SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
destany_gw

Empty eggs?

destany
17 years ago

I'm only wondering if a female will drop eggs if she hasn't mated, or if she isn't in the presence of a male? My fish started acting weird a couple weeks ago. Chasing eachother around and playing more than usual. They're only three or four years old.

These were "feeder" goldfish that were a part of twelve. Due to an equipment mishap, I thought I'd lost them all until I saw these two this Spring. And to think I hadn't bothered to de-ice the pond, thinking it was empty!

When I pulled up my lily last week, I noticed some offwhite eggs all over the gravel. I put the lily in 10g aquarium on my back porch since the fish kept eating the new leaves and wouldn't let it grow. Two days later I found all sorts of little wiggling things, but they all seem to be dead now. I'm not even sure those were fish eggs, or if the wiggly things even came from those eggs. The eggs look deteriorated now, like they've either hatched or they decayed. Nothing seems to be moving in it now.

Perhaps they were never viable? Honestly, what would the chances be that the only two fish to make it through what killed their siblings - and managed to survive uncared for in a pond for three years - would be one of each sex? So, can a female lay eggs if she hasn't mated?

Comments (7)