Goldfish Breeding, Part 2

Fry Development

In the previous article, we talked about breeding fish from first spawn through 2 -3 months of age. This article will concentrate on development from 3 - 6 months of age.

By the time goldfish reach 3 months of age, approximately 2 to 3 culls will have taken place. The first several culls are performed to remove fish which have obvious deformities, or do not meet general breed requirements. Culls from these stages can be donated to folks who want fish, pet shops, neighborhood children, or humanely destroyed. I prefer to donate the fish, and there seems to be a ready market of folks who would like fish. This process usually takes a little longer, but makes people happy and saves fish.

By three months of age, body style and finnage will begin to take their final form. Coloration will start taking shape as well, although metallic fish can take up to a year for de-coloration to occur. Breed characteristics (like head growth, eyes, etc.) will begin to develop.

A fourth cull should be performed at about 4 - 5 months to select the fish to be raised through maturity. Out of a spawn of several hundred to several thousand fish, no more than 5 - 10 fish should be maintained for final grow-out. There are several reasons for this small percentage of fish which are selected for grow-out. The primary reason is space; there is just not enough space to raise all of the fish that are spawned. If not given enough space, fish will not grow to optimal sizes. The second reason is food: raising large numbers of fish requires a great deal of food. The third reason is water quality; maintenance of proper water conditions is difficult when faced with large fish loads. The final reason is genetics: most fish will have some sort of defect or undesirable characteristic for showing.

By six months of age, fish will look very much like their breed variety, but not all variety characteristics will be fully developed yet. Eventually, the fish will look like their parents.

Author Biography

Peter Ponzio, the author of Children of the Night, is a CPA with over 30 years experience in Corporate Finance, holding positions as divergent as Treasurer, VP of Sales Administration, Vice President of IT, and General Manager of an internet start-up company in the late 1990s, and CFO at a subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company.

Mr. Ponzio graduated with a degree in English literature from Loyola University of Chicago, and is currently attending Northwestern University in pursuit of an MA in Literature.

Peter's website can be reached at http://www.peterjponzio.com