Goldfish

[Masonn36]

Hi I have a few goldfish and have realised I have 2 males & 1 female. They won’t leave her alone! It looks really aggressive! They even keep pushing her up to the surface and down into the gravel! Is this normal mating behaviour? I’ll attach a video!

Also why isn’t my tank staying clean? I only cleaned it and done a 50% water change 2 days ago

 

[CassCats]

Hi, regarding the tank issue first... you don't state the size. The tank looks smaller than you will inevitably need for 3 single tail goldfish. You are looking at 200 gal for 3 single tails. They're active, fast swimmers. They grow large, if not stunted, yours are showing signs of being stunted (squared off squashed bodies for example). And they produce a lot of waste and ammonia. In a small tank, this will fester in the water very quickly. Better filtration and a larger setup will fix your water quality problem here.


Behavior wise, only ways to correct this is to correct your gender ratio. 1 male to 2 females is better. Another thing is goldfish spawn in warmer spring temperatures. I notice you have a heater. Single tail goldfish do not require a heater at all and should be kept cooler.

 

[emeraldking]

Well, if those fish are so busy in the tank, I wouldn't be surprised that the water doesn't look that clean.
I just wonder why you think you have just one female and two males. If I look at the vid, those two that are pushing the other one have widened abdomens which is usually standard for a female.

 

[Masonn36]

Well, if those fish are so busy in the tank, I wouldn't be surprised that the water doesn't look that clean.
I just wonder why you think you have just one female and two males. If I look at the vid, those two that are pushing the other one have widened abdomens which is usually standard for a female.

The 2 that are pushing the small one have the white stars on their face hence why we think they are males

 

[Masonn36]

Hi, regarding the tank issue first... you don't state the size. The tank looks smaller than you will inevitably need for 3 single tail goldfish. You are looking at 200 gal for 3 single tails. They're active, fast swimmers. They grow large, if not stunted, yours are showing signs of being stunted (squared off squashed bodies for example). And they produce a lot of waste and ammonia. In a small tank, this will fester in the water very quickly. Better filtration and a larger setup will fix your water quality problem here.


Behavior wise, only ways to correct this is to correct your gender ratio. 1 male to 2 females is better. Another thing is goldfish spawn in warmer spring temperatures. I notice you have a heater. Single tail goldfish do not require a heater at all and should be kept cooler.

Hi, regarding the tank issue first... you don't state the size. The tank looks smaller than you will inevitably need for 3 single tail goldfish. You are looking at 200 gal for 3 single tails. They're active, fast swimmers. They grow large, if not stunted, yours are showing signs of being stunted (squared off squashed bodies for example). And they produce a lot of waste and ammonia. In a small tank, this will fester in the water very quickly. Better filtration and a larger setup will fix your water quality problem here.


Behavior wise, only ways to correct this is to correct your gender ratio. 1 male to 2 females is better. Another thing is goldfish spawn in warmer spring temperatures. I notice you have a heater. Single tail goldfish do not require a heater at all and should be kept cooler.

The filter doesn’t actually work so that’s not heating the water. We rescued the fish from someone on Facebook in which they were in a 24litre tank they are currently in a 100litre tank. The 2 common ones have tripled in size in about 4 weeks so they definitely have been stunted. I wasn’t asking about the tank as we are looking into buying a bigger one. I was asking about the behaviour

 

[Masonn36]

so they *haven’t been stunted

 

[CassCats]

You also brought up the water quality, which is what I was answering.

Also why isn’t my tank staying clean? I only cleaned it and done a 50% water change 2 days ago

And a fish that is stunted can still grow once they're moved to larger enclosures, this does not change the fact they'd been stunted at some point.

 

[Colin_T]

That doesn't look like breeding behaviour to me. It looks more like a sick fish being eaten. Move the fish into a separate tank or get a breeding net and put it in there. But they have to be kept apart or they are going to kill it. The smaller fish is breathing heavily and is being hammered. Move it now.