Fish seem to be bullying or fighting

[Moni_Pond]

Today several shubunkin are chasing around the largest goldfish in my pond. They will not leave him/her alone and it appears they are fighting. She looks exhausted. I don't know if I should do something.

 

[Moni_Pond]

Here is a link to some video.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ponds/comments/u3mghn

 

[TheFishGuy]

This is most likely spawning behavior, unless you want to seperate male and female goldfish then I would just leave it alone.

 

[Moni_Pond]

This is most likely spawning behavior, unless you want to seperate male and female goldfish then I would just leave it alone.

oh my goodness thank you. I am so stressed seeing this behavior today worrying for her. I can tell she is super exhausted.

 

[TheFishGuy]

oh my goodness thank you. I am so stressed seeing this behavior today worrying for her. I can tell she is super exhausted.

Aggressive spawning behavior can kill fish ( it is rather rare, but not unheard of ) so just keep an eye on everyone, and make sure there are no serious injuries.

 

[rubyduby]

My shubunkins are relentless when it comes to chasing the females. At first I was very troubled by this thinking that the females would be stressed to death. Now I see that about 20 fry later it is just par for the course. It is natural for them and the stress might actually cause the females to spawn which everyone is hoping will happen so that they can get an extra meal. I went from 7 shubunkins to now about 27 in five months...You will have to get used to this because it is their nature...

 

[Lisak1]

Fish sex. It's no joke. But usually ends well.

 

[Moni_Pond]

My shubunkins are relentless when it comes to chasing the females. At first I was very troubled by this thinking that the females would be stressed to death. Now I see that about 20 fry later it is just par for the course. It is natural for them and the stress might actually cause the females to spawn which everyone is hoping will happen so that they can get an extra meal. I went from 7 shubunkins to now about 27 in five months...You will have to get used to this because it is their nature...

Thank you. I appreciate you taking time to share your experiences and help me understand their nature. It was quite an eventful day in the pond! Plus a ton of toad eggs (see attached photo). Just a spawning pond right now.