Hi Folks,

As you all are probably aware I am new to this site and Goldfish.
I adopted two fish last September one of which died the other day after a nasty illness.
Anyway I added two new fish to the tank round about April, and they are really really happy!
In fact to my greatest shock they spawned! Being away at the time and having my mum looking after the fish I did not see them doing anything strange. Mum did not either, she say!!
I now have some baby fry that I am now looking after in a separate tank. The problem is the fish I think must be the male has today started chasing the fish I bought at the same time as it, and I am really worried they are going to spawn again! I don't have anywhere to put anymore babies, and as my babies are about 20 days old they would prob eat any new babies.
The other fish which is much younger I think, keeps watching them puzzled!
How often can the spawn in a year? Month??? Am I going to end up with huge amounts of fry every few weeks????

Help!!!!!

They can spawn again and again and again. And again and again and again

In fact once they have started it isn't uncommon to have eggs every day or two for several months

But if you are not wanting to keep any more fry you can just let the adult fish eat the fry eggs, before the fry have even started to grow inside. Many people do that.

Fry are a lot of work! A lot of fun too of course. Congratulations on yours

Also watch your water if the fish are spawning.The eggs really mess up the params because the eggs are like old food, they decompose and create high nitrates very fast.

If you are really worried you may have to separate the fish pair. The female can get very tired out and stressed and in some cases ill with a lot of spawning activity.

Hi Thanks for your reply.

I did not see it till today as the site did not send me an email to say anybody had replied.

the fish did not spawn again thank God, but I have had trouble with the babies keeping them alive!!
I am now down to 4!!! I am keeping the water as good as I can but the ammonia levels creep up.
I had to change the whole tank water the other day which I know is not the best idea, but the ammonia had reached 1 and I was worried. Any ideas??? I am only feeding them small amounts of dry baby food.

Hi Blodyn! Yes I have a suggestion that may help. Why not use water from the parents tank when doing water changes? If it is well cycled and you keep your nitrates low it will be fine to use this water and really preferable to having any ammonia in a newly set up tank with teeny fry. Fry are extra ammonia sensitive and will die fast in any level of ammonia.

Or is there any way you could fix a breeder box in the main tank? I have one now in my main tank and can post apic if you like. Its a plastic fruit container I used taped on the tank with waterproof tape!