How to Breed Goldfish the Easy Way

2022 UPDATE: This video pre-dates Lotsa Algae Aquatics, and is a part of the MarineLifeDrew collection. This means that this video is outdated - the quality may not be as high and it may contain information that is no longer accurate. For relevant projects and information, please watch our latest video's!
This is a video where I discuss breeding goldfish the natural and easy way.
Check out my blog site here:
marinelifedrew.wordpress.com/
and check out my pond overview here:
• Garden Pond Overview

[@LotsaAlgae]

Before commenting please be aware: This video pre-dates Lotsa Algae Aquatics, and is a part of the MarineLifeDrew collection. This means that this video is outdated - the quality may not be as high and it may contain information that is no longer accurate.

[@garypalamara4520]

Very beautiful pond thankyou for sharing

[@LotsaAlgae]

Thanks!

[@adenrobson5434]

Honestly i think this is the best way

[@LotsaAlgae]

Thank you!

[@andrewstropics9066]

I got to say....that is a very beautiful pond and what a great video i did enjoy it thumbs up! :)

[@LotsaAlgae]

Andrew's Aquatics and Pets thanks man!

[@vasanaintrakhum9684]

Ikr

[@ErnestoGhinaglia]

Your pond looks awsome.

[@LotsaAlgae]

Thanks!

[@gayleharrelson579]

so it's basically like guppies I would say hum? I have a 6 ft round bath tub I could do that with cause it's only 1-1/2 deep

[@fernandomartinez8596]

I really like your pond. I'm working on one myself and yours gave me an idea of what to do to make it look good. Dumbs up on your fish and pond.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+fernando martinez thanks man! Glad I could help. Lemme know if you ever have any questions.

[@fernandomartinez8596]

+MarineLifeDrew thank bro i appreciate that and i most definitely will.

[@badgoodweather]

I have lots of plants in my pond. Mostly algae but i do also have horntwort (coontail) but most of all i have a ton of algae that goldfish eat. The algae also sticks to the hornwort and will kill it in a parasitic type way and so i throw more hornwort aka coontail in my pond probably twice a year.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+ApocalypticStorms that will work, some plants that grow up out of the water would help with algae to, that way you dont have to waste your money on the other plants that get swamped with algae.

[@annerowley6047]

When is the best time when they will breed ?

[@kobewashington8598]

I just filled my fishes tank full of flowers your pond is pretty nice

[@LotsaAlgae]

thanks! good luck with your own fish

[@ozzy7449]

Good idea about the more exotic goldfish. I'm wondering what the limit is as I started with about a dozen fish and now have about thirty fry. The capacity of my pond is maybe four bathtubs. I've got a little contained ecosystem happening in there.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+Ozzy Yea that sounds awesome. a dozen goldfish is ALOT of goldfish. Which is why I try to avoid the feeder ones because its so easy to take home a dozen of them. However with that size pond I think you will be fine. The more plants you have though the better off you will be. Because with all those growing fry there will definitely be some of algae following them. So what I would do is sell some of the fry once they are big enough. I would probably avoid most pet stores because they will probably just sell as feeder fish unless they say otherwise. Because since you are raising them in a pond they are much healthier than other comet goldfish. So maybe you can give them to a friend or use craigslist or ebay.

[@heyjude4215]

So I live in the Midwest where my pond freezes and the plants die off over the winter or go dormant so I have no consistent year round growth. I can't get water lettuce or hyacinth shipped to WI legally and many varieties aren't for my zone, so I feel extremely limited. I have had fish 4 seasons (20-30) and have only had one or two babies. It seems by the time my lilies begin to develop, they are already spawning and there's nowhere for the fry to hide. Any thoughts on plant keeping or camouflage for babies? What zone are you in? Thanks

[@LotsaAlgae]

Im in Missouri , cant remember the exact zone but i can relate to this. I can think of 2 different options. 1. try growing any natives you can get a hold of, they might be better equipped to handle the intense cold and may grow faster when things get warmer. 2. Keep some plants indoors in the winter so that they dont die back very much, then when conditions improve you will have some well grown plants to put right back in the pond. Hopefully this is helpful, if i think of anything else i will let you know!

[@deadgirl709]

I have a question? I have one regular fantail you'd find at any pet store, an ordana, a black moore, and two commets. I was wondering if it's possible to crossbreed one of the two. I'm pretty sure I'll never get to it but the question that's been lingering in my head is if it's possible the fry will come out in a different way. I've seen videos of goldfish competitions and I was wondering how they got those commets with the fan tail.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+kristin cuevas Yes! any goldfish can breed with any other goldfish. Some of my goldfish i believe are crosses between a fantail and a shubunkin. Now i am not an expert on goldfish genetics. i breed mine as a side project. However i have noticed that certain traits will blend together. So color and patterns can kinda blend. The fins normally are going to be one or the other. So if you have a commet and fan tail, then some might have fantails and other have commet fins. It can get pretty complicated. The ones you see in shows are likely breed in a controlled way, so they will raise the fry separately from the others, usually they use breeding mops to get the eggs out before they hatch. They will also only keep goldfish they want to cross together in the same pond or tank. with my pond i have no control over which goldfish breed because i keep a a lot of random cute goldfish together. Solid gold has a lot of awesome videos about how she breeds her fancier goldfish to get try and get certain results, so if you are interested in breeding really nice goldfish thats where i would recommend looking : kzbin.info/door/7azsssU_6geqrRmi-iuGLQ Hope this helps!

[@deadgirl709]

I love her channel! and Thank you for the info! I wanted to try hand breeding but in all honesty in my taste it seems to harsh. but to each is their own if a breeder wants to do so. I'll think on it before I jump into it but thank you again! :)

[@LotsaAlgae]

+kristin cuevas Your welcome! Any time. just remember to have alot of big tanks or containers to hold the fry in. Goldfish are messy.

[@raymondannan8370]

Hi im new to breeding comet goldfish, my question is do you have to put your goldfish on a diet before sexing them, if not whats the best way to trigger them off ?

[@LotsaAlgae]

If you're breeding them outdoors, sexing most likely won't be important. If you have a large quantity, the sex ratio should naturally balance out. If they're outdoors, spawning will also occur seasonally.

[@rajatpalankar9027]

hi when i try to hand bread my black gold fish only 10 to 15 egg are coming out of female that also eggs are full white color same as unfertilized eggs please reply

[@LotsaAlgae]

I've never done this type of breeding, so I can't really help with this unfortunately. Hopefully there are some other videos that can help you with this issue

[@ozzy7449]

I filled up my old fish-pond with fountain 2 months ago and added half a dozen goldfish and some waterlillies. Now I have about 20 fry of varying sizes so I think they have spawned at least three times. I just leave them alone and feed them a little each day.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+Ozzy Awesome, man. sorry for the slow response. Yea goldfish can be a lot of fun to breed. That is literally all that I do too and it works fine. (except I loaded my pond full of plants). Something that you may want to try is getting a nicer goldfish like a shubunkin goldfish. That way they can breed together and you will get some cool babies. instead of just normal comets.

[@Mia-hq9fp]

i am a question i dont know if my fish are bous or girls but the chase each other but dont nud the stomach

[@LotsaAlgae]

the females are usually fatter. You just kind of learn as you watch them grow. There are a lot of other goodm guides available.

[@Mia-hq9fp]

ok thanks

[@keyzzz493]

nice video

[@LotsaAlgae]

thank you

[@josiahmadera9796]

Thank you so much. So the adult goldfish dont eat the fry?

[@LotsaAlgae]

not with all the plants no. if you keep the adults feed in this type of environment then that shouldnt be an issue. If you want to breed them in a more controlled environment like a mostly bare aquarium then i would remove them.

[@sheamealey3809]

I just got goldfish and I have a mini pond for them and its unfiltered... will they die without a filter?

[@LotsaAlgae]

Short term no, a few months from now most likely. The filter does more than remove particulates from the water, the bacteria it houses processes waste from the aquarium, this bacteria needs a place to live where it gets lots of oxygen and water which is why a filter will be necessary for the fishes health, hope this helps

[@leaneawoodham]

Just came across your video; my comets are chasing frantically this morning what looks to be a big bellied female comet. Mine are in a 3,000 gallon pond with plants. Should I not be concerned and do nothing or should I isolate the poor female who is being harassed? I appreciate any advise. Thank you

[@LotsaAlgae]

This is just spawning behavior for the comets. There's nothing you can really do to stop this. If she appears to be severely damaged, then you should add more plants or otherwise to give her places to hide from the other fish. Adding plants for the fish to spawn in might also help the process to go a bit faster. Normally goldfish won't be overly aggressive despite how the chasing might appear.

[@nathanielspeller4589]

Hi there just have a few questions about your setup.How big is your pond?how many fish do have in your pond?and what are the plants you use in the pond?

[@LotsaAlgae]

since this video i have redone my pond. however this pond was about 300 gallons. i had anywhere from 6 to probably 2 dozen fish at any given time. and i used a mix of tropical and hardy aquatic plants. i dont remember any of the names now

[@nathanielspeller4589]

oh ok.well thank you so much love your channel.Helps me with all of my fish and everything cause I am a huge fish nerd.

[@LotsaAlgae]

im glad i could help! and yea i too am also a huge fish nerd

[@samarcher6632]

Omg i wish i had that pond

[@LotsaAlgae]

all you need is a little space, and an afternoon of digging lol

[@tdrummmer]

Quick question - How do you manage snails? I had a terrible problem with them eating my water lily! My little pond is snail free right now but I need to upgrade my plants. Your pond is so beautiful!

[@LotsaAlgae]

Thanks! What kind of snails did you have? I've never had snails destroy my plants before. It's hard to prevent snails as they're a natural part of many ecosystems. If you really want to avoid snails, make sure to thoroughly rinse your plants before putting them in your pond. And depending on where you live, if you have snails again, you can put fish in your pond to eat the snails.

[@crittersofearth9914]

you even have some baby shubunkin x

[@LotsaAlgae]

yea they turned out really nice

[@coolmanwivbigsmile3713]

hi what do you when it is rainning or cold weather please

[@LotsaAlgae]

Normally I bring my fish and plants inside for the winter. That way I don't have to do anything special for the pond. You can leave them out its a bit risky for me because my pond isn't that deep.

[@em65]

Nice video. A video idea I would like to see is what/how to deal with plants in containers that get huge roots. How to cut them down, etc.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+Emil Mozaffari Yea Awesome idea thanks. Your in luck I have some very large plants now that I could re-pot. So I will definitely be doing that.

[@GirladyLocks]

I brought in plants for my pond then my pond was infested with blanket weed! My fish would get caught in it and would die. What to do?

[@LotsaAlgae]

i would just remove the blanket weed as it grows in. Or add more plants other than it so that the blanket weed has less available nutrients

[@Romeyn]

Wouldn't your pond/falls get overpopulated? And then what do you do?

[@LotsaAlgae]

Overtime yes, What I would do is go through the new baby fish and keep the ones that you like and sell the rest. That way you can breed the ones that have the traits you like.

[@franmellor9843]

They must be sooo happy..amore hahaha

[@alx_king.24k]

What kind of filter you got?

[@LotsaAlgae]

its a diy filter that uses some plants and a lot of lava rock.

[@anythinganimal6466]

what kind of filters do you use?

[@LotsaAlgae]

Plants are honestly the best filter. The roots and plant pots trap debris as well as provide great biological filtration. Depending on the size of your pond, there can be many options for filtering, far more than I can list here. The pond in this video just had a basket of lava rock as the filter, plus the plants, which worked pretty well for this size pond.

[@joeisabelle5080]

What do you do with all the babies! Won't it get to the point that you will have way to many fish and they will start dying?

[@LotsaAlgae]

In theory yes. It would take awhile for the babies to get big enough for there to be a negative affect on my pond. However if you get a lot of babies you can always take some to a local pet store. Most stores will give you a credit for the fish if there in good health.

[@adamtawil5102]

great job on the pond. how do you keep the water so clear, do you use a uv light ? .

[@LotsaAlgae]

i do not use a uv light, all the plants act as a natural filtration keeping the water clear and clean. the only filtration i have is a bunch of lava rock

[@heymilind600]

nice bid man but how can I know whether my goldfish is female or male

[@LotsaAlgae]

i dont remember the exact way to tell, however when spawning the male will chase the famale around which can be a good way to tell and is mostly what i use. There are a lot of blogs and videos out there that cover this in a lot more detail.

[@calebwhitbeck]

little bumps on the gill plates means male, the absence of little bumps means female

[@ahmedashfaq268]

is there any problem if there are some females with them

[@LotsaAlgae]

Not at all. Traditionally if you are breeding goldfish inside you will remove the babies from the adults. In my pond I just let the cycle work naturally and babies grow up with the adults.

[@camdenisrael5653]

what type of gold fish are they?

[@LotsaAlgae]

+cadmus master I'm pretty sure they are hybrids between a shubunkin and a comet. Or the other possibility is that they are a even more complex cross were one parents was a comet and the other was a cross between a shubunkin and a bronze oranda. I have no way of knowing for sure but they mostly have the appearance of comets. Some had some really crazy patterns but I lost quite a few this winter to cold. I will have more videos of them in the coming spring.

[@lupitagamez5755]

What plants you use for the pond?

[@LotsaAlgae]

+Maria Lopez I recommend for water lettuce and water hyacinths for floating plants, They should both be readily available anywhere that sells pond pants and even some fish stores. I also keep a lot of larger plants that I grow in larger pots. These plants I pick out based on appeal and any would work for breeding fish. I will make a video on how I pot them soon! lastly I like to use submerged plants, I have seen these being sold as "oxygenators" at nurseries. They are more optional but I do like having them, typically I will put them in smaller pots at the bottom of the pond. Some species I recommend are elodea and parrots feather. Parrots feather does a bit better floating next to other larger pots that have the larger plants in them and will usually root on its own. I will mention how I keep them in a video soon. Hope this helps!

[@lupitagamez5755]

+MarineLifeDrew Thank You so much! This is going to help me a lot:)

[@AquariumCop]

TY great video! 👍

[@LotsaAlgae]

Thanks

[@clementlow1115]

What do u feed them

[@LotsaAlgae]

any kind of small goldfish or koi food. i cant remember what exactly im feeding in this video. Hikari makes a very good koi and goldfish food

[@leonidbier]

Always thought that you couldn't breed Goldfish in captivity (private ), but KZbin showed me that i was totally wrong ! Hi from Amsterdam

[@LotsaAlgae]

Hello glad you could find my small channel, ive been to amsterdam its a very nice city alothough it had been a few years. Yea there are alot of other great videos that go more in depth with genetics but this is a fun way for beginners to breed them.

[@leonidbier]

But another guestion. Do you refresh your water or do you just let nature do it's thing !

[@LotsaAlgae]

I normally let nature do its thing. In the summer it can get really hot and dry so I will sometimes top it off. All the plants with their boxes provides a lot surface area for bacteria so I don't worry about the water quality too much.

[@cloudeedragon103]

Not to be rude, just giving out information you might of not known when this was made. When goldfish breed it's called "spawning", when spawning happens the male goldfish(s) do Not get the female(s) 'stuck' in the plants. It is simply the male is pushing the eggs out of the female onto the plants or other surfaces in the water. Another thing is you do Not need plants to breed goldfish. It is good to have when goldfish spawn, but you don't actually need it. One tip I have for you is to reduce the water in the pond while the fry are under 2 months. You will get healthier, happier fish, and fish that will swim better in the future. The reason you should do this is because in the first few months of a frys life, it has to fill up it's swim bladder with air in order to survive, and to make it swim properly the rest of its life. This can be very hard when there is too much water inbetween the surface(where the air is) and the fish. In fact, most fry dye in the process of trying to fill their swim bladders because they can't or don't get to the air on time. This is especially important with any type of fancy goldfish(fish in general) since it will damage them more and have a greater effect on them and their swimming. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

[@cloudeedragon103]

during spawning after the eggs are released the male goes back and furtalizes them.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+CloudyDragonGirl thanks for the info, i havnt done a great deal of breeding but this has been what works for me. i have noticed the males chasing the females around so it seems when the females get stuck in plants the male might push them out then. I like the idea of draining the water a bit to help with air if i was in a normal aquarium but in my pond the fry have alot of surface area to get air free of any other fish or predators so for the most part they did fine. Im gonna make a video showing how i keep my pond fish in the winter so you can see how they are going along. 'thanks for the info

[@cloudeedragon103]

+MarineLifeDrew Yup hope some of it helps in the future. Also I like what your doing with all your fish and your shrimp. Keep up the good work.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+CloudyDragonGirl thanks yea i have alot of stuff i need to make videos over so its gonna be exciting.

[@cloudeedragon103]

+MarineLifeDrew Can't wait. I just subscribed and turned my notifications on for your channel so I can see your videos when they come up. I think that I can get a lot of good information from you. I'm trying to get better in the fish hobby and I might even start out a small business from it in the future.

[@badgoodweather]

The easy way is to put them in a pond. Period. Thats it.

[@LotsaAlgae]

+ApocalypticStorms Ha yea thats one way to sum it up. Although if you had an indoor tank with loads of plants it might work too.

[@fabian8813]

Cheers for this, I've been looking for "chinese dragon fish recipe" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Leahzan Arowana Astonishing - (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my cousin got excellent success with it.

[@richardott6365]

U said plants will prevent algae lol.excitement. great vid. Thx

[@LotsaAlgae]

lol it can be exciting to certain people

[@youandme9630]

MarineLifeDrew how do you clean

[@LotsaAlgae]

I usually clean out the pond in the spring. Normally I remove leaves and muck that accumulates on the bottom. In the fall before winter I remove any plants that wont survive the cold. This year I redid the pond and made it a lot bigger so in the spring ill try figure out how I'm going to clean it now

[@masonbaker2377]

bro we got it... tons lol

[@derpfrog5625]

Well if you want MORE fishes you will remove the parents because they will eat your bayyybees.... Um I just had fry in my pond and YES the Plants are the magic ingredient

[@kevinflynn14]

fish the babies and show them,

[@LotsaAlgae]

good idea, if I breed some this summer I will try to do that.

[@StanWatt.]

"Ferment them"? lol

[@mrbleachproductions1139]

if you have to much female goldfish they will become lesbian or to much male fish they will be gay and not make babeis

[@trcwarrior8237]

Awsome Pickachu lol I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.

[@fansaaga4033]

Wow so that’s what happens in the boy school or girls schools yeah?