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################################################# # # # A Look At Life From Inside A Goldfish Bowl. # # # # By Michael McLaughlin. # # # ################################################# I hope to bring you all the latest news from my local Goldfish Club, the name of the club is The West Of Scotland Goldfish Society. All newcomers are welcome to come along, and there is no age limit! The first thing I wish to bring to you is 'How to Breed your own Goldfish'. THE ART OF FISH BREEDING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why? Why does someone go to the trouble, the time and effort to spawn, hatch, and raise goldfish? The answer to that question is as varied as the number of people who keep and propagate goldfish. For some, it is the challenge of producing and having the best. For others, it is the challenge of creating a goldfish breed that is not available or for that matter, even in existence, while for others it is the pride of maintaining and improving a line of goldfish whose ancestry goes back for many generations. No matter what the reason, goldfish can and do provide the challenge to keep your interest alive, and in turn, will give you a fish whose beauty and variety are unmatched by any other fish. You might be thinking that's all well and good but why not just walk down to the pet shop and buy one of these wonderful fish? Goldfish are just a little bit funny when it comes to the production of high quality fish. They have a habit of reverting back to their ancestral form, i.e., olive green coloured, long bodied, single finned crucian carp. For the prospective purchase of a high quality goldfish, this reversion to ancestral type makes the purchase of a high quality goldfish next to impossible. In each spawn of goldfish you will find young fry that are deformed, weak, poorly coloured, lacking fins, having unwanted fins, improper head, and dozens of other defects that make them unsuitable. In some breeds, the percentage of these defective fish may be as little as 1%, while in other breeds which carry multiple breed characteristics, it may be as high as 99.9%. In this latter group, it means that only one or two fish in each spawn will prove to be worthy of its breed standard. Now you can see why it is seldom possible to buy a high quality goldfish or some of the rare, or even semi-rare breeds of goldfish. In fact it may take years of searching just to find a halfway decent pair of these rare breeds, so that you can start on the long road of linebreeding to improve your chosen breed. Why breed goldfish? The reasons are as many as the number who do. But the pleasure and pride that raising high quality goldfish can bring is enough to have made the goldfish the oldest domesticated fish in the world. TANK SIZE. Spawning. To determine the right size for a spawning tank, you must keep three items in mind, namely the number of fish used in spawning, the breed being spawned, and the size of the spawners. In spawning goldfish, there are many ways to match your fish for spawning. For convenience and to simplify these methods, let's classify them in three groups: pairs, trios and multiples (flock method). Breeding in a one-pair spawning tank takes the least room of any method. One male and one female, needles to say, is all that you need. The tank ideally should be at least 30 gallons in size and of the long and low type. Of course goldfish have spawned, and will continue to spawn, in smaller tanks, but for the safety of the female, she should be given some running room to escape the male(s) if she needs to. The trio method consists of two males and one female. This method tales only just a bit more room than the pair method. Usually for most breeds of goldfish of small to medium sizes a 30 gallon long and low aquarium will do nicely. The flock method is a method that uses multiple males with multiple females. The males should always outnumber the females with two-to-one male to female ratio being adequate but not necessary. This type of spawning will necessitate a much larger tank than the first two methods and is easier when using a breeding pond. The flock method has proven to be very helpful in improving the quality of a breed faster by increasing the chances of a proper match between your spawners. This method works best when used with a linebred strain of goldfish because of the close genetic background these fish share. For outcrossing or developmental crossing, the pair and trio method is easier to control. When choosing the right size spawning tank remember the rule of "30 square inches to every inch of fish." If you can, you should try to double this to give your spawners more room to roam. Some breeds, such as the singlefinned group, are more active in the spawning chase than the heavy-bodied doubletailed breeds. Singletailed and some of the more active doubletailed breeds should be given more room in their spawning tank although this is a convenience rather than a necessity. Also, take into consideration the size of your spawners. You might very successfully spawn a pair of one-year-old Orandas in a 15 gallon tank, but a four-year-old pair of nine inch Orandas would not have enough room to turn around in that same tank. Once again, remember the "rule of thirty and double it," and increase that tank space as the fish grow larger. Fertility is one last item that might be worth considering when determining the size of your spawning tank. It has been found that when a smaller tank is used in spawning, the fertility of the spawn will increase. This should be a consideration only when breeding a fish that has a low fertility or hatch rate, and then only if we must use a fish of low fertility. The object of any breeding program should be never to use weak or unproductive fish unless it is absolutely necessary. THE HATCHERY AND FRY TANKS. The first and only concrete rule in raising goldfish fry is "don't overcrowd." Sounds easy right? Well, it's not! It's pretty hard to judge just how much room those itty bitty fry need. So starting with the eggs and working up, we will try to err on the uncrowded side, when a recommendation is made, and you will find that if you err this way, both with fry and adults, your troubles will be few. When it comes to tank hatching of goldfish eggs, there are two basic methods. The first is to leave the eggs in the spawning tank. This method insures that all of the eggs spawned will have a chance to hatch. The spawning tank, if you have followed the previous guidelines, will be large enough to hatch the eggs and raise the fry to the first culling, at the age of 10 feeding days old. The second method is to remove the spawn with the spawning medium to a hatchery tank. This method will leave some eggs behind that are stuck to the tank, filter, etc. The benefit of this method is that the eggs can be divided into smaller tanks and the water in these tanks will be cleaner. The benefit of using more than one smaller tank is twofold. First, by having the fry in more than a single tank, it protects the spawn from being wiped out by disease. If you had a problem in one tank (disease, parasites) and you were careful not to contaminate your other tanks, you would be able to save at least part of the spawn. Another plus for removing the eggs to a hatchery tank is that the water is cleaner. In a spawning tank, the eggs are exposed to a higher pollution level due to the presence of waste from the adult spawners and a lot of dying sperm. These two pollution sources cause the ammonia levels to be much higher in the spawning tank than it is in the hatchery tank. The only problem is that the two tanks (spawning and hatchery) should be filled with water from the same source at the same time. This prevents the eggs from being exposed to a great change in water quality (pH, hardness, composition). A hatchery tank of 20 gallons (long and low) will comfortably hold 500 to 750 eggs of newly hatched fry. For the first 10 feeding days of a fry's life, the fry can live and grow quite happily in a somewhat crowded tank. This keeps them close to their food and with frequent water changes (daily), good filtration and aeration, they will grow very quickly. During the first 10 feeding days of their life, a good guide as to the fry density of a tank is 500 to a 20 gallon long and low tank (approximately 12" x 30"surface). After the first culling, at 10 feeding days of age, the fry in each tank need to be split into two or more tanks if you have more than 50% of the fry left after culling. After the first culling, we start to use the surface area to determine the number of fry that can be maintained in a tank. When the fry are 10 feeding days old, it is safe to keep them at a density of 100 fry to 144 square inches of surface area (12" x 12"). After the first culling and thinning (or spreading out) of the fry, every effort should be made either to cull the fry weekly or to give them bigger or more tanks. When the fry are about four feeding weeks old, they should be maintained at a surface area density of 30 fry to 144 square inches of surface area. This culling and thinning should continue until at the age of eight weeks the fry should be maintained in the tank at the same rate as adult goldfish, i.e., 30 square inches to one inch of fish. Remember, it is far safer to err in the direction of fewer fry than more fry. If you do not cull and keep the tank populations low, then disease and stress will do it for you. So why not become an active culler and raise only the best fry in a spawn, rather than those who have been the lucky survivors? SUPPLIES. Spawning Tank: One 30 gallon or larger for each spawning group. The tank should be of the long and low type to increase the overall surface surface area. Water depth of 6-9 inches for the first four weeks. Spawning medium: Four to six 12 inch strands of a commercial spawning grass, tied in a group, and/or two to six homemade yarn and cork spawning mops. Natural plants such as Anacharis, Cabomba, Myriophyllum, Water Lettuce, Water Hyacinths, etc., loosely tied in large bunches. Filters: (See Filters) Two sponge filters or two box filters for each hatchery tank. Two large box filters, power filter and/or undergravel filter in the spawning tank. Remove unmodified box filters when eggs start to hatch. Syphons: One 1/2 inch clear flexible hose with a 12 inch ridged plastic tube inserted in the end. This large syphon is used for quick water changes and should have a sponge or filter floss attached to the end of the rigid tube to prevent syphoning any of the fry out of the tank. Also one airline tubing syphon with a 16 inch rigid plastic tube inserted in the end. This small syphon is used to slowly syphon the waste from the bottom of the tank while the fry are very small. Buckets: Buckets of various sizes (one to five gallon) are useful for water changes, water ageing, culling and tank cleaning. Nets: Although large adult goldfish can be caught with a net, it is safer for the fish's scales and fins if they are caught using your hands. A series of small nets for goldfish over eight weeks old are hands when moving large number of fish. A culling net can be made by removing the cloth screen from a commercial brine shrimp net or other small net and replacing it with a piece of nylon stocking stretched tight across the frame. Bend the net at a 45 angle to the handle. It is recommended when moving fry under eight weeks old to scoop them up with a cup or a kitchen baster to prevent damaging the very tender fry. Kitchen baster: Used to catch very small fry. Large white plastic bowls: Useful in culling fry, Tea cup: Used to catch small fry. Fry food raising equipment: (See Fry Foods) Bottles, jugs, air pumps, strainers, nets, buckets, tanks, and many more items might be needed, depending on the fry foods you feed. FILTERS: The filtering of a spawning tank is very similar to the filtering of any other tank that houses large adult goldfish. If the spawning tank is to be used as a temporary spawning tank and the spawners are just temporary residents, then two large quilt-batting wrapped box filters will do a good job. In these temporary spawning tanks the spawners need not be fed, if they spawn within the first three days they are in the spawning tank. This helps reduce the waste matter in the tank and is very beneficial if the eggs are to be left in the tank to hatch. Filtering the hatchery tank takes a little more study and care. With the exception of the sponge filter and the undergravel filter, no unmodified commercial filter will work with small fry due to the danger of drawing the fry into the filter, which will usually kill them. But with a little modifying, many commercial filters, be they air-operated or power, can work very well in all but the newly hatched fry tank. For fry that have just hatched to 10 feeding days of age, a sponge filter or a box filter that has been wrapped in quilt- batting is all the filtration that is needed. Of the two types, sponge or box, the box filter filled with filter carbon and wrapped with quilt-batting will filter more water per hour, that is, if it is of the bubble up type (airstone operated). In either case, both filters should have been in use for at least two weeks before being placed in the fry tank, to allow the establishment of beneficial bacteria. These beneficial bacteria will help reduce harmful pollutants such as amonia and nitrites which are deadly to all goldfish. As the fry get older and larger, the hatchery tank needs increased filtration. This can be accomplished at first by adding more sponge filters or quilt-batting wrapped box filters. But as the fry start to put on their rapid growth (usually at 4 weeks) their food consumption and waste start to skyrocket. At this time a modified power filter with a power intake is a handy tool. By wrapping the intake tube with quilt-batting or inserting the tube into a coarse sponge, the filter will operate fairly well without the danger of sucking the fry into it. Another option at this time is to transfer large fry into a tank that has an established, but clean, undergravel filter in operation. Although an undergravel filter will give good results by itself, some mechanical filtration might be necessary. The big disadvantage of the undergravel filter is that the fry won't be able to pick up food that has settled on the bottom of the tank as easily as in a bare bottomed tank. Depending on the type of food you are feeding your fry, (live, dry, paste) this may or may not be a problem. Some caution should be exercised in controlling the currents created by the filter's exhaust. The fry should find at least one area in the tank that is calm so they can rest. Strong currents are usually a problem only with modified power filters although airstone operated box filters can create strong currents if too much air is used in their operation. SEXING: GOldfish are not the easiest fish to tell male from female, and goldfish under one year old are just downright hard to sex. There are some guidelines that work very well with goldfish over one year of age, but if you are trying to select a pair from a group of young goldfish, then all we can do is wish you good luck. Your best method of getting a pair of goldfish under one year of age is to buy several. Pick some of the larger fish, middle-sized fish, and smaller fish. In this way you will probably have at least one male or one female in the group. For mature goldfish over one year old, we can use the educated guess method and be fairly accurate although never 100%. The first item to look for if the first ray of the pectoral fin. In the male, this first ray is thicker and longer. In some of the very long finned breeds, the male's pectoral will be pointed, whereas on the female of the same breed it will have a more rounded appearance. The next item to look at is body shape. The female usually will be larger and heavier (thicker) than the more slender male. this is easier to judge in a group of well-conditioned fish than in looking at a single goldfish. Male goldfish, when in breeding condition, will show breeding tubercles (small white bumps) on the first ray of the pectoral fin and gill covers. Not all males will show these tubercles and males of the hooded breeds will have them visible only on the pectoral fins, as the head growth may cover the tubercles on the gill covers. (A side note about breeding tubercles is the fact that they look very much like Ich, a parasitic disease. When first seeing these white bumps, do not panic if they are only on the gill cover and pectoral fin. If these bumps show up any place else, then treatment for Ich is advised). Next we move on to the last and most dependable method and that is to have your pair of goldfish spawn a fertile spawn of eggs. Notice the key word of the last sentence was fertile. It is not unusual for a female to release her eggs with no male present. So the saving of a few eggs to determine if there is a pair in the tank. Mature goldfish are really not too difficult to sex and in most cases an educated guess will prove to be accurate. As you become more knowledgeable and experienced with goldfish, you will find that your guesses, even in the hard-to-tell immature goldfish, will become more accurate than not, so practice is the key. SELECT SPAWNERS: If you are lucky enough to have several goldfish from which to choose your spawners, then you should be very selective in your choice. When choosing spawners, never mate two fish that have the same defect. As an example, if you have a beautiful Oranda who is near perfect in every way except he only has one anal fin, do not breed him to female with the same defect. When matching a pair or group, try to pick individuals that will balance each other out. If you have a male Lionhead whose tail fin is too short, try mating him to a female Lionhead whose tail might be a bit long. If you can, try to maximize on the good features of a breed. Headgrowth breeds should be bred only to those individuals that show good head growths, in hopes of improving the headgrowths. The same goes for fin type and all other breed characteristics. When choosing your spawners, try to study the basic standard for that breed, and conform to it as closely as possible or consult a knowledgeable breeder of that breed. In this way the basic form of the young will slowly, over the years, conform to the accepted standard for that breed. In making the above choices keep in mind to pick healthy, active and, most important, fish who exhibit a great deal of vigor. Vigor is hard to describe but it borders on aggressiveness. A fish who is constantly active, never sick, attacks his food and is always the first to see what's happening is a goldfish showing vigor. Never, unless it is absolutely necessary, breed a fish that shows a physical defect, such as poor swim bladder function, weak and sickly state of being, deformed body, mouth or head, and any other obvious defects. Always try to breed for the best, healthiest and most physically perfect goldfish you can. We hobbyists have an advantage over the commercial breeder in that we do not have to breed for high egg production and early de-colouring. We can breed for type, colour, finnage, head growth, head shape, and dozens of different features that would bankrupt the commercial breeder. We should pick breeders of high fertility, but we can forego the need for picking females just because they can spawn a huge number of eggs. Usually one to two thousand eggs is all a hobbyist can handle and if these eggs come from a high quality female of proven fertility, so much the better. As far as early and quick de-colouring goes, most hobbyists do not seem to mind waiting an extra month or two if the fish is of high quality. When selecting your spawners, be choosy if you can. Select for type, health, fertility, vigor, and your breed will improve and be easier to care for with each succeeding generation. CONDITIONING: Conditioning goldfish for breeding is not something that is done the week before you want to breed them. Conditioning goldfish is a year round project that needs careful management, good food, seasonal temperature changes, and lots of space. The fish should be kept in as clean an environment as possible. A goldfish that is under constant environmental stress will become diseased or will be unwilling to spawn, usually both. Proper water quality needs to be maintained at all times to keep the goldfish healthy. Good water quality is not hard to maintain, but it does need a certain amount of scheduled work in the form of water changes and filter maintenance to insure it remains constant. Good quality food of proper kind and in the proper amounts is a must for goldfish. Just before and during the spawning season a food high in protein, preferably live, should be fed to your spawners at least once a day. In the summer and autumn, food high in carbohydrates will help goldfish to be in the proper condition for a successful hibernation. Although hibernation is not necessary, it does make the fish more willing to spawn and is believed to produce more virgorous fry. Goldfish are cool water fish and it is natural for them to live in water that has a temperature range of 32 to 80 F or higher. Try to keep the water temperature in the 60 to 70 F range for most of the year, but a natural slow temperature decrease in the autumn and winter should be strived for. Do not crowd your spawners during the year. Give them lots of space and you will have spawners more willing to breed. They will also grow faster and be healthier when given extra room and uncrowded tank conditions. The preceding was a brief explanation of year 'round conditioning for goldfish. But because we are on the subject of the breeding cycle, let us digress to the subject of food. As it was mentioned earlier, goldfish should be fed a food higher in protein at this time of year. Earthworms, fresh or frozen, chopped or whole, are an excellent conditioning food. It is high in protein and has a mild laxative effect which is very helpful to a female full of eggs. Make sure your worms are free of pesticides and are from an area free of soil contamination. Raise your own-it is much safer. Other good conditioning foods, either fresh or frozen, are bloodworms, Daphnia, Mosquito larvae, scrambled eggs, and some high protein prepared foods, although live foods are preferred. TANK SET UP: A spawning tank can be a pretty Spartan affair consisting of a tank, water, filter and spawning medium. That is really all there is to it, but since this section deserves a little more than one sentence we will review each of the items, even though most of what we say has been said already. The spawning tank should be of the long and low type with lots of surface area. For the average goldfish pair, a 30 gallon tank usually offers plenty of room. As your spawners get larger, or you increase the number of your fish in the spawning group, you should use larger tanks with more surface area. Remember never to crowd your spawners or they may feel the living conditions are to crowded and decide not to spawn. If you have successfully kept goldfish in the water in your area, then that same water can be used to successfully spawn your goldfish. The addition of one teaspoon of salt to five gallons of water has proven to be beneficial to both adult and goldfish fry. Salt is not a necessity but the talk around town is that it does keep your goldfish healthier. The filter in the spawning tank need only be large enough to handle the waste by-products produced by your breeders. If the spawning tank is to be used as a hatchery tank, then a well- conditioned sponge and/or quilt-batting covered box filter will usually do the job for the few days the spawners are in the tank. While the spawners are in the spawning/hatchery tank, they should be fed as little as possible to keep the pollution level of the water as low as possible. If the eggs are to be removed from the spawning tank, then filtration can be of a heavier duty nature. Power filters and/or undergravel filters can be used and the breeders fed a more normal diet. If possible the spawning medium should be confined to one area of the spawning tank. When the eggs are to be left in the spawning-hatchery tank, the need for a lot of spawning medium can be reduced, as the eggs attach themselves to the sides and bottom will hatch as well as those attached to the spawning medium. When the eggs are to be removed , then it would be beneficial to increase the spawning medium and use both the floating and bottom type directly below the floating medium. With the increase of spawning medium, more eggs will successfully attach themselves to the medium and therefore more eggs can be removed to the hatchery tank. When using natural plants for the spawning medium, remember to check it closely for pests such as insect larvae, fresh water shrimp, and hydra. Remember to give the plants plenty of light to prevent them from using the oxygen in the water, which can harm both the eggs and the fry. To clean and disinfect artificial spawning medium, a good wash in plain fresh warm water and an hour's soaking in a dark blue methylene blue and water solution will render them safe to re- use over and over again. Of the two types of spawning medium, natural and artificial plants, the artificial is the safest and is recommended for the beginner. Although artificial spawning material does demand an initial cash outlay, the fact that, if well cared for, it will last for many years probably makes it almost as cheap to use as homegrown natural plants. (See Appendices Section for easy-to- make artificial spawning mops). SPAWNING: Spawning goldfish should be a well-thought-out act, not just merely the act of putting two fish together to see what happens. A breeding program, complete with goals of what you wish to achieve, should be in place before any spawning occurs. A well-thought-out breeding program has to include consideration about outcrossing and line-breeding. Outcrossing usually entails the breeding together of two or more unrelated or very distantly related goldfish. They can be of the same breed or different breeds. When this type of cross is done, the first generation (F1) may not. and probably will not, look like either of the parents. With this type of cross, a plan is a must. If you are breeding for the breed characteristics of either parent, then the F1 generation should be bred back to the parent goldfish that has the desired characteristics. If you are trying to combine two breed characteristics into a new single multiple-breed characteristic goldfish you should mate the F1 generation to each other and with luck a few of the next generation (F2) will exhibit the desired characteristics. If this does not happen, you must set up multiple matings of the F2 generation, using several males and females so that the proper genetic matches will be made and passed on the F3 generation. As you can see, outcrossing can take up to three or four years and demand many matings before your desired goal will be reached, if at all. Outcrossings are very time consuming and at times discouraging, but on the other hand they can also be very rewarding. They are usually resorted to only to improve vigor in a strain. After the initial goal of an outcrossing has been reached, the time honoured system of line breeding will purify and refine the breed you have developed. The mating of related fish that complement each other will, in time, give you a line of goldfish that will breed reasonably true to type (for goldfish). Remember, if even a small minority of the young goldfish resemble their parents, you are on the right road, as goldfish are always trying to revert back to that old silver carp ancestor. Goldfish genetics are probably the most complex of any fish, and about the time you think you have it all figured out, they throw you a curve. Experience and trial and error are the only proven methods of achieving your goals when it comes to goldfish breeding. So try a method or a cross, and if it doesn't work out, do not be discouraged as your next try might just do the trick. Another item to remember when spawning goldfish is that they are ravenous egg eaters. The Hobbyists must be able to remove the spawn of eggs or spawners as soon as possible after the spawners lose interest in spawning. If this is not possible, then load the spawning tank with lots of spawning medium (natural and/or artificial) and hope that your goldfish will leave you enough eggs to raise. When using more than two goldfish in a spawning group, watch out for the goldfish who is not actively participating in the spawning drive. Chances are this fish will spend its time eating the spawn, as the others are involved in the act of spawning. KEEPING THE SEXES SEPARATE: This method of spawning allows the hobbyist to determine the approximate time his goldfish will spawn. This is the biggest advantage of this system, and is useful in allowing the hobbyist the chance to watch the spawn and save the eggs. Two large roomy tanks are necessary to hold the spawners in an uncrowded environment. The male tank and female tank can be placed side by side or in different rooms. It makes little difference to the goldfish. If you want to have your goldfish spawn on a weekend, then your best bet is to place the spawners together on Thursday night, thus allowing them to settle down and adjust to the new tank for a day. Depending on your goldfishes' condition and readiness to spawn, you should have a spawning on Saturday or Sunday morning. If your goldfish have not spawned as planned, try a partial water change in the evening and, with luck, the next morning might bring success. The spawners should be given at least three days to spawn or they can be left together for as long as 10 days. If they have not spawned in 10 days then you might consider separating them and reconditioning both sexes for another couple of weeks before trying again. Remember to feed plenty of high protein foods and do not overcrowd your spawners. PERMANENT SPAWNING SET UP: Using this method, the spawners are set up in a roomy, uncrowded tank and left together during the spawning season (or longer). The hobbyist has no control over the actual spawning day and if the spawn happens while the hobbyist is away for the day, many eggs will be eaten by the spawners. This method is used to produce lots of eggs and multiple spawns. Once the spawners start spawning, they will continue to do so every 7 to 10 days throughout the spawning season. Of course, good food and clean water are a must to maintain this schedule. When using this method, the eggs are removed to a hatchery tank or the spawners can be moved from tank to tank as they spawn. Both methods are successful but the water quality in all of the tanks used to transfer the fish or the eggs should be very close to that of the original tank. Tanks with different water quality can shock and, in bad cases, kill the eggs or fry. Another point to remember is that dead sperm in the spawning tank is a very potent pollution source. Change at least 50% of the water in the spawning tank after each spawn. POND SPAWNING: For large goldfish or group spawnings (several spawners), ponds are an ideal spawning environment. As in any spawning method, control of the spawning program should be adhered to. A spawn of mixed breeds will produce only garbage, so develop a well- thought-out breeding program and stick to it. When using a pond for spawning, it must be deep enough or large enough to prevent rapid temperature changes. Also, some means of shading should be on hand to prevent the water from becoming too green with algae. Too much algae in the form of dark green water has been said to inhibit goldfish from spawning, so control algae growth by shading. If the fry are to be raised in the pond, it should be clean and free of hydra and insect pests. Even if the eggs are to be removed to hatch elsewhere, it is a good idea that all pests be removed from the pond as they may hide in the spawning medium and be moved to the hatching location when the eggs are transferred. Needless to say, the pond water should be clean and well aged for both the breeders' and eggs' benefit. Goldfish eggs need well oxygenatedo water to develop properly. A lot of decaying vegetable and fish waste can rob the water of needed oxygen, so be sure to clean the pond before the spawning starts. The pond should have a shallow (10"-12") area for the fish to spawn in. If this is not available, then the spawning medium should be supported so that it is in no more than 6" to 12" of water. Floating spawning mops or floating plants such as Water Hyacinth will serve very well as a spawning medium in deep ponds. If the eggs are to be removed from the spawning pond, remove all plants or other items that could be used as spawning sites. If you don't you may find that clump of Water Hyacinth at the opposite end of the pond is the chosen spawning site and not your well laid-out spawning grass or mops. Although in the U.S. most hobbyists spawn their goldfish and raise their fry in aquariums, ponds offer another venue that should not be overlooked for the raising and keeping of goldfish. If you can, and have the resources, a pond is a good investment. HAND SPAWNING: Hand spawning or the stripping of mature, properly conditioned and ready goldfish, is a very successful method of breeding goldfish. Its success all hinges on the female's being in spawning condition and willing and able to release her eggs. So how does the hobbyist know when the female is ready? The simplest method is to catch her right after she has started to release her eggs in a normal s[pawn. She can then be successfully stripped of her eggs with no difficulty. It is sometimes possible to get a female to release her eggs if she is very ripe but this is seldom the case. Males are another situation altogether. A male can be stripped of his milt at almost anytime during the spawning season. This is one reason this method is so very useful. If a male proves to be uninterested in spawning, the female can be placed with another goldfish male of any goldfish breed and as soon as she starts to release her eggs the desirable male can be stripped and his milt can then be used to fertilize the female's eggs. Another plus for stripping breeders is, if done properly, you can increase the number of fertile eggs in the spawn. Also in areas where the water may be contaminated by disease, parasites, insect pests, hydra, or pollution that could harm the fry, the breeders can be stripped by a carefully controlled method in clean water which will reduce the mortality of the spawn. The equipment needed for hand spawning is very simple : a large bowl with 6" of clean water, a hatching tank that the bowl can fit into and a method to circulate the water, such as an airstone. There is no single correct method to hand spawning and you will find considerable variations from breeder to breeder. If you are using a method that works, or if you have been shown a different method than that which we will describe, by all means use it as you will probably be just as successful. Hand spawning is done simply by netting the ripe female first and testing her by cradling her in the palm of one hand while with the thumb of the other hand gently stroking her abdomen from the dorsal area to the anal region. She should, if she is ready, release her eggs with very little pressure and in fact she may release some eggs while being netted. If the female is ready, replace her in the tank and quickly catch the desired male(s). The male's milt (sperm) is stripped from him in the same method the female was tested. The male should be stripped directly into the bowl of clean water. The female is then re-netted and stripped into the same bowl, taking care to distribute the eggs evenly throughout the bowl. If the female is large you may want to use more than one bowl so as to not crowd too many eggs into one bowl. Try to spread the eggs evenly over the entire bowl. Do not clump the eggs all together or they will die. Next, the water containing the eggs and milt should be gently circulated for 30 minutes. This is where an airstone comes in handy, or you can stir the water with your hand or use a spoon. After the eggs and milt have been together for 30 minutes, pour off the water and gently rinse the eggs that are now stuck to the bowl with water of the same temperature and quality. Gently rinse the eggs two or three times to remove the excess sperm. The reason for all of this careful rinsing to remove the sperm is to prevent the sperm, as they die, from polluting the hatchery tank's water. When rinsing the eggs, do not be afraid that they will be washed out of the bowl. Goldfish eggs are very adhesive and will usually stay in the bowl even with vigorous rinsing. Place the bowl into a hatchery tank making sure it is totally submerged. Next, set up an airstone near the bowl to be sure the eggs are properly oxygenated and that no scum will form on the water's surface. This circulation does not need to be heavy, but it does need to be heavy enough to ensure a fresh flow of water over the eggs. Now to mention a few alternate methods to show you how variable this method is. A spawning mop or spawning grass can be placed in the bowl and the eggs can be stuck to it. Using this method, the spawning medium can be removed and placed in the hatchery tank which make getting freshly oxygenated water to the eggs much easier. Also, a shallower water level can be maintained in the hatchery tank, as there is no need to submerge the bowl. A female can be stripped in several bowls and then each bowl can be fertilized with different males. This method allows for a very controlled breeding program when used with a proven female and can be very beneficial in weeding out poor quality males. It really doesn't matter if the male or the female is stripped first. The advantage to stripping the female last is that an egg will absorb its weight in water very soon after it is ejected from the female, and this helps the sperm come in contact and penetrate the egg easier. Hand spawning should only be attempted by the beginning goldfish breeder after having several successful natural spawns. It is very important that the female be in the proper spawning condition. This can be recognized only through experience with observing the natural spawning cycle, so go slowly and take your time to study the spawning goldfish. TEMPERATURE: Goldfish usually spawn in water temperatures in the high 60 F range to the low 70 F range. Goldfish can and do spawn in temperatures outside of this range, but for proper development of the eggs and fry of the very fancy goldfish breeds, The temperature should stay within the 66 to 74 F range. Now that you know the proper spawning temperatures, a few words about how the temperature can be used in conditioning and motivating reluctant breeders into spawning, and also a few hints and rumours worth passing on. Although conditioning goldfish for breeding is a year 'round process, female goldfish fill out very quickly with eggs if the water temperature is in the 60 to 65 F range. This temperature range is usually cool enough to prevent spawning, but to make sure, remove all spawning medium that might prompt the goldfish to spawn. Goldfish start to spawn very early in the morning and usually are through by noon. Sometimes reluctant to spawn goldfish can be prompted to spawn by allowing the temperature of the spawning tank to cool down overnight a few degrees and then raise the temperature a few degrees first thing in the morning. This is easily done by using an aquarium heater attached to a timer that has been set to come on in the very early morning and off at noon. This method may have to be used for several weeks or it may work the next day. Such is the unpredictability of some of our golden friends. When using a thermometer, it is very important that it be tested to assure it is accurate. If you have several thermometers, place them all in the same aquarium. If you are like most of us and use the standard cheap aquarium thermometers, you will probably notice that none of these thermometers will have the exact same reading. So if you plan to breed goldfish, it is a wise hobbyist who will buy a very accurate thermometer. A good source of accurate thermometers is a store specializing in candy-making equipment. You will find that they have a dial type bi-metal thermometers that have a range from 0 to 400 F. These are nice as they can be tested by placing them in boiling water and matching their reading to the temperature that water boils in your elevation (212 F at sea level). Many of these candy thermometers can be adjusted and this type is worth the few extra dollars it costs to buy them. It has been claimed that when eggs develop at 68 F, fin development is at its best. This claim was made in reference to short, doubletailed breeds such as Lionheads, Ranchus, etc. It has also been claimed that 72 F is the best temperature to incubate the eggs of the long finned breeds such as Orandas, Ryukins, etc. Using these two claims as a basis and knowing the poor accuracy of most cheap thermometers, it is recommended that a temperature of 70 F is safe for incubating goldfish eggs. A great deal of testing needs to be done in the area of egg incubation temperatures and, as of yet, there are no conclusive results. So if you are in the position to do some testing and experimenting, you should try to determine which temperature is best for you and your goldfish breed. Another claim has been made in reference to the vigor of the fry and the temperature at which the eggs were incubated. Once again 68 F was the considered optimum temperature for hatching vigorous fry. In fact, many hobbyists have gone to a lot of effort to make sure that their eggs develop at this temperature. Air conditioned hatchery rooms and hatchery tanks with a heater kept inside another tank filled with ice water are all methods that have been used in warm climates to keep the water temperature at 68 F. Needless to say, a lot of testing has been done and is being done with temperature and goldfish eggs, fry, and adults. More testing in all of these areas needs to be done and the results need to be carefully recorded and passed on to other hobbyists so that they may be duplicated and confirmed. Only in this way will we be able to determine the optimum temperatures in relation to goldfish culture. So, what stopping you?... ...let's get to work. CARING FOR EGGS: Goldfish eggs were heaven-sent for those of us too busy, lazy, or apathetic. The reason for this is simple. Once the eggs have been laid, the hobbyist need only make sure the water stays clean, well oxygenated, and the temperature remains in the safe zone, and that's all there is to it. The eggs of goldfish are very adhesive. Once they become attached to the spawning medium, they usually hang on to it like teenagers to their first love. This adhesion makes it possible to easily rinse the eggs and spawning medium as well as to transport the eggs without fear of losing them. If the hatchery tank's water is clean and free of decaying organic material, it is not necessary to treat the water with fungicides (Methylene Blue). Even though it will take anywhere from 3 to 8 days for the eggs to hatch (depending on the temperature), it is only a very rare or extremely heavy fungus infection that will attack fertile goldfish eggs. For this same reason, it is not necessary to remove the infertile fungus-infected goldfish eggs from a spawn as they do very little harm to the spawn in general. Goldfish eggs need a very well oxygenated water. This is easily accomplished by placing the eggs in a very roomy hatchery tank or pond. Another method is to use an airstone to circulate the water. This has the added benefit of breaking up any surface scum that forms on the water's surface. The airstone should be allowed to run just hard enough to move freshly oxygenated water over and around the eggs. As mentioned in the section on temperature, the eggs should not be exposed to extreme temperature changes. The more constant the temperature, the more predictable the hatching time can be calculated. At 68 F goldfish eggs will hatch in 4 days. You should be able to see the fry's eyes in two days and the infertile eggs will turn milky in less than 24 hours. Fertile eggs will remain clear and you will be able to watch the fry develop until they hatch. Novice goldfish breeders usually panic the first time they spawn goldfish for, on the second day when examining the spawn, it will usually look like the whole spawn is infertile. The cloudy opaque infertile eggs are so easily seen it is simple to overlook the fertile clear eggs. The best advice at this time is to have patience and wait for several days to allow the good eggs to hatch. That hopeless spawn will probably end up giving you more fry than you will what to do with. So be patient and relax. You will need the rest as you will become very busy shortly feeding, caring for and culling baby goldfish. The ideal water depth for hatching eggs and raising fry under 10 days of age is 6" - less than this is subject to rapid temperature changes. Although water depths of more than 6" are all right to use, 10" should be considered the maximum water depth for hatching goldfish eggs and raising fry under 10 days old. Just be sure the water is not too deep or the current too strong to prevent the fry from reaching the surface for their first gulp of air by the third day after they hatch. CARE OF FRY TO 10 DAYS OF AGE: Goldfish eggs hatch approximately 4 days at 68 F. If your eggs do not hatch when they are exactly four days old, do not panic, as this time will vary somewhat from spawn to spawn, as well as goldfish breed to goldfish breed. When the eggs hatch, they are pretty helpless, as they are not much more than 2 eyes attached to the egg yolk with a tail. For the first few days (usually two or three days at 68 F) the fry need no food as they get all of their nourishment from their attached egg yolk. The only thing the hobbyist needs to do is maintain an even temperature in the 68 to 72 F range and to furnish a means of gently circulating the water. When the fry are about three days old you will notice that they will dart to the water's surface. Many hobbyists believe that the fry are trying to gulp a bubble of air in order to fill their air bladders. Adult goldfish will dart to the surface and gulp air and many believe they do this to adjust the pressure in their air bladders. Whatever the reasons for this behaviour, the hobbyist should try to keep any surface scum from forming on the hatchery tank. If this scum is not removed or broken up by aeration, you may be unlucky enough to have a tank full of belly sliders, or fry that may have difficulty in swimming properly. As the fry absorb the egg yolk, they move very little and will hang from the spawning medium, on the tank's side, filter, heater, or will lay motionless on the bottom of the tank. Try to disturb the fry as little as possible at this time, which should be easy as there is very little that the fry needs from the hobbyist at this point. When the fry are between two and three days of age, they will start to swim horizontally and will start to search for food. At this stage of their development, some hobbyists will raise the temperature of the hatchery tank by 2-4 degrees. This helps increase the appetite of the fry and will increase their growth. When the fry become free swimming (swimming horizontally), the hobbyist must furnish enough food of the proper size to insure the fry do not go hungry. Live food is preferred, such as baby Daphnia, baby Brine Shrimp, Microworms, Rotifers, etc. Dry foods or prepared foods are a poor second choice with the exception of a boiled egg yolk that has been liquefied. Egg yolk must be fed with care as it can foul the hatchery tank's water very quickly, so use it in moderation. In all fairness, some goldfish fry in a spawn can be raised to adult goldfish on prepared or dry food and nothing else. Commercial liquid fry foods are a fair first food for fry. Dry food, ground to the fineness of flour and sprinkled on the water's surface or mixed with water, is also a fair first food for goldfish. When feeding goldfish fry, you must take care notice if the fry are eating what you are feeding. A flashlight is a handy tool at this time. By shining the flashlight on the fry, the food will show up very clearly as a thin line running almost the length of the fry's body. Also, another point that needs to be made is never abruptly change the food that the fry are eating to another type of food. Do all food changes slowly to give them a chance to locate and adjust to the new food. Cleanliness is a must when raising goldfish. Successful goldfish breeders try to clean and change part of the water in each fry tank daily. To remove the bottom sediment, a small piece of airline tubing with a rigid plastic tube about 12-16 inches long in one end, will allow the hobbyist to remove the waste without removing to many fry. To do a 10% water change or more, you can use a larger diameter syphon hose with a sponge or filter floss wrapped over the end. This will enable the water to be quickly syphoned without the bother of sucking up a large number of fry. When you syphon a fry tank, it is almost impossible not to syphon up fry in the process. To save time, you should syphon the water into a large white plastic bowl. By positioning the discharge end of the syphon so that the water will circulate around the bowl in a whirpool fashion, all of the waste will be collected in the very centre of the bowl. This makes the fry easier to catch and return to the hatchery tank. A net should not be used to catch fry under 10 days of age. Either use a small cup to catch the fry with some water or use a large kitchen baster to suck the fry up. The kitchen baster is a very useful tool in raising goldfish fry. It can be used to remove small amounts of waste from the fry tank. It is useful in culling young fry, for collecting baby brine shrimp and dozens of other tasks are made quicker and easier. As mentioned earlier in the filtration section, the fry tank at this time needs a constant, gentle, biological filtration system in the form of a well conditioned sponge filter or a quilt-batting wrapped box filter. This biological filtration is important more for its water purification than for waste removal, as ammonia and nitrites are certain death to the goldfish fry under 10 days of age. If you are raising fry from one of the fancier breeds, then when the fry are 10 feeding days old (13-14 days since hatching), you should start culling all the fry who do not have the desired early characteristics of the breed. CARE OF FRY 10 TO 30 DAYS OF AGE: After the first culling at 10 days of age, it is time to separate your goldfish fry into size groups and put each group into their own tanks. For approximate fry-to-tank densities refer to Section on Tank size. Crowding of the fry at this time can lead to the loss of the entire spawn if a disease or a parasitic problem gets a foothold. If possible, daily cleaning and water changes (10%-20%) are still a necessity that will ensure healthy fry. Remember that the fresh replacement water used in water changes should be the same temperature as the fry tank and should be free of compressed gases and chlorine or chloramine. A group of 5 gallon plastic buckets are very handy items to age replacement water as well as for dozens of other chores around your aquariums. Even though your fry have more than doubled in size, their food size requirements will remain pretty much the same. Screened Daphnia, baby Brine Shrimp, Microworms, powdered dry food and if the fry are large enough, a small amount of paste food can be given at this time. Syphon out all the uneaten food every night to prevent polluting the fry's water. If you can, try to feed a variety of food so the fry will become accustomed to eating different ones. This is important to prevent them from going hungry in case something were to happen to your basic food source. A good feeding schedule would be a live food in the morning, a powdered food at noon and another live food in the evening. If you are unable to feed at noon, then a paste food fed in the morning along with the live food will last all day and will give the more adventuresome fry something to eat all day. As soon as some fry learn to eat paste food, it won't be long before the rest of the fry will copy what their big brothers are doing and will eat it also. Goldfish fry should be fed as often as possible and small amount given 10 times a day is not too often, but for most of us, feeding that often is impossible. Goldfish fry can be raised successfully on as little as two feedings per day. Of course with fewer feedings, growth will be slower but over the long run these slow but steady growers can be just as nice as the fast growers. The important point to remember is once you have established your feeding schedule, you should stay as consistent as you can. As your fry approach 30 feeding days of age, the filtration of their tank should be increased by adding another wellconditioned sponge filter or quilt-batting wrapped box filter. Fry at this stage can also be moved to a tank with a well- conditioned undergravel filter. The biggest problem with using undergravel filters is that a lot of food will be lost in the gravel which prevents the fry from grazing on the bottom of the tank. This means you must feed small amounts more often or use a live food, such as screened Daphnia, that will swim in the water until eaten. At 30 feeding days of age, if you have not done so already, cull the fry to remove defective non-standard fish. If culling has not reduced the number of the fry to the proper fry-to-tank destiny, then spread the fry into more tanks to reduce the danger of overcrowding. Culling should be an on-going process. An easy way to cull is to use your syphon hose to remove defective fish. This can be done daily as you syphon off the waste in each fry tank. Daily culling helps reduce the overall time and work needed in culling an entire spawn of goldfish fry, and using the syphon for culling does not increase your daily cleaning time by very much. CARE FOR FRY 30 TO 60 DAYS OF AGE: By the time your goldfish fry reach 30 days of age, they will start to look more like small goldfish rather than two eyes and a small tailfin (or fins) attached by a slender stick. You should be able to tell which scale group they belong to (metallic, nacreous or matt). The fins should be easily seen so they can be judged for size, shape, completeness, and symmetry. You will also notice one other thing about your goldfish spawn. You will have fry as large as one inch long and as small as 0.25 inches long. Goldfish grow at different rates and it is very important that they be divided into size groups. Each group should have its own tank or the larger group will use the smaller group for food. Usually dividing this spawn into two or more groups will prevent any problems with the larger fry picking on the smaller fry. As the fry grow larger, Microworm, baby Brine Shrimp and sifted Daphnia are starting to get pretty small to satisfy the appetites of your goldfish fry. If you haven't already done so, now is a good time to introduce dry foods and/or paste food to the daily diet of the fry. Of course larger Daphnia, small Bloodworm, small Mosquito larvae and other smaller sized live foods are preferred choices to feed at this time, but many, if not most of us goldfish hobbyists, will not have access to these live foods. It is very important that the fry not go hungry, so feed the best food you can as this will ensure the steady growth of your goldfish fry. By the time the fry are 30 days old, they can be kept in water deeper than the six inches in which they spent their first couple of weeks. A water depth of 10 to 12 inches is a safe level to maintain from this time on. Raise the water level slowly over a period of several days to prevent the fry from being shocked due to a rapid change in water quality and depth. With the increased water volume in the tank, the need for daily water changes is lessened somewhat. All the uneaten food should still be removed every night, but a 10-20% water change every two to three days is enough to prevent water quality problems. Of course this is assuming that the fry are eating most of the food that they are being fed and that the tank is not overcrowded and has good filtration system in operation. Usually in an uncrowded fry tank your two sponge or two quilt- batting wrapped box filters will handle the waste produced by fry in a 20 to 35 gallon tank. But being the type of people we goldfish hobbyists are, we will tend to overcrowd our fry tanks by not culling when we should or by trying to keep too many marginal fish. If this is the case, you must increase filtration by adding more filters or by adding an undergravel filter or power filter to your tank. When using a power filter, try to use a power intake model. By placing a coarse sponge over the end of the intake, you will be able to keep the fry from being sucked into the filter and killed. A good portable undergravel filter can be made by using a goldfish bowl undergravel filter plate in a shallow plastic bowl filled with one or two inches of gravel. The gravel should be fine enough to prevent trapping the smaller fry and yet large enough to ensure a rapid water flow. No matter what type of filtration system or systems you use, try to control or reduce the currents created by the filters, as the fry are still too small and weak to fight strong currents. From here on out the easiest way to cull is daily, with the food container in one hand and the culling net in the other hand. A rule to remember in preventing damage to the fry- "only net fish to be culled." When moving the better fry, use a bowl or a cup and transfer the fry with some of the water in their tank. At any stage of growth or age, a goldfish is easily damaged by using a net, especially the fins and scales. If you can, use your wet hands or some other means to move your soon-to-be-high-quality goldfish. CARE OF FRY 60 DAYS AND OLDER: Goldfish fry two months old and older will start to take on some of the breed characteristics of their parents if they are pure breeds. The metallic scaled fry will start to de-colour, which means they will start to turn pale orange from the olive green colour that they were. Some breeds will turn sooner than others and some fry in the spawn may never change or may take years to change to orange. Breeds which change to orange will go through a darkening phase, which in some fry will approach black. This darkening phase is usually short-lived and the orange colour will appear, starting in the abdomen, and will quickly move upward to the dorsal area, replacing all of the dark blue or black pigment. Breeds with colours other than orange (or red and red and white), such as blue, brown, and black will start to gradually change to these colours. When the fry have de-coloured, they will usually be pale orange which over time will darken. To improve the colour of all goldfish, they should be given some natural sunlight for part of the day. Although this is not always possible for the average hobbyists, a goldfish's colour is never at its best without being exposed to some sunlight. Goldfish fry from the nacreous scale group will start to develop their colour in their second month. The colour to show up first are usually black and orange. If the fry are from a strain that has blue, this colour will show up later and may take many months before it starts to show its true colour and pattern. Some highly developed calico breeds will change their colours as they get older and hobbyists who breed these goldfish should make every effort to keep their spawners for at least 2 years to determine the colour quality of their calicos. Goldfish of the matt scale group are basically pink with no reflective tissue (guanine) in their scales, gill covers or eyes. If colour is the goal of the hobbyist, matts offer very little in colour although a very small percentage may show some colour. If breed characteristics other than colour are being bred for (finnage, head growth, etc.), matts can give a very attractive contrast to their more colourful brothers and sisters. Matts can be picked out when the fry are very young by looking for their solid black eyes and pink bodies. The food you feed your young goldfish should be higher in protein than you would normally feed to your older goldfish. Make sure that your short bodied breeds get enough carbohydrates so that they will develop the full bodies that these breeds are known for. If possible, try to feed some live food daily. frozen food such as Brine Shrimp, Bloodworm, Daphnia, etc., are a good second choice if live foods are not available. There are some good dry foods on the market which make a fair third choice to feed your spawn of goldfish. Make sure the food is small enough for the fry to eat and be careful not to overfeed as water pollution is a constant battle the hobbyist must deal with. Homemade paste foods with cooked grains or gelatin as the binding base are a good food for older goldfish fry. A clump can be added in the morning and the fry can nibble at it all day long, which gives them a constant dependable supply of food. Remember to remove every night any food excess that has not been eaten. The fry at two months are usually large enough to live in a tank with any type of filtration that is acceptable for adult goldfish. Remember, goldfish are not happy in heavy currents, so when using high current producing filters, every effort should be made to deflect and reduce these currents. As mentioned in earlier sections, culling should be done often to allow the better high quality fry more food and room to grow to their potential. A special culling net, kept within reach of the fry tank, will ensure that culling is done promptly when a defective fish is first noticed. If you end up having to search for your net, then the chances are the job will be postponed until it reaches a point where it will have to be done in a crisis situation to prevent gross overcrowding of the fry's tank. CULLING: Of all the necessary jobs we take on when raising a spawn of goldfish, culling is probably the easiest to postpone, and yet it is one of the most important chores that has to be done often in order to raise quality goldfish fry. In the preceding section, we mentioned when to cull and some easy methods to cull. In this section we will deal with the subjects of what to look for when culling your goldfish fry and some step-by-step methods in culling. Also in this section we will deal mostly with the doubletailed breeds as they entail much more culling than the singletailed breeds. When culling goldfish fry at 10 days of age, it is best to move the fry to a shallow white bowl for easier examination. Remember not to use a net. Transfer the fry with a cup or a square plastic container and some of the aquarium water that they are in. Ten day old fry are not much more than two eyes, a spinal column and a tail fin, So these are the items we cull for. Goldfish have two eyes - make sure you cull for this feature. The spinal column should be straight and should have no bends in it. These first two items should be responsible for the removal of only a few fry. The culling of singletailed fry from the doubletailed breeds will probably remove more fry at 10 days of age than any other single defect. By looking down on them, it is very easy to tell the singletailed fry from the doubletailed. When culling goldfish fry, you cannot go wrong if you keep this little thought in mind: "when in doubt, cull." If you have to scratch your head and think about culling a very young fry, chances are the fry is mediocre at best and is not worth the space or time to raise it. You must examine fry at every culling for the double tail, as at times one of the tails will stop developing or will become deformed in some way. Other items to look for in the first few major cullings are runts, poor swimmers and belly sliders. These are faults that will not correct themselves as the fry get older so cull them early to save space and food. When the fry are over 30 days of age, a special culling tank or a goldfish bowl comes in handy. At this age, the fry should be culled by viewing from above and from the side. When viewing from above, look for runts, single tails, and bent backs. Viewing from the side will allow you to cull for humped backs, poor swimmers, belly sliders, missing fins, or fins where they are not supposed to be. When examining the finnage of a goldfish fry, pay special attention to symmetry, position and above all, make sure it's all there. The tail of a double tailed goldfish has four lobes with two lobes on each side. The two tail fins should be separated from each other right down the caudal peduncle (base of the tail). It is a rare fish who has this complete separation but it is a standard to reach for. A doubletailed goldfish whose tail is completely joined at the top is called a web tail. Another common form of misshapen tail is a tripod tail. A tripod tailed goldfish has one lobe on top with two lobes dividing off from the middle of the single lobe (looks like an upside down "Y"). When viewing the double tail fins from the rear, the angle of the tail should form an inverted (upside-down) "V" in most breeds. There are breeds (Tosas, Jikins,etc.) that have a specific type of tail that the breed is known for, so study their standards carefully. Also goldfish from different parts of the world will have different angles to the inverted "V" shape (Butterfly Tail, Chinese Lionheads), so it is helpful to understand the breed standards of your goldfish fry. As your fry get older, you will notice that some of the tail fins will develop bends and grow at unnatural angles. Some of this has been caused by careless handling by the hobbyist but mostly it is due to genetic defects and these fry should be culled unless they have other exceptional breed characteristics which must be used in future breeding programs. Every effort should be made to breed only those fish who have finnage as close to the breed standard as possible. In a doubletailed breed the anal fins should be paired. They should be of the same size and shape and carried between the tail fins. If you find you have an exceptional fish except it only has one anal fin, this fish can be used for breeding, but only if its mate has both anal fins. Never breed to each other two goldfish with the same defect as this only ingrains the defect into the breed line. For those breeds which have dorsal fins, make sure it is all there and in the right place. As strange as that last sentence sounds, it is very common to find fry with incomplete dorsal and with dorsals too far back or too far forward of where they are supposed to be. All dorsaled breeds should have dorsal fins that are held high and erect with no major bends in the dorsal. Goldfish with short dorsals or dorsals that curl to one side should not be used in your breeding program. In culling the dorsalless breeds you will more than likely lose more fish to defects in the dorsal area than to any other single defect. Defects from minor bumps, to dorsal ray spikes, to complete dorsals can be expected. In well-finned, linebred, dorsalless goldfish you can expect to lose 30% or more of the fry due to dorsal area defects. In most cases, you can expect more than this as most breeds are not very well fixed due to outcrossing. If a fry exhibits bumps, spikes or poor curvature along the dorsal area, usually it only gets worse as it gets older. Therefore, cull these fry early. To cull for basic body shape, the fry should be at least three months old. As just about every breed of goldfish has its own distinctive body curvature and shape, you should study the breed standard as well as communicate with other knowledgeable hobbyists to determine the correct body shape for your goldfish. In general, the body should curve from head to tail in a smooth unbroken line. No bumps or major angle changes (possible exception is the Japanese Ranchu) should be noticeable. The body should be formed in such a way that the fins are held erect which will allow the goldfish to swim smoothly. An example of a poorly formed fish is an Oranda with long tail fins and a very short tail portion of the body (rear edge of the dorsal to the base of the tail fin). This type of body does not allow the goldfish the strength to handle the long tail and will force him to wobble and swim in a jerky motion. When culling a spawn of goldfish, always try to select for vigor, strength, and good growth rates. Select fish which are not fussy eaters and which grow well on the food you have available to feed them. Choose goldfish which do well in your water and which do not suffer near death if you are a few days late in cleaning their tank. Look for the aggressive eater and avoid the shy and meek. Keep these items in mind when selecting for colour, finnage and body shape and you will develop a line of goldfish that will be as carefree as goldfish can be. Remember: "When in doubt, cull, and cull, and cull." It is impossible for the average hobbyist to raise all of the fry from just one spawn of goldfish. By reducing the number of fry very early, you will save time, food, money, tank space, and will end up with higher quality goldfish. FRY FOOD: Infusoria: These very small plants and animals (many are single-celled) are not much used by the goldfish hobbyists who raise their fry in aquariums. Hobbyists who have ponds find that infusoria will grow naturally and at least at first will help to supplement the diet of their goldfish fry. The reason this food is not used more often by hobbyists is that goldfish fry are almost too large to feed on it and there are larger foods that are easier and more dependable for the purpose. To culture infusoria is simple. Place several grains of wheat, corn, peas or crushed lettuce leaves in a quart of aquarium water. Allow this to age for several days until the water becomes cloudy, expose the culture to bright sunlight for several days to encourage a growth of algae and single celled animals to grow. To ensure a constant supply, several one gallon or larger containers must be started at one day intervals. A microscope or a powerful magnifying glass is a handy tool for determining the density of the infusoria culture. It takes a great deal of infusoria to feed a spawn of goldfish so be ready to introduce other fry foods as early as possible. Crustacea:These are without a doubt one of the best foods to feed goldfish fry if you have a clean, pest-free, dependable source. If the hobbyist is lucky enough to have such a source, then enough can be fed at one time to last several hours which will reduce the need to feed many times during the day. Don't feed too many as they will compete with the fry for oxygen. Small crustaceans can be gathered from small ponds to large lakes and, as long as these are free from harmful pollution and insecticides, they make a great food. To gather them, you will need a very fine net such as large brine shrimp nets sold at most larger pet shops. Transport your catch back home in a container full of water with adequate surface area to prevent their suffocation and death. Moena and Cyclops can be fed to the smallest of goldfish fry with little or no sorting for size. Daphnia need to be screened into different sizes as only baby Daphnia can be fed to very young goldfish fry. To screen Daphnia, catch a net full of Daphnia in a fine but porous net. Place the net over a bowl and then pour water into the net of Daphnia. This should wash the smaller Daphnia through the net and into the bowl. Remember to feed only enough to last several hours or you may deplete the oxygen in the aquarium's water to the point that it will kill the fry. HIBERNATION: We have mentioned earlier that goldfish come from a temperate climate and have adapted to a wide range of temperatures due to climatic changes. It is natural for a goldfish to go through a period of semi- hibernation during the winter, and in fact many hobbyists believe it is a must for successful goldfish culture. The rigors of the cold hibernation period weed out the weak and unfit, thereby leaving the goldfish hobbyist with stronger, healthier, and more vigorous breeders. The hobbyist who is breeding a specific line of goldfish will, at times, run into a goldfish who cannot stand the reduced temperatures for a proper hibernation (32 to 45 F). But, as usually happens, the hobbyists will find themselves in the position of having to use this fish as a spawner in order to maintain their line. There is nothing wrong in using this fish for breeding as long as the young from it can go through hibernation. You may want to keep several extra young from this spawn in case some of them have problems during hibernation. The goldfish hobbyist should try to place his goldfish into hibernation each year. If that is impossible due to climate or a place cold enough in the home or apartment, then a period of reduced food and light during the winter will help your goldfish lose some of that excess fat they have been storing for use during hibernation. As young goldfish approach the hibernation season, their diet should include increased amount of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are easily digested and stored in the goldfish's body which allows them to have ample stored energy to draw from during hibernation. They need very little extra food during hibernation. In fact all food should be withheld once the water temperature drops below 40 F. When the water is in the 40 to 50 F range feeding schedule of one to four times a week is more than adequate to maintain the health of goldfish. When the goldfish are in hibernation, they should be disturbed as little as possible. The hobbyist should examine his goldfish daily, if possible, for signs of disease or swimming difficulty. Swimming difficulty in the form of swim bladder malfunction or poor equilibrium are the biggest problems goldfish have during hibernation. The goldfish having this problem should be removed from the hibernation tank or pond and slowly returned to a warmer temperature where it will usually recover. Hibernation is a very important part of the goldfish lifecycle. If possible try to give your goldfish a minimum of six to eight weeks of hibernation (below 45 F water temperature). You will be surprised at the increased vigor and appetite they will have after a brief period of hibernation. And the fact that your goldfish has used up most of the stored fat in its system will prevent them from becoming overweight, which is just as harmful to goldfish as it is to people. So, if possible, reduce your goldfish's water temperature, food and light. This will give you a healthier and more active goldfish which will be around longer to decorate your aquarium and home. So there we have it for this issue of STEN, in the next issue I hope to bring you all the latest news from my club and I will give you the club's address then, if you want to contact me, then write to me, Michael McLaughlin at 152 Hapland Road Pollok Glasgow G53 5PR. If you require a reply, then please enclose a S.A.E. Cheerio for now! ~~~~~ eof ~~~~~