i have 1 koi and sumbumkins in an aqaurium in the house,i have 2 sumbumkins trying to poke at her butt,i have read somewhere that that is what males do to make her lay her eggs so they can fertilze them,is this true and is this what they are doing,i have no clue if it is a female or not plmk and any help would be appricaited,i dont know what to do lol please help thxs
aquarium/koi question
Certainly sounds like spawning behavior, but are you saying the "her" is the koi? It would be very unlikely for shubunkins to try and spawn with a koi.
Occasionally koi and fancy goldfish cross-breed. It sounds like normal mating behavior, but nothing may happen even if the behavior is taking place. Watch for other things such as illness etc. Usually, the mating behavior will take place in the morning. The fish will nudge the females against walls and plants. Look carefully to see if you can find any eggs stuck to plant leaves about an inch or 2 below the surface of the water. They will stick to whatever they first touch. However, the fish will also eat them almost immediately, so if you find a plant with them, you should remove the plant and put it in another tubby of water to protect the eggs from being eaten. They usually hatch in 4-7 days, depending on the temp of the water. If you see them getting white and fuzzy, they are bad, and will not hatch.
yes the koi is the "she" lol, i dont have nay plants in the aquarium because they have destryed them and i didnt put any back in, it looks to me that they are trying to "eat" them as they come out,that is if that is what is going on here lol,so i havent seen any eggs at all and was wondering if that is what is going on and i dont have naother tank to put her in,so i have to leave her where she is,if she is s she lol not sure of that yet,my pond was suppose ot be done by now and it isent,i had an accident and that project came to a screaching holt, so i guess it would be best if they do eat them,thatis is that is what is going on, because there isent enough room in the tank anywa y for more fish and then just let them have them in the pond when i get it done thxs so much for all your help,
is there a website that will show me what the eggs look lik etc? thxs again
The eggs would be round, opaque, and about 1/8".
There have been reports of a cross between a goldfish and a koi, but these would be accidents and not a result of active breeding. It is very unlikely your shubunkins would be trying to breed with a koi.........how big is this fish, and what is it that makes you think it's a koi? Does it have barbels?
it has wiskers let me see if i can take a pic of "her" lol
i hope this works
Sure enough! Can't wait to hear if you get fertilized eggs!
if she lays them when should i put them in a breeding chamber? when will they be fertilized?
Oh, I've never done anything like that, just let nature run it's course. The egss would get fertilized immediately. The fish are likely to eat them all before you even saw them though :(
yep that is what i thought too,do they eat them because they are hungary or that is part of nature?
We had a koi that looked just like yours. She/It got way too big for our tank though and I traded it to my hairdresser for a free haircut. She had outdoor ponds, so it had a great life with her.
We had other fish in our tank with the koi and the others would follow the koi around bumping her bottom......the only thing I ever saw them do though was eat her poop. They did that all the time.
This message was edited Sep 15, 2007 3:02 PM
well that is what i was wondering, and why? does anyone know of a good website that i could read up on on this subject? thxs everyone
I dunno, good source of protein?
I don't know why they do that. I have been told that they are bottom feeders though, so I would assume they do it all the time. I don't know of any websites.
well i havent seen them do this before is why i was wondering,do they have to be a certain age before they start to do this or did yours do it from the start?
Mine were older....I don't know how old though.....at least a year, maybe 2. I wish I could be of more help.
well that is how old mine is well over a 1 year anyway and yours still do that ?
I have a few comets that would follow around the fancytail goldfish, but the ft goldfish is sick now, so they are leaving it alone.
found this
http://www.koicarp.demon.co.uk/breeding.html
Thanks for the link, I wondered when mine would start breeding. Should be any time now, they are 3-4 yrs old and about 12-14". I had Goldfish that were hatched last year that spawned this year. They were way too young, I thought, they didn't.
A friend in the Watergarden club uses feather dusters, not real feathers, on a swim noodle as a spawning brush. He puts 3-4 dusters on about a 1' piece of kids styrofoam noodle things for the pool and then if he wants to give the eggs away he just hands you a duster and you give him a new one to replace his. He raises thousands of babies this way every year. I just put a clean mop head on one of the swim noodles and I had lots of goldfish eggs on it. Then you have the option of leaving it out in the sun to dry or putting the mop in a tank to let the eggs continue to grow and hatch.
well they are leaving ger along now and no eggs boohoo,so i guess i missed the eggs? thxs for al the info and help
Stinking goldfish are spawning again tonite. I threw my spawning mop in there so maybe I can remove the eggs. I think she was laying on one of my lilies. I guess I should have taken that pot out of the pond tonite.
ok i would love to know what the spawning mop is? can you make one or have to buy it? plmk and good luck dylancgc saving the babies
You actually can use a normal (new) mop head, the kind with the long cotton strands......They also have spawning ropes that are like jumbo bottle brushes. Really, anything that's clean, that can be removed from the main pond when you see eggs stuck on it, will work. If you see eggs on you lily pads or plants, you can remove the plant (if they're potted) and put it in a kiddy pool with water, or large rubbermaid tubby with water.
ok great thxs so much
but if you put it in a kiddie pool do you have to keep it warm(if it isent warm outside) and airiated? sorry but new to this and would love to learn now so i wont be"oh no dont know nothing" lol and loose them all thxs again
When my goldfish were spawning this spring I put some water hyacinth plants in as they love to lay eggs in the roots. I would check them each morning and if they had a lot of eggs they plant got moved into another decorative pool that I have which is very shallow (about ten inches). After a few days I would move the plants back as the eggs hatched. It is probably about 8 feet long at the longest point and a bit under 4 feet long at the widest point (kind of curvy so length and width varies). I did not put anything in this pond to add extra oxygen or filtration and the fry did very well.