Simply Koi and More Koi

Well 2 weeks ago I had a spawning in my pond. My Tancho male was mating with the Shiru Utsuri female

Now this is a new venture for me. I read Duncans guide on his info page and though, "What a palava", I cant do all that.

Now they ripped my starwort up completely during the mating and it was covered in eggs. I knew that if left in the pond they would probably get eaten

So I took half of the starwort and dropped it inti a 100 litre bowl filled with pond water and added some malachite. covered it with plastic and put it in a sheltered locationthat got some sun. On day 3 I added a little nite out 2 to try and cover any NH4/No2/No3

Kept an eye on the pond eggs which went down in number rapidly, the last dissapeared on day 5 (hatched or eaten I dont know)

In the tubm the eggs stared to hatch on day 5 and by day 8 all that were going to had hatched and I had a coupke of hundred small 3mm swimming backwards triangles

Now I decided that I couldnt feed them in the tub as a) I had no suitable food and b) I had no filtration so I decided to return them to the shallow end of the pond amongts the plants. Thinking they would probalbly not survive

Well yesterday (14 days after the spawning) I looked in the pond on the shallow shelf and was amazed to see 10 or so 1" long baby fish, actively feeding on the algae and dirt around the plants. Some are orangy and some are clear/grey

So My first attempt and I have fry!!! yea!

The fun will be seing them develop and trying to work out which tyoe of Koi I will get from which coloured fry

Just an update

Now have about 20 1" long fry, I can see a couple will be Shiro Utsuri, one is dark black, one looks like a tancho and most just look cream coloured. Also seen a few that are at the 1cm stage and still see through

Would guess the biggest are those that stayed in the pond and warm and the second batch are those from the tub that was unheated

So looks like we will have some of our own fish to play with in the not to distant future

Now some questions

a) once they get to 1", whats the mortality like?
b) What should we be feeding them on?

mortality rates are unpredictable imho due to so many different factors , obviously water parameters,the actual strength of the individual fish etc etc as for feed you could try daphnia ...

Well found a food, this evening ground up so pro-bites and they are tucking in!!

Looked in the plants and found a load more!!

Further update

Well they are getting bigger and fatter. All over 1" now and approaching 1.5". They are getting braver and eating all I can feed em. Mortality rate seem very low

Look to be some showa, tancho, shiru Utsuri, magoi and a few plain yellowy white ones

Found Nishikigoi sinking is great food for em, it sinks and then falls to bits so its very fine

At least 20 around and probably more

Next update.

We have at least 35 still, probably nearer 50. Seem to have no mortality

They are now coming up to 3", some are very fat and are now swimming the whole pond including the 6ft sump and chasing the big koi around

let's have some pics

The fun is catching them!! its a planted pond with plenty of surface plants for them to hide under. I suspect thats why I've been able to breed so many with no special feeding, and the koi still in whith them. Will try to get some picks tonight

[img]http://www.koivista.com/display_photo.php?pic_id=34999[/img]
[img]http://www.koivista.com/display_photo.php?p ... 0&uid=1121[/img]
[url]http://www.koivista.com/display_photo.php?pic_id=34999[/url]
[url]http://www.koivista.com/display_photo.php?p ... 0&uid=1121[/url]

mananged to catch a few. have about 50 in total, but have given around 15 away now to folks

They are still changing colour and patterns, still no barbels visable. Dad to at least 2 was a fantail goldfish as 2 have fantails. Black ones seen to be lightening in colour

Mums were
Shiru Utsuri
Kohaku
Goldfish

Dads
Tancho
Showa
Sanke
Chagoi
Beni Komunryu
goldfish (fantail)

So probably a real Heinz 57 job lot

Nice one Madmole.

Koi look fantastic, much better job than me! I thought my first time had been a sucess until they started to look Rudd and remained Rudd Thousands of them. Bloody Koi wouldn't eat any of them. Is that you in the photo overlooking the bowl... three heads?
TicToc

Hi.

I've just joined the forum having been bitten by the bug during the summer. I've got a pond around 1000 gallons with a few koi in. Now winters here, withdrawal symtoms have set in. As a result, I now have a 100 galon heated vat in the garage with a few small fish in. I have two questions please. At the start of this thread, somebody mentioned 'duncans how to guide'. Can anybody tell me where to find this please? Also, does anybody know where I could get some nice baby koi from in my area, derby or nottingham, that I could grow on for my pond next year?

Thanks.

Dave.

http://www.koiquest.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for all of Duncans stuff. Can recomend his book very highly also his healthcare courses are brill

Update on mine

Well I gave away 56 in the end and still have 40 in the pond!!! couldnt believe how many I had. They are all doing very well and are up to 3" and nice and fat. A real set of Heinz 57's though a few do look like they might be nice ones

Unfortunately I have lost a few of the big koi. I had a massive fluke and trich outbreak which meant I got ulcers on a few of them. Took several treatments to nuke them. Then I had an outbreak of columnaris on the ulcers which claimed 4 victims. Hemisulphate and acriflavine seems to have stabilised things but of course its bloody cold and no healing is taking place. I have 900W of heating in and can maintain 16c when its zero outside and 18 when is +8 like today but wife is complaining about leccy bills etc. As I said to her its cheaper than new fish. May have to sneak another 300W in to try and get over 18 to heal things

As far as I can tell, the babies totally escaped the trich and I've not found a dead one yet. Plan is now to grow on the babies and select the best to replace the lost big uns and pass on the rest