I am curious- I know body shape has something do with Koi gender and I am wonder how to actually tell the difference.
Does profile have anything to do with it, or is it all from bird's eye view? I have 4 koi that have sleek, almost pointy nosed profiles and 1 that has more like a bump for his/her head profile. Not good descriptions but I see all this stuff because they are in an aquarium. I can try to get pictures tonight.
Koi sexing
Ok, this is how you tell. You have to grab the koi, flip it over upside down, run your thumb and index finger down the stomach, if milt comes out male, if some eggs come out female. You have to do this in spring. Also in spring if koi are skinny there probably male, and if there fat there female.
Rich
If the Koi are around 8" long you can tell by the shape of the pectoral fins. The girls have a rounded shape on the side closest to the body and the male fins have a more pointed,narrow look. The other way is to watch them to see who is chasing who. The males try to pin the females down to get them to release their eggs.
Hmm ok. ...so it has nothing to do with profile? (looking at a fish from the side) I'll post pics. These two fish have very distinct profiles from one another.
The difference is mainly between the dorsal fin (?) and the mouth. I tried to put the pics together in one document but I couldn't figure it out, sorry! See what I mean though?
By the way, what's going on with the white one's scales? See the ones that photograph dull- they look like that in person if you see them in the right direction. I always assumed it was just "poor quality" but maybe it's something worse?
Nope. Nothing to do with profile. Koi and other Fish are like Humans. Certain ones can be sharp profiled or kinda lumpy,bumpy,short,long,wide,narrow, well,you get my drift☺
Nothing wrong looking bout the white one to me. It looks healthy and scales can have a variety of different-looking,different colors,even different sizes on the same fish. If something is wrong,not to worry, you will notice it.☺
Thank you posy :) lumpy,bumpy,short,long,wide,narrow lolol, funny!
You might want to hide the tri-color because i'm gonna steal it .
=] LOL
Nice fish
Rich
My females are already showing the egg plumping wider girth. Males have remained slim. Remember, if you have a 2 year old 5 inch fish, you most likely will not have a mature fish anyway.
Lol I didn't know that tricolor was any good Rich, I just liked his yellowness. :)
Yea I know they aren't mature enough...they are still very young. I was just curious since I could tell a physical difference. I have no intention of encouraging breeding! That's for sure. I do have one fish that seems to look permanently overfed, with a poochy belly, just behind the gills but it doesn't seem to be wideness, just like koi potbelly Hmmmm hehe
With koi, in smaller ponds, unless you protect the eggs immediately, they will eat them, so you usually don't end up with baby koi. Breeding is the easy part, keeping the eggs and fry is much more difficult.
MerryMary; it's known that they eat the eggs, will they eat their fries? I meant the babies when they're still little? I've some mature Kois, I thought I may have some fries, but can't be certain (they could be baby gold fish). Some common gold fish share the pond, and their babies seemed to have faired well for the duration. My pond is nearly 2 years of age. The Kois however, are older.
Koi it the eggs and the fry.... Thats why I take the koi out when they spawn.
Rich
Ouch!!! So I can't really blame on the Bullfrog that occassionally visits the pond, could I? lol. Although, their activities slow down quite a bit. I can still see many baby fish in the pond. Thanks Rich for the added info.
Kim
The bullfrogs! O geez! They are koi killers! Anything under 6" they eat. Try to keep them to a minimum?
You better post some pic of your fry. =]
Happy ponding. [in the cold for most!] hehe
Rich
Oh, I dreaded that news. But with the weather turning cold. I haven't seen the "Bull" for weeks. Maybe he retrieved elsewhere? In early spring/summer, I can hear him SINGs, but not a sight of him for a while, I hope he's gone.
me2
Rick
Thanks Rich,
I'll post some pictures in the near future when it isn't to cold to venture out. :-) I hope the frog reads my sentiment....too cold to venture. lol.
Kim
HAH
have a god night
Rich
I have read where the koi will eat the fry until the fry are of a certain age - I think it was that the koi fry were 3 days old before the adult koi recognized the fry as being 'koi'.
I know that this past year we ended up with a ton of the koi fry and we had to get them out of the pond. We got what we could and took them to a friend who owns a nursery. We have noticed that there are still about 10 + fry that are still in the pond. Some we wanted to keep - but not all that we ended up with. I tiwll be worse this year as more of our fish will be of a breeding age.
Time will tell
Carolyn
This year I am going to have all female fish in my pond and eliminate reproduction completely. At least that is what I am planning to do.Those tricky fish might have another plan☺
Hi Lu, so can you identify a koi's gender by looking at them yet? It's going to be quite a challenge for me. Simply I've assigned their names randomly. "Spot" "China Doll" ect. It would look funny to call a male fish "China Doll" hmmmmm
Kim
KIM, I think I can, I think I can said the little red engine☺HA!Naming gender names could add to identity confusion so do be careful♂ Kim☺☺. I have a backup plan just in case I can't☻ I will put all the ones in question in their own separate pond and take another look at the shape of pectoral fins and behavior before I give those bad boys away☺My girls are very well behaved,unlike those rowdy,pushy boys☺
LU
Lol, you're so much fun. Ok, do tell, what in the pectoral fins am I looking for? I think I'm ready for Koi's lesson 101.
Kim
Really hard to tell by pec fins...
Rich
OH STOP,you are making me laugh! This is your "Doctorate" we are working on here Kim☺
The female pectoral fins are round looking on the side towards the body. The males are straight and kinda pointed on the ends. I confess I just use this to make certain I have the right gender after I watch to see who is trying to pin down who. The males are relentless in chasing females with eggs and will pin them down in their quest to get the female to release her eggs for them to fertilize.
The pic is a female.Note the fin shape on the right? I am looking for a pic of a male,but can't find a good one yet.
LU
Ooh, how cool is that. It's sort of rounded. I can see it now. Thanks Lu, lol. Doctoral degree? Tehehehehehe, maybe my next life time. lol.
Kim
Are we reproducing Koi? My clients just want to know which is "prettier". If it's fairly easy to enable reproduction I WOULD be interested.
practice,practice Rich,then it's not so hard☺especially if the fish are really tame☺
Not me wren,I am trying to separate the boys from the girls so there will be no more reproducing☺.
If you are looking for the recipe for reproduction of Koi,put one male in with 3 females, add some string algae and you will have hundreds in one short season☺
Remember, moving the males out of your pond won't stop the females from developing eggs. Sometimes you NEED the males in order for the females to release their eggs and not get "egg bound" which sometimes can kill a female. Even if you don't bother with the eggs or the fry and just let them be a protien snack for your fish, you still want the fish you DO have to remain healthy.
Rich...the large yellow butterfly I got from you is something I'd be interested in again, if you find one while clearing your ponds for the elite group. Let me know if you find another.
How big is he/she now?
I have a whole lot of gin rin yellow/whites and a few kohakus.
LEt me know..
Rich
MerryMary, my book indicates there is no health issue if the female does not release the eggs,ever. Could you tell me where your information comes from to the contrary? I don't want to risk the females health in any way, I just don't want anymore reproduction. I have a moral issue about letting the fish eat the eggs after watching the baby develop inside and I just can't provide them as food when it isn't necessary for the health of my fish, they are more than just fish to me,they are my friends☺
MerryMary, thanks for the heads up about females becoming egg bound. I just checked some sites out and in the North where I am,it could be a problem.
One site states that in the North if the temp drops before the eggs are absorbed back into the body or discharged,they could die by becoming egg bound. I will have to try finding more info before I try all females in my pond. The fluctuations of temps in Pennsylvania might cause an eggbound problem.
Back to the drawing board☺