Prologue: We receive (not always
willingly) beau coup pond fish every fall. This year we took in
250 koi (non-huge), about 60 goldfish (non-huge also plus one real lunker),
and three pacús (which only come in huge). Some we get because their
owners say: "Aqualand or the river." That's how we get
pacús.
But that's another story.Temperature Trigger:
When goldfish come in from outside, their reproductive organs
say: "Hey, it's spring -- time to canoodle." This can result in
lots of eggs and milt, cloudy water, and possible asphyxiation if you don't
keep tabs on incoming pond fish. However, keeping tabs on an
occasional spawning can be fun -- especially when you can catch them in the
act.
Serendipity in Action: Okay, so
we "adopted" a bucket of three large goldfish three days ago. One was
so big it went into it's own 20H. The other two were placed in an
out-of-the-way 20H formerly ocupado by African cichlids and a
sizeable chunk of hornwort. We left the hornwort. Two days
later, the following spawning sequence occurred.
LA
Introducing our male star -- probably some 2 to 4 years old.
LA
Shows his size, girth, and finnage.
LA
Introducing our comely but shy female star -- who looks about four to six
years old.
LA
She's probably twice his size and looking quite healthy.
LA
He introduces himself to her.
LA
He (smooth talking devil that he is) introduces himself again..
LA
Finally, he coaxes her into the shrubbery.
LA
Most of the time he tried to spawn her wherever she was.
LA
Here he's pushing her against the side of their tank.
LA
The male spends time picking off eggs that fall to the bottom.
LA
Some eggs stick to the front glass.
LA
Just to give you an idea of egg size.
LA
Innumerable eggs adhered to the hornwort. We harvested this clump and
threw in a new bunch.
LA
She didn't seem to like the new hornwort enough to spawn over it.
LA
Which did not discourage him from encouraging her.
LA
He was much more dedicated than her.
LA
LA
LA
Occasionally he coaxes her over the hornwort.
LA
He pauses for an occasional caviar snack.
LA
We left them to their own devices for the evening.
LA
Next morning we tried to get some close ups of their eggs.
LA
You can get a good idea of the egg size but not really see the eggs clearly.
Miscellaneous Info: At this point
we re-charged our waning microworm cultures in case any of the eggs decided to
hatch. It's worth mentioning that goldfish fry are strong enough eaters to
eat powdered fish food as their first meals. Goldfish never are or were
picky eaters.
LA
She kept spewing eggs all that evening.
Second Verse Same as the First: We
found lots of eggs on the new clump of hornwort, one large rock we hadn't
noticed earlier, the elbow at the top of their filter stem (one had come apart
days before), and on the miscellaneous orts and end of hornwort strewn about the
bottom. Even with an LED flashlight, we detected no eggs on the gravel.
We removed all these and drained the tank which was probably ripe with dissolved
organic substances. In the wild, these organics would feed bacteria which
would feed infusoria which would feed the goldfish larvae when they began
free-swimming.
LA
Male below. Female (we hope) lunker center stage.
Farmed out the Stud: Since our
male did such a sterling job, we lined him up for a repeat performance with
the lunker female we mentioned earlier. She dwarfs him. However,
we consider him up for the job. We'll find out.
More to Come: We will continue this
saga if the eggs hatch. LA
LA
Not so Much: Lots and lots of
eggs but not a single egg hatched.
Different Spawn: So here's a
different spawn with better results: LA
LA
Part of a goldfish hatch from three weeks ago.
LA
Much disparity in size even at three weeks of age.
© 2008,
© 2010
LA Productions
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