Fish fighting

[sammy]

I have 3 shubunkin & 2 goldfish in a large garden pond. I bought the fish at the same time in Aptil of this year & all the fish are only about 3 to 4 inches long. One of the goldfish is being constantly chased to exhaustion where it was nearly floating on top of the pond so I removed it 3 days ago. It has been fine on its own but I have just tried to put it back in the pond & the same problem is ocurring. Can anyone provide any advice.

 

[sissy]

They are more than likely trying to mate

 

[JohnHuff]

The two occasions that I see it happen are:
1) Mating behavior, but it seems too late in the season for that. If it's mating behavior, I just leave them alone and let nature take it's course.
2) Bullying. Usually it's one fish chasing others, not everyone chasing one. If it's bullying behavior, I will remove the bully.

Sissy, you don't think it's the wrong season for it?

 

[sammy]

This has been going on for some days now & my probem is that it is all the other fish are chasing it round. Can they detect illness & this is why they are trying to kill it.

 

[sissy]

It can depend on water temps .I notice last year because it was so warm late in the season that mine mated and I got baby fish in late November .I notice the eggs and did not think about it since there were still frogs out .I removed most of them but couple of weeks later I saw baby fish in the waterfall area .I had wanted to rebuild that part last year but had to wait for spring when I could see them better .I had a leak there and wanted to put in a bigger filter .I new by the size they were not from the spring ones .They were just to tiny .I had gotten rid of all the spring ones to people for free who wanted fish for there ponds

 

[sissy]

Do you see any injuries and what are your water temps .You can just dip in a regular outdoor thermometer to see

 

[sammy]

Its cold here as we are now in the autumn. 11c at the moment. The fish does have injuries which I think are due to it getting trapped when they gang up on it behind the plants which are in plastic planters in the pond. It doesnt look like a fungus. Do you think I should just put it back & let nature take its course.

 

[sissy]

It is up to you but do remember shubbies jump out of pond during spring mating and I wish someone had told me this .I had to take one of my fish out this spring and kept it out for over 2 months and put it back in and all was fine .

 

[JohnHuff]

If it's all against one, I would think it's mating despite the temperature. If you have a holding tank I'd keep the bullied fish there for a while. If it's mating behavior, they will stop chasing her after the mating period passes, then you can put her back.

I would also think about getting more females.

 

[sammy]

Thanks to both of you for the advice.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Might be mating. I had the same issue with 2 of my Shubunkins, although it was only about 4 or 5 days and it stopped happening.

 

[JohnHuff]

JBtheExplorer. Are you related to Dora by any chance?

Might be mating. I had the same issue with 2 of my Shubunkins, although it was only about 4 or 5 days and it stopped happening.