GOLDFISH SPAWNING QUESTION -- WATER DEPTH?

[Mmathis]

Do goldfish [well, I guess it could be any fish] have a preference over the depth of the water when they spawn?

Just did a pond check about 30 minutes ago and pretty sure I witnessed my first "spawning." The group was actually in the shallow, turtle bog [turtle habitat] enclosure area where the water might be 3" deep max right now [there is a flow-through between the pond and the turtle habitat which gives the fish access]. There are smooth rocks in there [for turtle and fish safety] and lots of floating plants [so the froggies & toads will have a place to hide as well as lay eggs].

I recall reading several articles about fry, and they talked about keeping them in shallow water [or in a "cage" that's positioned near the top of the water] to start out due to the possible negative effects of increased water pressure on their little bodies.

So, what I'm wondering is if the goldies instinctively know to spawn in a shallow spot? Or just coincidence?

 

[DrCase]

Some of my koi are climbing on the shallow rocks right now, they like the shallow water if they got it
Ponds a mess

 

[capewind]

OMG our pond is so gross right now ... 3 days in a row of comets and shubunkins spawning .. those with access to shallows were there (1-2" of water) ... and this is the 3rd morning in a row for the koi now ... yesterday was the unmistakable fishy odor with foam when I went outside to look ... the koi have shredded some of the parrots feather that was planted (floating all over, nolonger PLANTED) ... and hubby has been digging in the gravel to plant, which has sent muck into the pond ... Wondering if some of the foam could be caused by DOCs??? Had read on the board about nonwhite color tho ... ours is white, and gone each morning by 9:30-10 am ... it is soooo gross, I want to drain the pond and refill with clear water, but know better, and will just let the filters do their jobs ... but did I mention it is GROSS???????? LOL.

 

[HTH]

Our goldfish were spawning the entire time we were cleaning. Once we got going the moved to the other end of the pond. Found one that had gotten stranded or tangled in some plants and died. It happens.

I am wondering that there might be eggs on the plants we moved. With no fish in the holding pond whatever hatches might make it feeding off the stuff growing on the lillies etc and the pond was filled with water from the other pond. But I think the depth may work against all but the ones near the surface.

 

[Pambates]

Hi everyone... I'm pretty sure my goldfish are spawning, there were several of them chasing one frantically for a long time, I thought they were gonna kill the poor thing. I do have a question, can you tell me about how long it usually takes until I should see some of the fry? Thanks

 

[RobAmy]

Mine love the shallow areas too. 1" to 3" deep

 

[jmajid]

we had some spawn in the shallow which is less than 18" of water...
and now we have seen fry which are bigger than 0.5" in less than a couple weeks i think...
but having said that, we saw some goldfish spawning and that day we gave the female some rest, took out the hornwort and put it in a separate tub with aeration and the very next day we could spot some microscopic fry two days later they are getting bigger... i think we may have gotten most of the eggs eaten by the rest of the pond population but we have probably >30 fry that seem to be doing well in the tub.
have been doing the brine shrimp from eggs thing as i am paranoid they will have nothing to eat
first batch was fed yesterday evening... of course i am adding new "green" water as i have plenty of that in the pond!

 

[Nepen]

My pond doesnt have the 'shallow' part so she just laid eggs where ever.

I saw the eggs this morning, with the little 2 black dots and the long black tiny body in the eggs... SO EXCITED!!

I only have 1 female and it's her first year. I didnt get much eggs at all, probably 200, but then I saw them chasing her again this morning (warm out) is it possible for her to lay more eggs? She looks fat still. She already spawned last week.