Veiltail chasing Oranda

G

gmcb

AC Members
Sep 28, 2008
171
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Pennsylvania
Hello,
Got home this afternoon to see my veiltail (fantail?) chasing my chocolate oranda relentlessly around the tank. Is this territorial or mating behavior? The veiltail is about 5 inches from tip of nose to end of tail; the oranda smaller. I'm afraid the little guy/girl will be exhausted.
I have a 40 g. tank with three goldfish (one the veil; another oranda also about 5 inches and the chocolate). The redcap oranda chases the veiltail...so all three are zipping around!
Any ideas/suggestions. Thanks,
 
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My ryukin was up to that earlier this week, chasing the ranchu. He didn't keep it up for long and I was able to distract him with a regularly scheduled water change and a leaf of romaine lettuce, which he loves.

It was explained to me as courtship behavior... more play than serious in my tank, as they are all still juveniles.
 
Goldies will play tag with each other. Just watch them and see that's all it is. Bad tag will involve head butting the other guy into rocks/tank bottom Ect hard.when mine start that I feed them and put them in the dark. A big water change or a sudden weather change will often get a game of good tag going
 
McLendon said:
Goldies will play tag with each other. Just watch them and see that's all it is. Bad tag will involve head butting the other guy into rocks/tank bottom Ect hard.when mine start that I feed them and put them in the dark. A big water change or a sudden weather change will often get a game of good tag going
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I'll keep my eye on them. We did have some unseasonably warm weather. Plus, I was away for nearly 3 weeks and did a water change/clean up so perhaps that stirred them up. I know they always feel good when I do a water change.
 
Hi gmcb. McLendon is certainly observant about his fish - and of the weather, but I'm not sure it's a good idea for us to characterize their behavior like this in terms of it being a "good game" or a "bad game" of tag. It would be too easy for us to then overlook something important if we attribute clear signs and behavior changes to them just being in a good mood or to goldfish personality traits in general. Goldies are very inquisitive and they do play, so we get to see this a lot with our fish. It's still important for us to know the difference between random playfulness and other behavior changes that occur for specific reasons.

The veiltail chasing the oranda the way you described is a likely sign of mating behavior, as you suggested. If the fish are old enough to be sexually mature, this often leads up to spawning. With still-immature fish, it's at least a fairly good early indication of gender, although even that isn't conclusive. The reason males chase females around this way and nudges them along the lower abdomen when mating is to induce the female to release her eggs. When these fish are in breeding condition, a water change introduces a change in temperature of a few degrees - and timing this to follow a change in atmospheric pressure (as in the passing of a cold front or storm) is one way that breeders use to trigger their fish to spawn.

If you observe more random and indiscriminant aggression among goldfish that's unrelated to courtship behavior, this should alert you to the possibility there might be something wrong. The fish may be under a great deal of stress for a certain reason... such as the presense of disease/infection/parasites or general tank conditions. Something as simple as keeping goldfish at a temperate that is too warm for them can lead to aggressive behavior that's not typical of them otherwise.
 
Second line in I stated that he needs to watch them. I used good/bad tag as a way to explane that A goldies love to play
And B don't let the fact they are cute and chubby fool you they will hurt each other badly.now I have never tried breeding goldies. Mostly I Have only kept pairs in 30gltanks.Over the last 40 years the Avg life span of my goldies has gotten longer.
They have taught me a lot all by watching
 
McLendon said:
Second line in I stated that he needs to watch them. I used good/bad tag as a way to explane that A goldies love to play
And B don't let the fact they are cute and chubby fool you they will hurt each other badly.now I have never tried breeding goldies. Mostly I Have only kept pairs in 30gltanks.Over the last 40 years the Avg life span of my goldies has gotten longer.
They have taught me a lot all by watching
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I heartily agree and that advice is a great help for others who are just starting out.

Clearly, gmcb also knows what his fish are doing... and why. It's real interesting how much we can learn about them just by watching. That's also how we tell when something different comes along, because it stands out from the norm.

I still thought it would be helpful to expand on what was already posted because the good game vs. bad game example could lead others who are less experienced to think it's only playtime -- and maybe not consider other underlying reasons for what their fish are doing. It's easy for us to miss or even misread the signs if we don't know yet how the fish relate to each other normally or how their behavior might differ under other environmental conditions. In the beginning, there's so much to learn about fishkeeping in general, plus having to learn specific care needs goldfish have that differ from other tropical community fish.
 
I agree,at times when posting I try and keep it simple. But more often then not it is the simple mistakes first timers make that cost them fish
 
McLendon said:
I agree,at times when posting I try and keep it simple. But more often then not it is the simple mistakes first timers make that cost them fish
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Thank you for all the good feedback. I haven't been online much hence the slow response to your comments.
The goldfish have settled down. I haven't noticed the behavior since the time I wrote my note.
I'm very observant of my fish as well as my other pets. :)
Again, thanks so much. This forum is terrific.
 
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