Do Goldfish Eat Their Babies? ( How To Protect Them?)

Written by John Sawyer in Fish Species,Goldfish

As a goldfish keeper, you must wonder if your goldfish can eat their babies? Can your goldfish be a threat to their babies? Do they eat their babies? Let us find out.

Goldfish can eat their eggs or babies as they lack parental instincts. Goldfish can eat anything that fits in their mouth, making them a threat to the fry in the tank. Consider placing the fertilized eggs or the fry in a separate tank to protect them from predatory parents and other tankmates. 

The article below will discuss various ways to protect your fry from the adult goldfish.

Why do goldfish eat their fry?

Goldfish are not livebearers as they lay eggs. Your goldfish can consume its eggs as it lacks parental instincts. 

Despite being peaceful species, goldfish can eat whatever fits in their mouth. 

If placed together in the same tank, your goldfish can eat the eggs or the fry. 

This behavior of goldfish eating their offspring is known as filial cannibalism. 

Some common reasons behind your goldfish eating their fry are as follows:

  1. The adult goldfish will think of the fry as a snack and eat them.
  2. Goldfish don’t have parental instincts, so they don’t recognize their babies.
  3. Adult goldfish can consume the weak fry for the continuation of strong offspring.
  4. Stress can also play a significant role in making your goldfish eat their fry as it knocks the self-preservation instinct in adult goldfish. 

The above factors are crucial reasons your goldfish consume their eggs or the fry. 

Also read: What Do Goldfish Eat?

Are goldfish aggressive fishes?

Goldfish are non-aggressive fishes that like to interact with other tankmates. 

However, if you keep your goldfish in an overcrowded tank, they can turn aggressive while competing for food or establishing their territory. 

In addition to this, some more common reasons that make your goldfish turn aggressive are as follows:

  1. Stress
  2. Personality 
  3. Limited food
  4. Unsuitable Tankmates 
  5. Spawning

Therefore, you should always provide a favorable tank environment to your goldfish to prevent aggression in your fish. 

Also read: Are Goldfish Aggressive?

How to protect your goldfish fry?

Here are the ways to protect your goldfish fry:

  1. Separate Tank
  2. Create lots of hiding spots. 

Separate Tank

Goldfish are not livebearers as they lay eggs. 

You can place a spawning mob inside your goldfish tank to protect the eggs from the predatory parents.

Your goldfish will lay eggs on the spawning mob.  

Once your goldfish lays its eggs and gets fertilized by the male, we advise placing the eggs in a separate tank. 

As goldfish do not have any parental instinct, they can eat their eggs. 

So, placing the fertilized eggs in a separate tank will protect them from being consumed by the adult goldfish and the other tankmates. 

Create lots of hiding spots

It would be best to create many hiding spots in your goldfish tank to protect your goldfish fry from the adult goldfish. 

Hiding spots also help to reduce stress in your fish. 

You can add live aquatic plants like java fern to create hiding spots for your goldfish. 

Live aquatic plants also help keep the tank’s water oxygenated and make your tank look attractive.

Some other aquarium decors that you can use to create hiding spots are as follows:

  1. Aquarium Rocks
  2. Terra Cota Pots
  3. Driftwood 
  4. Add aquarium ornaments

You can add the above items to your goldfish tank to create hiding spots. 

However, we advise you to place your goldfish fry in a separate tank to protect them from predatory parents.

Even if you add hiding spots in the tank, your goldfish fry can get attacked by the adults and the other tankmates if they catch them.

Also read: Do Goldfish Need Hiding Places?

How to know if your goldfish is about to lay eggs?

Here are the ways to know if your goldfish is about to lay eggs:

  1. You will discover your female goldfish more broad than usual.
  2. If you find your goldfish less active, it indicates that it is about to lay eggs.
  3. The male goldfish chasing the female and rubbing themselves against the female indicates that your goldfish is about to lay eggs.
  4. If you discover your female goldfish consuming less than usual, your goldfish is about to lay eggs.
  5. If you discover your goldfish hiding in the tank’s corner, it indicates that your fish is about to lay eggs.
  6. When you place your hand inside the tank and discover lots of eggs coming out, your goldfish is about to lay eggs. 

The above are some signs that your goldfish is about to lay eggs. 

Also read: Can Goldfish Get Pregnant?

Can other tankmates also be a threat to your goldfish fry?

Your goldfish fry can get attacked by the adult goldfish and the other tankmates.

As goldfish can eat anything that fits in their mouth, placing goldfish fry with the adults in the same tank can put your goldfish fry at risk.

It will be advisable to place your goldfish fry in a separate tank to protect them from the adult goldfish and the other tankmates.

Once they become adults, you can place your goldfish fry back in the house aquarium.

If you don’t want to place your goldfish fry in a separate tank, we advise you to create a lot of hiding places in the tank to protect the fry from their predatory parents.

Conclusion:

  1. Your adult goldfish can eat their babies as they lack parental instincts.
  2. Adult goldfish can also eat their babies for the continuation of strong offspring.
  3. Stress can also make your goldfish consume their babies.
  4. You can protect your goldfish fry by placing them in a separate tank or by adding a lot of hiding spots in the tank.
  5. Your female goldfish shows many signs like chasing, being less active, and eating less while they are about to lay eggs.
  6. The other tankmates can also be a threat to your goldfish fry. 

Reference: ResearchGate

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