Male goldfish chasing female

[Sacah]

Hey,

After a bit of advice, my tank has 1 female, 3 males, and every 3-4 weeks they'll spend a few days where they just chase her frequently, and squeeze into anywhere she's trying to rest. I move her to a breeding basket to rest when she seems exhausted.

A few days ago one of the males seems to have hurt his eye, guessing while he was trying to squeeze into her.

I've read online that this should only happen once a year, but if you slowly raise the temperature in the tank over a few days you can artificially trigger this behaviour. I'm not controlling the temperature other than what nature is doing here on the Gold Coast, Australia, is there something I can do to stop it occuring so frequently?

Thank you

 

[TJ _isme]

I don’t know much about goldfish but I do know there is a cool YouTuber called Luke’s Goldie’s, and they have a lot of nice information about goldfish, you may be able to find help there.

[Lennie]

Mine does that quite often too. I think I have 1m1f and I am considering to get another f to spread the male’s attention between two females, because he doesbother the female

Cant think of 3m:1f, as 1m1f I have is already problematic

I am not very experienced with goldfish, as I said, I only have two. But keeping a balanced m f ratio sounds like it is the way🤷🏻‍♂️

 

Edited April 17 by Lennie

[Sacah]

Thank you both. I'd prefer to avoid getting more fish for this tank, I guess see what else I can figure out.

 

[AtomicSunfish]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:08 PM, Sacah said:

Hey,

After a bit of advice, my tank has 1 female, 3 males, and every 3-4 weeks they'll spend a few days where they just chase her frequently, and squeeze into anywhere she's trying to rest. I move her to a breeding basket to rest when she seems exhausted.

A few days ago one of the males seems to have hurt his eye, guessing while he was trying to squeeze into her.

I've read online that this should only happen once a year, but if you slowly raise the temperature in the tank over a few days you can artificially trigger this behaviour. I'm not controlling the temperature other than what nature is doing here on the Gold Coast, Australia, is there something I can do to stop it occuring so frequently?

Thank you

 

Yes, being temperate fish, they're probably entering breeding mode with those gradually rising temperatures. As with many non-pairing animals, it's better to have multiple females per male, rather than the other way around. That way, the males do not exhaust the females with their advances for mating.

So, I don't know how much control you have over the temperature of the water. It's far easier and cheaper to warm water with a heater, than to cool it with a chiller. That said, make sure your tank is not getting any direct sunlight that could warm it up.

But if the fish are going to be going into breeding mode more often, I'd reverse the sex ratio. So, for example you might trade in two of the males, so you have 1 male and 3 females instead. That should give the females a break, and help them feel more comfortable.

BTW - What kind of goldfish are these? Are they the smaller fancy goldfish, or the larger common goldfish?

Edited April 19 by AtomicSunfish

[Sacah]

Thank you, this is what I was worried about.

We inherited a telescope and I think a ryukin from my wifes work, and then my wife and daughter bought a comet and possibly an oranda, they were all very young and it took a number of months before they developed the white dots on their gills and started chasing when I realised it was 3 males and 1 female.

I'll need to have a think about what I can do, don't think I'll be allowed to remove any of them.