Is it the right time for my pond goldfish to breed?

Question

They were "at it" today. I wonder if it's a bit late in the year for success. I'm in Scotland.

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

well try mood lighting,soft music,maybe a take away,probably nerves with you watching them "at it" :)

Answer 3

it's not a good idea to have tadpoles and fish in the same pond unless the fish are big and hard, cos the frogs/toads kill 'em

Answer 4

I guess so.

Answer 5

Goldfish actually breed more than most people think.  Depending on where you are in the world (I don't know what the temperatures in Scotland are like), they can breed several times a year.  The thing that really matters is, Do you have any places for the baby goldfish to hide?  If you don't, then the fry will just get eaten and then you'll never see them.  What I've seen done is that people sink rocks down to the bottom with a range of different crevice sizes for the fry to hide in.  If the fry can find a safe place to hide, and if you have a variety of depths in your pond, then they can sometimes survive.  A larger pond with plants helps, too.  Once you have the right conditions for your fry to survive, you'll see several different generations pop up at times of the year when you thought goldfish couldn't breed.  It's kind of neat.  

Edit:  Ah, I see.  Have you ever seen fry before in your pond?  How long have you had the goldfish in there?  And are any of the tadpoles fully grown frogs now?  Because frogs eat fry.

Edit #2:  All right, so your pond is well established.  You should be seeing some baby goldfish.  Keep careful count and watch your numbers.  If the fry are able to survive, then you'll notice your fish number change occassionally.  It's hard to identify individuals if you've got all pure-gold feeder fish, so you might want to consider investing in shubunkin.  They're easy to tell apart, approximately the same size and care requirements as other goldfish, and you can count which are the new fish by the different markings.  Like I said, if there are enough hiding places, you should see two or three new batches of fry every year.