My kids just picked out two additional koi from our local supplier and the yellow butterfly is filled with eggs. I am very new at koi/ponds with this being only my first season (pond was just completed a month ago). It's my understanding this fish will spawn in 10-14 days when the weather warms up. I have a quaranteen tank set up for emergencies and such and could use it to raise spawn. Is this a silly thing to do with myself being so new to this hobby (boy is it addicting)? I have read numerous websites on everything it entails and I am interested in giving it a try but wonder if I am crazy. I was thinking about making the spawning mops myself. How long would I make them and how many of them? My pond is 4500 gallons and I have a total of 11 koi mostly 6-9 inches in size a mix of butterfly and regular.
More newbie questions-Koi spawn
They sell spawning mops on ebay, that look like 4 foot long bottle brushes. They work very well. You can also use the cotton mop tops (like for normal mops) because they are also transferable if the koi are already spawning and you can't move them, so moving the spawning medium is easier (when they're done)
I also (out of curiousity) bought some off ebay that someone makes. They were very inexpensive, and worth buying instead of making. They were long strands of yarn, in bundles, with corks at the top, to float/dangle in the water. My large goldfish loved them.
Your water temps need to be fairly warm, and not go up and down from night to day. The longest day is June 21st, so sometimes if your water temps havent done it, the length of the day can.
I've noticed that the fish usually spawn around 6am, or just as the sun is coming up. I'm sure that's not always the case for everyone, but mine have been consistent.
6 am??? I guess I'll be missing that action . . . I read online how to make those spawning mops myself (the ones with the yarn and cork). The brushes I understand are better because the fish can't reach into the brushes and eat the eggs.
What have I gotten myself into?
Well, despite the efforts made, you will still end up with only a teeny proportion of fish from the eggs actually laid. First, they eat them as they come out.....then they attack even more, like vaccum cleaners (and they can suck even the spawning brushes dry in no time!).....and then the ones you finally move, get fungus, so you lose half.....then a few will actually hatch......only to be eaten by something goofy (in my case tadpoles).....and then the ones that survive are all muddy colored and nasty......but.....
but....
but....
you find one orange one a month later...and you love him for life.
and you vow it wasn't worth the effort at all...
but...
the next year you start all over again with excitement!
:D
Give it a shoot, but your first issue is going to be feeding the fry...
Thanks for the encouragement. I read about the brine shrimp and happen to know a lot of about them already. As a kid I did a science project on Artemia (Brine Shrimp) and about how their eggs can live thousands of years. I got interested in them after learning about that gimicky toy/hobby "Sea Monkeys" (brine shrimp). In the marketing on the package they showed these little swimming monkeys with a human like appearance and a little royal kingdom under water.
Maybe this is my destiny. . .
Lol....oh I definitely remember Sea Monkey....and that you could train them (so the package said) The dad always had a crown.
:)
Yeah that's right (the reference to the crown). Unfortunately, my Sea Monkeys must have been from the low rent district. Poorly educated and no crown jewels. . .
MM,
Best of luck to you. - I know that we have had a problem and were inundated with baby koi last year. We didn't notice them until the fry were about an inch or so long. Part of the reason we didn't notice them sooner was that we were having clarity problems with the water - apparently what I was using for planting my waterlilies was leaving a lot of silt in the water, but anyway, you may very well luck out. Like I said we had bunches of baby koi last year and did nothing to transfer eggs or anything.
If you look in the picture I have attached in the upper right hand corner, there are 2 of the babies that we did not catch last year - the little kohaku we planned on keeping, the other didn't make it into the batches we caught to remove from the pond and put into my friends pond that sells water plants, fish, etc. Right now, they are probably about 4-5" long.
This year, we have the home made spawning mops in the pond with the idea of watching and waiting and when they lay their eggs we will transfer the mops to a tank that is waiting for them. It should be easier this way than to try to catch them like we did last year - you definitely have the right idea.
I noticed that you are in the same zone that I am in and if is only recently that the fish have started to act amorous towards each other. I have to believe your length of day is the same and my pond is only slightly larger than yours, so your water temps are probably similar.
Good luck and please let us know how you do.
Your picture is cute to see. Nice to know the fish can make it on their own if I miss out somehow. My fish are so new to the pond that they aren't predictable. They don't just swim around in a relaxed fashion except at night (I can watch them from my bedroom window on the second floor). Occasionally they swim about during the day in the group but once they see us or hear a vibration they quickly swim away and hide. I doubt I would notice any "action" happening in the pond.