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.

 

[Masonn36]

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.

After a few mins of them winding her up, they leave her alone and her breathing returns back to normal and gills are moving rapidly. They aren’t actually mouthing her just aggressively nudging her so I don’t think they are trying to kill her.

 

[MaloK]

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

Is the tank properly cycled ? If not, it is surely experiencing high ammonia and / or nitrite.

You have a little too much surface movement. Try to bring it down to the point that you have nearly no bubbles swirling all around. Try to create a surface flow across the tank instead of mixing air with water.

 

[Lcc86]

Also what size is the tank? Goldfish are messy so if they're in a small tank you'll have to do very regular water changes while you can get a bigger tank.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

It really isn't what anybody wants to hear, but a 100l tank is far too small for three goldfish. To be healthy, they require a lot more room than most people realize. A too-small tank will affect both water quality and behavior, so it does matter. Goldfish create a remarkable amount of poop, and thus need a lot of water to dilute it all, and they're very active so require a lot of space.

Do I understand that your filter isn't working? Or was that a mistake?

 

[CassCats]

The filter seems to be working based on the video, but I think they meant to say heater.

 

[Death by Fish Tanks]

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

The two males are chasing the female because she came in to season. She's releasing hormones into the water, which make the males pursue her until she lays eggs. If this persists, and she's not laying eggs, you may want to move her to her own tank for a few weeks.

As for cloudy water, it may be bacteria I'm trying to reestablish itself after such large water changes. Try cutting water changes down to about 25% once every 2 weeks, and feed them once or twice a week.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Bacteria doesn't need to reestablish itself after large water changes; the vast majority of the beneficial bacteria live on surfaces in the filter and substrate, and water changes (even large ones) have little or no effect on their populations. 3 goldfish is a pretty large load for a 100 liter tank, unless they're babies. So a 25% water change every two weeks might not be sufficient. I agree that cutting down on food would be a good idea, though, until the OP can find them larger quarters.