Goldfish Spawning Chase

My goldfish (all females and some males are commons; two males are comets) outsmarted my population control plan by putting eggs in a mesh filter bag. I now have a plastic storage box housing 3 1/2 week old fry, and nothing left in my indoor pond that eggs can be hidden in.

This morning they're having another spawning chase. I've seen them do this many times over the past 4 years (seen the chasing, never happened to be watching at the time eggs were released), but this morning I've been sitting here for over an hour, keeping an eye on things, because I'm afraid the female might jump out and kill herself in search of something plant- or sponge- or mesh-like to release her eggs in.

Several times they've taken what looks like a snack break from chasing. I see all the fish--the pursued female, the pursuing males, and the other fish who aren't involved in the chase--enthusiastically grazing on the bare bottom or sides of the pond. Then I think maybe the spawning is finished, even though I don't see anything that looks like eggs. Maybe they're too tiny to see. Maybe now the fish are going to eat up all the eggs (that's my population control plan and the reason for not having egg-hiding facilities in the pond), and the chasing is over, and I can go upstairs and feed my hungry cats and dogs.

Then they start chasing again.

Do they release eggs in multiple partial spurts? Or do they take snack breaks (maybe on algae stirred loose by the chase?) throughout the process before any eggs come out?

How hard is it to learn to hand spawn (safely!) and get this over with?

Would it make my spawning females happier if I put a spawning mop in there for them to use, and just give it a good rinsing in the sink every day to prevent more hatchings?

 

I think it is best to just add some things for spawning. If you leave the eggs in the pond with the adults, I don’t think most of them will survive. That will help population.

Spawning mops will free up the female from the eggs. If a female goldfish waits to long, or her eggs get stuck in her stomach the eggs can grow bacteria/fungus and cause worse problems then overpopulation!

 

My personal values obligate me to safeguard the lives of any live fish that may hatch. That's why I want to make sure the adults are able to eat all the eggs right away, *before* they become live baby fish that I have to protect!

 

Got it! Okay, then I think you might just have to deal with a lot of babies lots of petstores will take them. Not much else to do!

 

This is the first time they've had babies in four years since they became old enough to spawn, so I think the approach of not having anything in the pool for eggs to be hidden in is effective. I just made a mistake with a too-porous filter bag. Lesson learned; filter bag removed; I don't expect any more babies after this.

My question is how to make spawning easier on the females *without* getting more babies.