When I got up this morning around 7 am, Fiona my blue oranda, was wiggling in the plants and all of the other goldfish were "nibbling" at her vent. I suspect that she is either laying eggs or trying because I haven't seen any. The others must be gobbling them up when they come out. This is still going on and it is almost 12:30 pm here. I wasn't sure if this was supposed to last this long? Her vent is swollen. What should I look out for if she runs into trouble? Thanks!

She may drop eggs today, tomorrow and for the next 4-5 days. She may stop and then drop again in a week or two. A reasonably large female fish that is well fed and in good health drops several thousand eggs - and may do it multiple times in a spring. Some females drop them all at once. Others, more commonly, will drop a few thousand and then wait for a few weeks and drop a few more.

If yours is "just dribbling" eggs out and the others are eating them, that is fine. But she may do it for days and days and days.......

WAtch your water parameters. When and if they actually spawn ( and they may be and you do not SEE the evidence of the males getting in the act) there is a LOT of extra waste added to your water. That - and if they are gutting themselves with eggs - that is a whole lot of extra high protien food that will result in lots of extra waste in the water.

You may need to do a few extra water changes to keep the parameters in good shape.

Thanks so much Daryl! I'm so glad that someone so knowledgeable about goldfish like you are here to help !