HOW TO BREED YOUR GOLDFISH
Since before I was so curious on how to breed my goldfish. I tried to ask I formation from fish breeders and fish shops owners, they keep giving garbage tips. All where design not to aid neophytes in propagating fishes, but to protect their personal interest in business. I guess everybody must respect that point of view. After all they exist there in the name of business. I personally tried to experiment with my fishes on the best way how to grow them and breed them based on Philippine climate. There where a lot of personal experimentation that really aid me in successfully breeding my matured gold fish.
The whole truth and secrets for breeding goldfish shall be unleashed on this page. I guess my purpose is to break the economic monopoly of these selfish business men who are so greedy in sharing profitable information to their supposed valued customers. Here I will present some procedures before you can successfully prepare your matured goldfish to share their contribution in the name of population expansion.
STEP 1 PAIR OF MALE AND FEMALE GOLDFISH
Make sure that your goldfishes are one year old or more. A young goldfish with about 8 months have the natural tendency to be a premature fish for breeding. If you are not sure because your goldfish where newly bought adult size fish or could no longer recall when did you buy them, try to check the following:
Male Goldfish
a. White vertical stripes on their front fins, matured goldfish develop vertical stripes on their front fins; these are believed to be used in stimulating the female gold fish during spawning. Such indication will tell you that you have a matured MALE goldfish.
b. White pimples on both side of the goldfish face, a matured male goldfish also develops such signs as an indication that he is ready for spawning. This test is not possible for oranda, ranchu and lionhead goldfish for their face is covered with puppy bulk tissues.
Female Goldfish
a. Female goldfish are usually a bit bigger than its male counterparts. They don’t possess any of the signs stated above. However during their ready period of spawning, they use to agitate the males to copulate with them. You can see they chasing the males, it is as if they are inviting the males for spawning.
b. Shiny front fins- female goldfish has a plain and shiny front fins. Contrary to its male counterpart, it fails to develop any signs of vertical stripes on its front fins.
If you had identified your goldfish within the above criteria, and that you have both a male and a female goldfish then you are ready for the next step. However, if you only possess males alone or females alone, then you have to go out and buy some what is lacking for breeding a goldfish.
WARNING:
If you intend to buy goldfish, don’t buy those that are usually floating and do not frequently swim. In my experience these are the fishes that have a weak endurance and prawn to deceases that can contaminate your healthy goldfish. You should buy the aggressive ones!
It is possible to purchase homosexual goldfish. It may sound funny but on my experience, there are male goldfish that behaves like a female goldfish. I guess these are some of the extensive observation I had in propagating a goldfish.
STEP 2 CONDITIONING YOUR BREEDERS
Breeding a goldfish does not end in choosing the right pair to breed or cross-breed, but it extends on how you condition them. In order to prepare your goldfish for spawning, there are some secrets you need to know on how to induce them to spawn:
a. WATER-One key secret for your goldfish to breed is the quality of the water in the tank or pond.
a.1 Aquariums- If you intend to breed your goldies in an aquarium, make sure that you are changing 20% of the water every day. This will artificially create a scenario to the fishes that it is its season for spawning. Poor water condition will not induce the female and male goldfish to spawn. To maximize the change of water effect, try to aid your change of water with an external super filter. This will certainly boost the drive to your fishes. The process may take a while before you can notice some funny gestures from your goldfish of the females chasing the males, yet it is not spawning proper.
a.2 Pond- It should be located in cooler places of the backyard or surroundings. Try to change ¼ of the water every day; it is good to have some air stones to aerate the pond during summer. If you’re planning to breed your goldfish during rainy season and there’s a sufficient amount of rain pouring on the pond, you don’t have to change the water in you pond. Expect the similar behavior from what was stated at a.1.
b. PLACE FOR BREEDING-The location and the set-up of your aquarium or pond will also affect the possibility of inducing the goldfish to breed.
b.1 Aquarium- A 50 gallon aquarium tank would be enough to start a simple breeding for goldfish. Actually as long as the goldfish is matured and you give the fish the right diet they seemed to neglect this aquarium factor. For purposes of an ideal set-up, I would suggest to stick with 50 gallons. You may or may not mind this size.
The surroundings will also affect the whole process. Try to introduce artificial lilies by cutting green colored yarns to mimic the roots of lilies. Try to avoid placing pointed or sharp edge decors; these may harm your goldfish. Try also to avoid mixing your goldfish with other variety of fishes. The more spacious is your set-up the better.