Goldfish fry

[Emmilyy]

anyone here by chance have experience with goldfish? Mine layed eggs as few days ago onto a tall plant in the tank and now I have fry! I have put a divider in the tank to section off the fry from the adult fish but I have no clue how to keep them alive. These are just pet goldfish and I was absolutely not expecting them to spawn

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

There's a YouTube channel called Solid Gold Aquatics. She sometimes breeds her goldfish and has lots of good info about it. Here's one of her videos.

She has a ton more videos too. Sadly its recommended to culled some of the misshapen fish. Using clove oil? I'm pretty sure it's clove oil that is used. It is considered a humane way to put down a fish. She has a video on that too. I hope this helps

 

[Emmilyy]

Thanks! I will look into some of her videos. I did know about culling, but I'm not even sure I'll get to that point. I have nothing to feed them! From my research baby brine shrimp is the best first food for them but I do not have access to any locally and if will not arrive in time if ordered online (they need to eat tomorrow).

 

[Sarahmoluccan]

Tough spot to be in. You might try going to goldfish forum and what's the second best thing is. There's supposed to be one that really good. I'm not sure but I think it maybe this one Site for Goldfish Keepers

Best of luck with it

 

[kitsunebandit]

I have absolutely no knowledge on the subject but I do wish you all the best! I recently bred my dalmatian mollies. I didn't even know I'd bought them pregnant. They had babies in about 2 weeks after me having them. Huge surprise They didn't have many fry so I kept them. Not one died!

 

[Emmilyy]

No worries, i really have no knowledge, either! I think I'll just take it day by day and see what happens. I'll feed them the fry food from the pet shop and i'be heard you can feed them boiled egg yolk, too. If some survive - great! If they don't oh well. I never meant for them to breed and I really don't have the tank space for any more goldfish!

 

[finchly]

The egg yolk turns the water nasty pretty fast, the fry food is cleaner. I find fry food is often too hard for baby fish - I grind flake food into a powder for the babies. Too bad you can't get brine shrimp! Can you order some online? Aquabid.com is where I've gotten started vinegar eels. (I don't know if goldfish eat vinegar eels, but they have lots of other things!)

 

[Distaff]

Koko's Goldfish is another good forum. It's main drawback is that it just doesn't get that much traffic, but I would suggest posting there too. Someone informed will guide you through it. I keep goldfish, but have never had a spawn. Wish I could be of more immediate help.

 

[Emmilyy]

Thanks everyone! I bought fry food and flakes and will try both of those (flakes ground up). I'm going to try and start an infusoria(??) culture as well for them to eat.

My issue - I only have one tank!! No separate tank I can put them into to be away from the adults. Right now there is a mesh divider in the tank separating them but the fry are so tiny that some are getting through. I just picked up a plastic breeder and a mesh hanging basket breeder to try and move some of the fry into. Hopefully I can keep some protected!

 

[Distaff]

A Sterlite tub from the dollar store or WallMart will work fine. The plastic in Sterilite (spell?) should be ok.

 

[Emmilyy]

I've got them set up in these. Not all of the eggs hatched (many got eaten) and many babies were eaten before I could get these set up. I had them in the divided section of the tank but they were slipping through the cracks at the edges and bottom... if I can grow them out at all I will put the divider back up. Until then we'll see how this goes! I've probably only got 150-200 fry (very loose estimate. Near impossible to get an actual count).

 

[finchly]

That's a lot of fry! Good luck with them.

 

[Emmilyy]

Just a little update for anyone interested! My brine shrimp eggs JUST came in the mail so the fry had their first meal of them last night once they had hatched. The only thing I could get them to eat before was crushed flake food. So they were growing, but very slowly.

I culled them two days ago and went from 89 to 47 fry. They're set up in their own little tank that I borrowed for now because it was impossible to feed them in the breeder net/box without polluting my entire tank. Hopefully they start growing!

I don't know what's up with my adult goldfish but they just keep laying eggs and I keep finding more newly hatched babies in my tank. I can't save anymore though because I simply do not have the space! Not even sure what to do with the ones I have now.

 

[finchly]

Sell them to your local pet store? That's what I used to do.

 

[Emmilyy]

The only pet store in our town that's sells fish is petsmart. I don't think chains like that will take fish unfortunately but it won't hurt to ask!

Otherwise they'll probably go on kijiji or the Facebook buy and sell pages.. my mom has been jokingly saying that she should start a goldfish tank too lol.

If I had the space for a larger tank I would keep some, but I just don't right now! My 3 adults are already in a 30 gallon which is pushing it (I keep two filters running and do water changes 1-2 times a week to keep up with them).

 

[cosmolove]

Most pet stores won't buy goldfish in most cases. They'll usually take them in tho. But to care for them give them crushed flake food or I really like to feed my fry baby brine shrimp. Its a frozen food that I believe petsmart carries. Just make sure you get the "BABY" ones. Regular brine shrimp will be too big for them to eat.

Keep the tank on a consistent water change schedule

 

[Emmilyy]

Most pet stores won't buy goldfish in most cases. They'll usually take them in tho. But to care for them give them crushed flake food or I really like to feed my fry baby brine shrimp. Its a frozen food that I believe petsmart carries. Just make sure you get the "BABY" ones. Regular brine shrimp will be too big for them to eat.

Keep the tank on a consistent water change schedule

I have a brine shrimp hatchery going at the moment so they are getting fed live baby brine shrimp once a day and crushed flake once a day

When the babies were in the adult tank I was doing a water change once a day, just enough to get the debris off the bottom (usually about 2-3 gallon change a day). Now that they are in their own tank I'm not sure what to do for water changes with the fry, but my adults will go back to having their water change once weekly. Any advice for the water changes for the fry? I am tempted to continue doing it once daily (or every other day), just a small water change to clear the debris off the bottom. Would that be too much? (I'm talking like 10-20% change).

I do not care to make a profit off these guys. I didn't plan this in the slightest lol! Just need to find them homes and probably will never go through this again!

 

[Familyof12]

I have kept tilapia, rainbow trout, koi, and other fish in my tanks. Many people may buy your fish especially people who don't like petsmart! It was good you kept the the the smelt away from the mommy and daddy fish as they tend to eat them. We usually just keep them separated as you have. Being that they are really small, they shouldn't overload your filtering system for a little while. They will eat whatever bits are in the water as you feed your own fish. Just keep the temperature maintained, feed your fish regularly and lots of air bubbles, you should be fine.

 

[Familyof12]

I have a brine shrimp hatchery going at the moment so they are getting fed live baby brine shrimp once a day and crushed flake once a day
(I'm talking like 10-20% change). I do not care to make a profit off these guys. I didn't plan this in the slightest lol! Just need to find them homes and probably will never go through this again!

Every time you "flush" (changing the water) even 20% changes the ph balance in the water. It isn't a good idea. The water your fish were in was probably "cycled" meaning it has lots of good bacteria in it. This takes time and when you flush, you take the good stuff out too. I would do that but less often. Goldfish can live in pretty dirty water. The are bottom dwellers like my koi. As long as you keep the ph and temperature okay, clean less often, they will be fine.

 

[SandraK]

anyone here by chance have experience with goldfish? Mine layed eggs as few days ago onto a tall plant in the tank and now I have fry! I have put a divider in the tank to section off the fry from the adult fish but I have no clue how to keep them alive. These are just pet goldfish and I was absolutely not expecting them to spawn

I read the title of your post and thought to myself: "Hmmm, who on earth would think of frying their goldfish ...???" I obviously don't own any fish.