I'm new to the "garden pond" business and suspect one of my Shubunpkins is preggers. She has become bloated and the male fishes are chasing her around the pond. I have heard there are several things that you need to do, such as seperating the newborns from the rest of the fish but have looked on the internet and cannot find any info.

Does anyone know what I need to do?

Ta

James

erm... I know your seperate them indoor, but I don't think most people do outdoor.

Ahh, i remember when our fish gave birth, swordtails they were ;) .
didn't know squat about taking care of them, and the males ate them all :gag:

the next time we bought one of the deep fishing nets with tight netting and hung it over the pond, and secured it with a tent hook.
then fished out all the tiny fish and puped them in the net. they turned out fine until the dreaded "white spot" virus went round the bunch :( .

The next time we did something different, we split the pond into a 1/4 and 3/4 with tight netteing, and put all the grown fish into the bigger portion. trust me its much easier than spotting all the extremely tiny babies.

also they wont eat regular fish food, they have a special baby food at, middletons on the bottom of the moor. its like a bottle that with a dropper on the end, you just squirt a few drops into the baby side and they eat it through the water.

these fish lasted nearly a year until they all caught White spot again.


hope this helps

yup thats rights,we have tropical fish,we cage them little ones in a box in the water,so put yours in a net,were there safe o they will eat them we have a few eat,then we got a clear box to addin to the tank :P

Thanks

How many babies could I be looking at?
When do you know when to release them into the rest of the pond?

Ta

Move her to a seperate tank with plenty of weed and plants and places for the fry (baby fish) to hide. Once the fry are born, move the female back into the pond and keep the fry where they are until they get a little bigger. Cos fish are cannibals...

Feed the fry tiny amounts of food (preferably flakes, not pellets). Crush one flake between your thumb & forefinger & sprinkle into the tank.

Hope this helps

Btw: Don't forget to keep the air circulating in the tank.

Thanks for the replys.

I've been out today and the eggs have already been layed (I think they are eggs. They are little creme blobs with a membrane round them) They are scattered all over the base of my pond. I have put as many as I could into a seperate container and placed it under the pipe which spits out fresh water from my filter. I have also put a little oxygenating plant in there.

I'll see how they get on

Originally posted by JamesRich
Thanks for the replys.

I've been out today and the eggs have already been layed (I think they are eggs. They are little creme blobs with a membrane round them) They are scattered all over the base of my pond. I have put as many as I could into a seperate container and placed it under the pipe which spits out fresh water from my filter. I have also put a little oxygenating plant in there.

I'll see how they get on it seems very late for fish to be spawning,they usually spawn around may:confused:

Originally posted by roughy101
it seems very late for fish to be spawning,they usually spawn around may:confused:

Am I right in thinking that these are fish eggs or could they be something else?