fish are chasing chasing chasing

[addy1]

I can now figure out which are gals which are guys. They are chasing like crazy

The triple tail is a gal.
The long fin shubunkin, golds blacks is a gal

This goldie loves to groom the camera lens

 

[pondlover]

It is so cool be able to watch your fish. Are the goldies prego?? They look awfully plump. :razz:

 

[koiguy1969]

they prolly wont actually release eggs for fertilization untill the water is at or above 63*f . that is generally the low end of the spawning temperature scale. this doesnt stop the behavior from going on. i guess practice makes perfect. what is the water temp addy?

 

[addy1]

The pond was 54, now 47, cooling off again and raining. Now they are calling for some possible snow on sunday. So they will hang on to those eggs and get chased for a while until a warm 63. Didn't know that. Figured something must trigger the dropping of the eggs.

It has got to be eggs, I have not given them any food since sometime in november, maybe even october. Can't remember, whenever the water temp dropped.

 

[CountryEscape]

Will they hold the eggs, or release them, not get fertilized because of lower temps, and produce more as the water warms up? Those fish look too plump to hold onto the eggs for much longer. LOL You have a solid white female for sure, too, but her orange/red suitor is not as aggressive as some of the others, just keeps following her. And, I didn't know you had a fantail! She is definitely a female! Harder for her to swim, too.
So, experts, what do you get when you breed a fantail with a regular goldfish? Will some of the babies produce the fantails, or will they be straight, or some of each, or weird? I guess silly me thought that fantails would only breed with fantails. I hoped that was the case anyhow. Guess that's the same as hoping a beagle will only breed with another beagle.

 

[koiguy1969]

the males bump and nudge the females to stimulate egg release. thats what the chasing is for. once it starts, its likely, it will happen well into summer, periodically.

 

[j.w]

The chase is really on and man they were really after that one fantail in the last video. She seems to be able to do ok tho keeping in front of them all. Saw that white one w/ the black spots one time and then it was gone. It doesn't seem to be as camera friendly as a lot of them.

 

[fishin4cars]

CE, it's funny you say that. I have had many people think the same thing. Great way of putting it. It's all in the genetics, But if the fantail is a fantail to fantail offspring then in most cases about 25% will be fantail if it breeds to a regular fin comet. If that paticular fish is the result of a regular fin and fantail cross then less than 10% will have fantails if it breeds back to another comet. It would be if your comparing beagles to breeding simialr size or different size class beagles. your still breeding goldfish to goldfish so they are 100% true goldfish but the getnetics tells which ones will have what.

 

[fishin4cars]

Addy, that's all pre-spawn courting right now. Building up that strength for the warm water and feeding frenzy that will start as soon as the water gets in the mid 60'S. Then you see a lot more rubbing and bumping going on. Looks like you'll be having another batch of babies this year. It will be fun and interesting to watch on video stream for sure. I always thougt that a TV show on discovery channel, or animal planted that showed different species of fish spawning in captivity would be a really cool idea. I'm sure it would get at least as many viewers as many other channels that are scheduled each day.
We have been walking down to the natural pond everyday for the last week checking on a pair of spawning bass. It's been cool to watch. One is about a 4 pounder and we are almost certain it's the male, the other is about 5-5.5# and I think it's a female.All the other nests we have found so far only have the males on them so we are still guessing if this is two males waiting for the females of if it is a true pair. No eggs yet and the water is just getting warm enough here for them to start.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Sheesh already? Guess you're getting the early Spring this year. FWIW, my big comet has been fat with eggs for the past month, and the water still isn't warm enough yet for them to even swim around much. This is pretty typical though, she does this every year. In fact, I need to check my female koi because she was showing this time last year as well.

I've been hoping to find a doube-tail comet to add to my gene-pool. I don't want to get into the real fancy body styles like the black moors, because I'm not certain they would survive the Winter here. I would assume traits like the fantails are similar to people with blue eyes - the only chance of it appearing is if both parents have the gene and the offspring gets only the fancy gene. If the offspring gets the common gene from either parent, they won't have the fancy tail, but they could still be carrying the recessive gene and could pass it on the *their* offspring. Even if you have brown eyes, you may still be carrying the blue-eyed gene, and your children could have the blue eyes.

 

[addy1]

That fan tail, I picked up at petsmart out of their shubunkin tank. The white one with the one red spot was the primary pond populator last summer. Those two were two of the four that survived from the very first summer of my pond. They were the ones that surprised me in the spring, after 8 inches of ice over the pond all winter. I didn't know we had any fish at all and those four showed up. There is a solid gold and a shubie. I see the shubie off and on, but harder to pick out of the herd.

You can see them here, this one of our first views of them. The water was murky, we ran the filter I built to grab the fines and have not had murky since.

The long fin shubie looking fish is a gal also, hoping to get some more long fins, it is being chased a little too. We have been watching the tri tail, it does not swim as fast as the others, but seems to be able to hold its own.

We still have plenty of water room for more fish. So whatever is fittest will survive, we do have a bunch of 1-2 inch fish in there swimming around.

I will be moving the camera as it warms to the main swim by point, right now I have it where they do their winter hang out.

Shdwdrgn, we have had the 3rd warmest winter in history here, daffodils are almost in full bloom, which usually does not occur until the end of march. Trees getting ready to pop out, the cherry trees are going to bloom early (the washington ones)

 

[CountryEscape]

I have a really pretty fantail that came through my winter just fine, I call him/her Spot. I suspect it is male, as I've never seen another fish chase it, but will watch closer this year, since I can see the fish at the bottom this spring, whereas I was not able to see them to the bottom until about the end of July last summer. I just knew which ones were spawning when they came up to lay eggs on the lily leaves. I could see clearly who was male, who was female. I've spotted 2 that are female and 2 that are male. The most exciting male is my long fin white one with large red spot on his head. His tails are really long, like half his body and tail length. He will definitely be staying when I sell some off this summer. Some people commented on the regular goldfish with long tails that were rounded, maybe heart shaped. I see that a Shubunkin with "heart shaped" tail is called a Briston Shubunkin.
In trying to identify my 2 different fantails that I have currently in my aquarium, waiting for warmer pond water, I looked at my cheat sheet.
The two fantails I have are very different. One is exactly like the one in my pond, VERY large belly, and tri tail. The tail is not extra long, but longer than short, if that makes sense.
The ones with the large belly and "camel hump" are called Ryukin. My fish that is NOT pot bellied, is white, with red spot on head, and a red spot on each section of fantail plus the dorsal fin. Viewed from above, looks like it has 3 red hearts on it's tail. Very cute! This one I think would be simply a Fantail Goldfish, according to the pictures I've seen of them. I suspect it's belly will get larger as it grows, but so far it is not anything like the big bellied Ryukins I have. I'm anxious to get them outside to see if any of them decide to join the breeding frenzy this spring. :razz:

 

[j.w]

I wish my shubbies that I have left would grow faster so I could get babies from them. They are only 2-3 inches from head to end of tails. Might have to pick up a few more and some of those fantail ones as they look pretty cool too! I really like my white ones also as they show up pretty good in the pond but then they also show up better to predators too. Oh and I like the oj/white ones and the big oj ones and some w/ the blk/oj still on them...............oh geez.................I guess I love them all :luxlove:

 

[Shdwdrgn]

@CountryEscape - my alpha male comet is the same way... he has the longest flowing fins in the pond. I wonder if its a coincidence, or if the alphas grow longer tails to show they are king of the water?

@j.w - We got 7 or 8 shubunkins last year for the new pond, and they're getting some size to them, but I figure it'll be another year before they can really participate in the spawning. And if all the new koi start spawning next year as well, it's gonna be a madhouse! However I do have one adult shubunkin who will be either 3 or 4 years old this Summer... he was involved in the spawning last year, and should really be ready to get into the fray this comming season.

 

[j.w]

How big are your shubbies Shdwdrgn that you got last year? Is there a size they have to be or an age?