More Mating and Fish Facts

Yesterday the female and male nearest the top of this picture were
mating.  Today it's the same male and the white/orange female
centered in this picture. Tomorrow?  We'll see.

I say he's simply promiscuous.  But if he were a human he would be labeled a womanizer, playboy, stud, player, ladies' man, lady killer, and/or rake. Some would call the male fish that was contributing milt to yesterdays mating all those names or more as today he is, again, contributing to the mating of another female ripe with eggs.  Some say Gigolo, I say, WOW, what stamina!

Here are some fish facts I found on the internet:

I read that one of the things spurring goldfish to mate is the warming after the winter cold.  They are very quiet when the water temperature is down into the 30's.  When the water warms into the 60's if they are going to mate it will probably be then.  Some breeders will artificially mimic a short winter to spur the fish to mate. If there are no male fish the female may still lay eggs.

Goldfish need to be about 2 years old to mate and some won't mate until about 4 years old.

The fertile eggs are translucent.  Eggs that are opaque are not fertile and will soon spoil.  The eggs are heavier than water so will sink to the bottom.  In the case of my pond, most will filter down into the rocks.

The amount of time for the eggs to mature and hatch is dependent on the water temperature.  One estimate I read was about 7 days to hatch if the water temperature was around 65 degrees.  A temperature difference of just a few degrees has a big impact on the speed of maturity.

The eggs are less than 1/8th inch in diameter.  When they hatch the fry are described as a translucent body with 2 eyes.  I have seen references stating; "they grow fast."  So far I have no idea if that means they will be 3 inches long by June or 1 inch long in October.  Guess I'll find out.

The fry will stay hidden in the rocks and out of the way of the bigger fish or they may become breakfast (so much for motherly love).  They will eat algae and microscopic (to humans anyway) creatures.  I have no plans on feeding any of the fish.

A mature female goldfish can lay thousands of eggs.  If only half were to get fertilized I foresee a whole lot of little gold/white creatures in the pond.  I imagine the mature fish, birds, frogs and toads will keep the population manageable... I sure don't want to have to do anything like "cull the school" ... ugh!  Hopefully it will be a self balancing population.

Whoohoo!