temperature at a steady 70 degrees. Heat up the water. You will need to heat it up to about 80 degrees. The heating of the water makes the fish think it's spring, which makes them want to spawn.

Before you attempt to breed, please give this some thought: Females can lay up to 500 eggs in one spawn. Do you have anywhere to keep 500 fry? Yes, some of the fry will die off, maybe 200 or so, but what are you going to do with 300 goldfish? Do you have 300 buyers? Do you have enough room and food to keep 300 fish alive? Without help and enough buyers, you won't be able to handel 300 fish, and you'll be stuck with them, until they die, which can be years.

A lot of people breed their fish out of impulse, because they think it'd be cool to have baby fish. But please, give it some thought before you do something you'll regret.

kool thanks for the imput nah i dont think it is cool and dont plan on doing it on impulse because of having baby fry are cute ect I just dont want my female fish to get egg impaction or any kind of probs and she is very preggers as i looked down on her tonight and can see her belly bulging on one side then getting nasty infections as they do from it Even though My LFS told me they would purchase fry from me I just dont see myself raising 300 or more fry thats alot of feeding and all as it is with just a few goldies god I would be going

Well, if you just wanted to get rid of the eggs from her, you can manually make them come out, though this has to be done VERY carefully, or you could fracture her ovary. Here is some info on hand spawning. It will tell you how to take the eggs out of a female:

http://goldfishconnection.com/articles/det...130&parentId=14

Jillian it is not recommended to manually do this. Ranchugirl and I have discussed this at length. There is alot of risk in the fish getting hurt, even death if not done right.
In good conscience I can't recommend it to anyone who is not an expert. Too much risk involved, especially if the fish isn't having problems. You may be opening up a can of worms.

Many females have little problem, yes some do. But if the fish is normal acting and ok I would only watch and do a nice water change to help her naturally.

i definitely am not hand spawning my fish no way no how i am too afraid to even consider doing that dont want to hurt my fish or anything i am no expert on fish let alone i couldnt even consider hand spawning too much at risk and ppl that hand spawn are poor fishies

I know what you mean. I feel that is a "last desperation" attempt if the female is full and very sick. Too much risk in hurting her.

exactly i figure i will let it happen on its own and let nature takes its course if it is meant to happen it will i hope my 2 ranchu's spawn though as my black ranchu is a male and the female is a red ranchu and then i got the calico oranda hmmm i think i will seperate the 2 ranchu's into another tank but i think if they spawn that is alot of eggs i think i will only keep a few if it happens and i think i would be so afraid to even do anything as a last resort but hopes it never comes down to it

Well keep us posted if you need any help. Good luck, I bet if you do have babies they'll be cute.

yeah i will i figure if i decide to keep a nice amount i'll ask if anyone wants sum lol