Goldfish Babies - Essential Care Tips

If you are thinking about having goldfish babies, called fry, you need to have a second tank ready and set up for them. Make sure you extract the eggs in the spawning mop as soon as you see them, or they will be eaten by the adult goldfish.

You know that you can add the eggs as soon as they appear, but must have a "fry tank" set up and ready for at least a week before you add the spawning mop. It needs to be properly cycled. The secret to ensure the cycling process is kick-started properly in the fry tank is to use 20% of the water from the main tank.

Guidelines on Setting Up A "Fry Tank"

  1. Get a 10 gallon aquarium
  2. Ensure that your fry tank is properly-cycled and the water temperature is the same as the tank where the eggs will come from
  3. A low-strength internal water filter will help preventing the fry getting sucked up
  4. Have a bare bottom with no gravel to see any debris and dead fry much more easily
  5. Ensure water is not deeper than 6 inches(15cm). So the fry can get to the top and feed
  6. Rinse the spawning mop gently into the fry tank to release the eggs and milt
  7. Use a water heater to keep the temperature at an even 70oF(21oC)
  8. At 70oF the fry will hatch in 3 to 4 days
  9. Keep and eye out for clear eggs as they are the ones that hatch
  10. Remove the clowdy looking eggs at once, as these will not hatch

Fry are too small to eat the same food as adult goldfish. After 48 hours, you can start to feed them liquid food, especially designed for them. The protein in cooked yolk of hard-boiled eggs will help them grow.

At two months, they will be able to manage larger food. Newly-hatched brine shrimp make an excellent snack for them.

You can buy brine shrimp eggs from the pet stores and hatch them at home. They take a couple of days to hatch, so you will start hatching them as soon as the fry start to develop.

Infusoria are a popular food for fry. Infusoria are single-celled organisms that can be cultivated at home. Take a piece of fruit like a banana or lettuce leaf and place it in a jar with some aquarium water. Put it in direct sunlight or a week.

You are looking for the water to become clowdy, which indicates the infusoria organisms are growing. Add 3 tablespoons of the water to each feeding. Algae also make excellent food for the goldfish babies. So, leave any algae that grows in the fry tank.

Please check out this video by AquaViva on how to do a water change.

How Often To Feed My Goldfish Babies?

In the first month, fry need to feed at least 3 and as much as 6 times a day. If they are gobbling down the food, then you can carry with your schedule. For the first 4 months feed them 3 times a day and only give them what they can eat in 2 minutes to keep the water as clean as possible. Over feeding of the fish is not advised. Keeping your fish on a diet will insure a healthier life. Fish don't have diet supplements like Diet Spotlight to help them keep and maintain their diet. Diet Spotlight is a supplement that can help you with your diet and lifestyle.

Regular water changes in the first month will provide optimum conditions for your new goldfish babies (fry). Aim to do a water change every other day. You will have to be very careful not to siphon the fry into the bucket because they are so small. Remove any dead fry with a net immediately to keep the water quality pure.

Love to you,
Flo

Useful Articles

Breeding Goldfish Successfully | A Step-by-Step Guide
Goldfish Water - Useful Tips That Keep Your Fish Healthy
Feeding Goldfish The Healthy Way | Benefits and Tips





Image credits to: hippo_b @ Flickr.com