Hey everyone, most know me by flkoifarm but we have undergone a name change.
With spring time coming up it;s that time of year again! Spawning time! yayyayyayay! So I am thinking of posting progression on 2 types I am going to focus on this year, kohaku and goshiki. Would anyone want me to post the step by step process? I would love to but need some input here!
Thanks all,
Rich
Would you guys like?
Hi Rich,
Could you please explain to me what you mean by kohaku and goshiki. Are you specicfying a type of koi? Don't mean to sound ignorant but I honestly don't know what you are talking about. Thanks. Sandy
Hi, kohaku and goshiki are types of koi. Each color koi has names and if they have different colors they also have names. I'll post some pics of what I'm talking about.
Rich
I would appreciate that rich as I have a koi pond and have 17 koi in it. Maybe I have one or two that you are talking about. Who knows !!!!!!
Here is a kohaku.
Goshiki
wow they are beautiful. Bet they don't survive the Chicago winters do they.?
They do....
Can you tell me what a lemon colored koi is. Meaning is it a special type of koi?
All lemon colored or a lemn and white color?
One of my koi is a solid lemon color. Just out of curiousity was wondering if it was a different kind of koi. He really "lights" up the pond with his color and I have had him several years. I don't get any babies that are this color though. I have many that are blue/white, orange/white, black/white, he's the only yellow.
I need to find pictures to post so you can see.
Hi, the yellow koi is a yamabuki ogon. The red and white koi is called a kohaku. the black and white koi are called shiro bekos/shiro utsuri. Do you have any pics?
Rich
Rich yes I do have pictures. I will try soon to get them on. I really appreciate the info.. Are the ones I have very common or is the lemon one unusual? How big will the lemon colored one get. I know that he like the others have really grown in the past few years. They are so friendly ,sometimes too friendly and I get worried as I battle the herons every spring and fall here. I do net but I still worry. Do you own a Koi place? Sounds like you really specialize in them.
Hi, yes I do have a koi farm. Yamabuki ogon are pretty common. Yamabuki get bigger then most koi because they are solid colored. 1 colored koi grow faster and bigger the mult. koi
Rich
Rich,
that is interesting. Is that all solid color koi get larger or only the yamabuki? I ask because I do have a couple of solid colored koi - I do have a kigoi with the red eyes too - got him last year.
Carolyn
All solid color koi get bigger, not just yamabuki. A red eyed kigoi!!!!! lucky!
Any pics?
Also how have you been? Haven;t been on here for a while
Rich
Rich,
I have been good - how about you. Did the in-law thing for the holidays...... How were your holidays?
We lucked out when we got the Kigoi. His color was what drew my DH to him and it wasn't until after we had him home did we realize that his eyes are red. I dont' have any pictures that really show his eyes - when you first look at him, you look again because the red eyes give him a rather strange appearance.
I have attached this picture - the water is a bit green, however, the kigoi is at the top over towards the left. This was taken back in October. Hopefully I will get better pictures this coming Spring.
Carolyn
Rich,
This picture is better, but it is still hard to see his red eyes. The picture isn't really very clear, but the Kigoi is in the lower right side of the picture.
Carolyn
You have got some really nice koi in their. BEAUTIFUL!!
btw did you ever need that gift card?
Rich
You know Rich, I decided to put that on the back burner. I ended up with so much stuff for my DH for Christmas. Thank you anyway - I know I will be talking to you again about it.
Carolyn
Ok, No problem. So how many fish are you putting in your pond in spring?
=]
Rich
Rich here is a picture of some of my koi, you will see the lemon colored one in the picture.
Backspace -
Your fish are beatiful - how big is your Yamabuki? Did you name him? Some of mine have names and some don't.
Rich - We dont' know how many or if we'll be adding any fish this year. We have 15 koi and then there are about 5-8 babies that we were not able to catch last fall to take to my friend's pond. Right now, the biggest problem we are having is with their breeding - we took 30 over to my friend last fall. We had planned on trying the egg sponges to see if that helps to alieviate the problem.
Carolyn
Carolyn22 - Same situation here. I'd love to add a really good quality Gin Rin Kohaku or Asagi but...............when we shut off the pumps and filters late last November we took a rough head count of fry. About 200! Even though we have bitter winters here survival rates are extremely good. What are egg sponges?
Carolyn-
NO I haven't named him yet. When I first started water gardening I named all my fish and was so devastated when I lost them the following year either to heron (s) or not enough air circulation in the winter, I stopped naming them. The yamabuki is about 14-16 inches long. I've had him a couple of years now. He was a present to me on mothers day from my youngest son. He's the only one that I have that is a solid color.
I agree with you that once they hit a certain size they start multiplying like crazy. This year though I only got 2 babies because for the first time ever I had a visitor, a small turtle and I know that he ate my fry. I could never catch him. He was very quick. I was a little disappointed with not getting many babies but I do have 17 koi and I think that's enough for me for now.
How long have you water gardened? how big is your pond? What are egg sponges out of curiousity?
Backspace- Nice koi! The yamabuki is awesome!! Also the kohaku butterfly is sweet!
Snapple45- I have kohaku gin rin and asagi.
Let me know if I can help.
Rich
Snapple/Backspace
Apparently the correct terminology is spawning rope http://www.koicarp.net/filtration/media/spawning_ropes.html. I remember seeing them for sale last year. I believe it was in the Spring - which would make sense. My DH and I are thinking that hopefully, the koi would use the spawning rope and that it is a matter of pulling these ropes out of the water before the fish hatch. All I know is that we were inundated with fry this past year and it was horrible to try to catch the fry to get them out of the pond - all the fish were terrified.
We first noticed the fry around May and then the second time was early July. I do know we were having clarity problems last year due to silt and we thought we would have noticed the fry sooner if there had not been having the clarity issues. This past year was the first year with the fry prolem.
Our pond is just under 5000 gallons. We started out with a 90 gallon Walmart pond, enlarged to 1100 gallons and then the year before this last, went to our current size. We don't have room to go any bigger as we are in town and our house is on 1/3 of an acre - so this is it. We have been ponding for a total of 6-7 years and only last year have we had the problems with the koi babies.
We have a friend that owns a Nursery and she sells regular things like petunias, etc - but she also sells pond plants, koi and she has her own pond. We took the fish to her last year and quite frankly - I didn't care whether she sold them or put them in her own pond - as long as they didn't die.
Next year we will have more koi that will be of breeding age - I am hoping the spawning ropes work!
Carolyn
it appears that I lost my link. Try this one for koi spawning ropes. http://www.pondkoi.com/koi_reproduction.htm
Carolyn
