fantail breeding

Question
i have a very stunning male fantail/veiltail and had a female black moor which have breed i have 13 healthy now getting large babies, which luckily for them hatched behind the filter in a void area of the tank, i only noticed them when i went to clean it out,  i brought a new 3 foot tank for him and did everything set up,left tank, 10 days later moved him in, left it 2 weeks and i brought him a new friend, which appears to be a female, which he is now chasing on the first day around the tank, are fish quite randy ?? looking again like a possible breeding, if they do spawn and have eggs how do i retrieve the eggs to be able to put into a nursery tank ???, i would like to attempt to raise more babies, but worried about how i go about collecting the eggs ???

Answer
Hi Cara,

First off congratulations on breeding Goldfish. Goldfish aren't the easiest of fish to breed, despite popular belief. Goldfish aren't particularly randy and usually need temperature and depth tricks to get them breeding so for them to just breed is a great success.

To catch the fry place the fish into a breeding tank. Add fine leaved plants and cover the bottom with a layer of marbles. Add a basic sponge filter and keep the tank at room temperature. Once you believe the female to be pregnant remove the male and put him back into the community tank. When the female gives birth remove her immediately to prevent her from eating eggs. The eggs will fall in between the marbles and be protected from her eating them. You can either place her back in the community tank or move her into an R&R tank for a couple of weeks. Once the fry are born they will survive on their egg sac for 24 hours. Then feed them crushed flake and small live foods. Once they are reasonably sized they can moved into the community tank along with their parents.

Tom