golfish spawn

Question
Last month I saw several eggs on one of my plants so I removed the plant and put it in a bucket of water. I used to have problems with snails 'appearing' and wanted to confirm that these were snail eggs. However, after about a week I had 7 itty bitty goldfish! I kept them in my bucket for about three weeks and then put them into a breeder tank. The fry promptly escaped through the little vents on the sides and were immediatley gobbled by the other fish to my horror!
Well, today while I was cleaning the tank one of my goldfish started releasing her eggs. She had one other fish bothering her, so I assume it was the male. The other fish in the tank started to gobble up the eggs so fast that by the time I got a bucket must eggs were gone. I caught the female with my hand and as I was putting her in the bucket she started to release hundreds of eggs. I then tried to find info on the web on how to make the male release his milt. I caught him but couldn't get him to release anything. Both parents started to eat the eggs so I removed them both.
I took several cups of the original tank water and put it in the bucket hoping that he had released some milt earlier and the eggs could be fertilized that way. I will know in a few days.
For the next time, how do I get the male to release when I want? How do I keep them from eating their eggs before fertilization? What do I put the fry in, besides a bucket,that they won't escape and get eaten by the other adults?

Answer
Hi Donna,
~It's wonderful your goldfish have been spawning! That is a true sign they are receiving the best of care!

Because goldfish lay adhesive eggs, in order to best save them you should keep thick masses of plants in the aquarium. The goldfish pair will spawn over this and a lot of the eggs will fall and stick into the mass of plants--hopefully out of reach. "Spawning mops" are well used by  many breeders of goldfish. A spawning mop is made by taking 18" lengths of nylon rope. One set of the ends is tied together and the other end is frayed and fluffed to make a big fluffy mop. The eggs will stick to this and should hide and keep most of them safe until hatch. You can then later prompty remove the mops or masses of plants after your goldfish have finished spawning.

It'd be best to move the eggs into another aquarium for when the fry hatch. First foods should be very small after the fry have begun to swim about. After about two weeks they can be fed newly hatched baby brine shrimp and infusoria. Usually by the fourth week, high quality powdered foods can be fed.

You really can't force a male goldfish to release his milt. All you should really have to to is include in the spawning tank thick masses of tangled plants or a spawning mop to help hold and hide some of the eggs as your pair lays them.

This is quite an achievement. Conditions must be ideal and very healthy for your fish to be happy enough to spawn!

Best of luck with the spawning and hope everything goes just wonderful!

Really hope this info helps!
Best wishes and Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~