I don't know how many times you have tried with fry Halloween but I want to add my 2 cents here if you'll let me. If your fish are giving you eggs, you have a male that is milting those eggs and those eggs are hatching, this will not be your last chance at fry. Right now you feel you never want to do this again because it hurts losing fry, it really is a horrible experience. I know that, I have lost 2 whole large batches of fry too. But just like when we got our first goldfish and they were sacrificed to our not understanding the nitrogen cycle, so it is with fry. I think no-one, all said and read and done, ever manage to raise their whole first batch of fry (well okay maybe daryl did ). A huge die-off rate is to be expected with home raised fry. A 2-5% final survival rate is a success story!

There is a looooong thread somewhere in the archives here of when I second had fry. (First was before kokos and the frustration brought me here). I was so sure I could raise at least one to be a goldfish, but they kept dieing on me - at 2 weeks- at 3 weeks- at 4 weeks- couldn't understand why- I only had one little fry left at 5 weeks and I cried when he finally passed too. He had albino eyes! The thing is, it isn't easy at all. You need to be there to feed them 4 times a day and then there to remove the food they dont eat an hour after they have eaten. Its the only way to keep the water good enough. And even more than half will always die within the first month or two. I think you have done good to get yours this far- full bodies and looking like little fish. Most peoples' first tries don't even make it to here.

You have to stand back, be unemotional and know that it takes the average Joe owner, at least 3 tries at fry raising to get ONE or TWO fish eventually out of a batch. Those are the real facts. As you will know if you read all the failed attempts in this forum. It is because it is such a big challenge, it is because you have come so far at nearly making it, it is because you care about it at all, that this will not be your last time and chances are next time you will get your few healthy big fish survivors. Don't give up. Practice makes perfect. I know it is painfully sad but it doesn't mean you cannot do this, or that you did badly, because you didn't, who knows why many fry do not make it for reasons that are not our fault...it just means having come so far and having learnt so much, you should try again

I want to second everything that IMO has said - it is SO true. Raising goldfish fry is NOT easy. The fact that you got as far as you did is a big thing! Many do not.

I have had the benefit of having so many spawnings - and so many eggs to work with. Since I have had thousands and thousands, the thousands that I have "lost" become mostly "unseen". I did SO many things poorly or incorrectly. I learned SO very much after the first few spawnings when I was directly responsible for .....to put it bluntly..... ruining so many fry through my lack of understanding, lack of care (I did not know better) and goof-ups.

I have, luckily, never had to deal with a large fungal problem. That was a horrid thing for you. You also need to realize that some genetic crossings between fish simply are not good ones - nothing to do with you or your care and everything to do with the genetic compatibilites there.

Do not give up forever. If you find yourself faced with a nice clutch of eggs sometime in the future, you may wish to try again. Who knows? Success is just waiting in the wings......

It's not so much the emotional aspect of it. Yeah they're cute but this isn't what is bothering me. It's all the time money and energy I've invested in this. I did do all the feeding and water changes correctly. I made sure water levels were right. ALLLL these things were done to the best of my ability. The reason I'm done with this is because my time has been wasted. I could have been using all those hours and days taking care of my other fish. I've had 5 fish die this year due to unknown illnesses and 2 more are on their way out. I know the parents will keep giving me eggs, that's fine. I won't try to stop them, I'm just not going to hatch them anymore. If at first you don't succeed, try try again, and then try once more as well. If you still fail, find something else to do.

Not all of them are dead. I still have about 5 that are fungus free. I'll still take care of them, but I'm not holding my breath for anything.

Thank you very much though for taking the time to read my thread and share your own stories and thoughts. I appreciate it a lot. It shows that there are people who have taken an interest in me, and my fry journey.

6 or 7 alive.

One I've noticed has a dorsal fin but it flops over when the fry holds still. If he survives it'll be interesting to see if it falls off, becomes useful, or if it will just stay as it is and be totally useless.

A few fry have odd-eyes. One totally black eye and a gold-rimmed (normal) eye. Some fry are lighter while others are more olive colored.

Parents are: Long finned Tri-Color Fantail (male), and an orange Lionhead (female).
Fry with dorsal fins act surprisingly like their dad, and Lion-babies act like mom.

At what age do they become "fish"

Fry are over 1 month. Just found biggest fry dead (NOT surprised) looks like the fry just exploded. It's eye was burst open.

Next biggest fry is just under half an inch. The smaller fry are getting weaker. The rest are just tiny and don't do much.

Daaaaang, got home from work and found another fry had exploded out it's eyes. It's gross! Is this a disease or do fry always die like this? They just, explode...

No they don't always die like that. I found mine did a corkscrew type swimming before dieing and no eyes came off. Eyes popping off can be caused by the gas produced by bacteria in behind the eye.
I hope the last few make it!!