breeding fish!

[agh100]

Hi, its my first time on a forum so I hope you can understand me.
I have had my pond set up for 3 years now, it is around 12' long and 4' wide going to abot 5' at its deepest end. It has a waterfall running the full length of the pond, stocked with plants and lots of iding places.
I originally stocked the pond with 12 fish, goldfish,comets,shubunkins. This year it appears as though they are breeding as each week the majority of the fish have chased one poor fish relentlessly. From the 12 I had it appears as though only 3 were females as I have only seen the others chase these 3 around. Over the past 3 weeks 2 of my suspected females have died. Yesterday I found the 3rd beached on an old plant pot I have in the pond. At first I thought she was dead and was going to take her out of the pond when I saw her move her fin, so I drpped her back into the main water and she swam away. Half an hour later she was back in the same place, did the same again and low and behold later in the day dhe was back there. I came to the conclusion she was probably hiding from the males so I left her there. Lter I found her in another part of the pond secreted away in the corner with alot of the other fish trying to get to her. I decided this fish was exhausted so I put a small tank in my pond where the waterfall will refresh the water and put her in it. Don't know if I have done right and don't know what to do next. I don't want to lose another fish, though I know it happens, these 2 are the only ones I have lost so far. Should I try to purchase some more females?
I check my water regularly and do water changes and have never had a problem with the tests, has anyone any advice they can give, Thanks agh100

 

[addy1]

It is hard to know if you are buying females unless you know how to sex a fish. The fish will chase constantly and wear out a female. Giving it a place to rest for a while is probably the best thing you can do.

 

[don't ask]

welcome
agh100

as mentioned from addy, yes they will be chased and roughed up when spawning. i too think you're doing the right thing in trying to seclude her from the others until she re-cooperates... although losing any fish to this or disease or anything else is disheartening, remember that with all the breeding you will surely get more fish to watch and grow and enjoy

 

[Fishylove]

Welcome Agh! Unfortunately the males will hound the poor females to the point of exhaustion. I have a female shubunkin that Was in the big pond with the others, but during spawning the males broke one of her pecktoral fins and she has a hard time of it now, so I put her in the small pond with my slower moving fancy tails and they are doing fine.. Giving her a brake was a good idea.
Your pond sounds wonderful, hope you can post pictures

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the group! :wave:

 

[CometKeith]

Welcome agh100! At first I thought I was reading about my pond! I have 12 mature goldfish and it is about 4.5-5 ft at the deepest and about 600 gallons. Last year I had very few breeding females and they were chased to death...almost at least. I had to replace a few fish in the last year and tried to get females to balance it out. Either I am an expert at picking females or it was just dumb luck but I have managed to have 50% females now. I read somewhere that for males and females of the same age you will see longer tails on the males. I have no idea if this is true. I bought some fish from a garden center that has a lot of the same fish and specifically didn't pick the ones with the longest tails and got lucky picking only females. It is way more balanced out with the girls having turns at being chased or splitting the boys up if several are chased at once. Incidentally I have over 20 babies now!

 

[agh100]

Thanks to everyone, at least I know I have done the right thing. The poor fish is a bit beaten up, her fins are quite ragged, I thought I would give her a few days in the small tank then turn her out, she is already much livelier than when I put her in. I think I need more females but did not want to overstock the pond, I am no good at sexing fish eveyone looks the same to me, I will have to see if I can find a good supplier and hope he/she gets it right. Thanks again