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It's Koi spawning season again.
You can allow the pond inhabitants to gobble up the eggs and tiny fry, or you can save them with this simple device.
In spring as the water warms, some of your Koi will get frisky. A male will select a particular female and chase her around the pond for hours or days. Occasionally, the female will jump clear out of the pond to escape him. A barrier fence during spawning season is a good idea, and will also retard Heron losses. Eventually, the female will submit to his badgering and decide to lay her eggs.
The fish will usually pick large strong underwater leaves, plants or a container that is covered with moss on which to lay the eggs. The female will roll up on her side and squeeze out the very sticky eggs while the male follows immediately behind and fertilizes them with a milky sperm. There can be 2000 to 50,000 eggs in a single spawn depending upon the size of the female.
In our pond we noticed that the fish all seemed to spawn onto a particular container that looked like a beatniks head. It was heavily covered with fur algae and the eggs seem to get buried within the long strands of hairlike algae. The problem was that we had to rip off the algae to gather the eggs, and this method only gathered a portion of the spawn. In an attempt to duplicate this in other ponds, we created floating furry baskets that have been quite successful at being the chosen location for a Koi spawn. The baskets are a man-made fur like material suspended from a floating ring. What turned out to be an un-planned benefit, was that we could reach into the bag, grab the bottom, then invert it back into the water. Now, the eggs were all on the inside of the basket and safe. We have used this method now for several years and it has made our spawns much more predictable. The baskets are placed into each pond when the water climbs to 60F degrees. Then we watch and wait. When a pair spawns, we invert the baskets as soon as they finish. The eggs will start hatching within days. This gives us time to prepare a 200 gallon tank for them. We fill it with anacharis, top it with duckweed, and provide good circulation. The new fry will be almost too small to see. Then, a small percentage will grow much faster than the others and become cannibalistic, eating their brothers and sisters. We have yet to find a way to stop this. Overfeeding did not help, the bigger fish just got bigger and more aggressive. The best solution seems to be providing heavy cover for the new fry.
So far, we seem to end up with about 10% of the fry after one year. Still not bad, as 5000 eggs means about 500 one year old Koi. Somewhere in their first year, the cannibalism stops and I've never witnessed Koi attacking one another beyond their first few months.
The Spawning Baskets are available in several sizes Small - 13" Diameter, Medium - 16" Diameter, Large - 18" Diameter . Small for fish to 2 pounds, Medium for fish 2-10 pounds, Large for fish 10 pounds and larger.
You can allow the pond inhabitants to gobble up the eggs and tiny fry, or you can save them with this simple device.
In spring as the water warms, some of your Koi will get frisky. A male will select a particular female and chase her around the pond for hours or days. Occasionally, the female will jump clear out of the pond to escape him. A barrier fence during spawning season is a good idea, and will also retard Heron losses. Eventually, the female will submit to his badgering and decide to lay her eggs.
The fish will usually pick large strong underwater leaves, plants or a container that is covered with moss on which to lay the eggs. The female will roll up on her side and squeeze out the very sticky eggs while the male follows immediately behind and fertilizes them with a milky sperm. There can be 2000 to 50,000 eggs in a single spawn depending upon the size of the female.
In our pond we noticed that the fish all seemed to spawn onto a particular container that looked like a beatniks head. It was heavily covered with fur algae and the eggs seem to get buried within the long strands of hairlike algae. The problem was that we had to rip off the algae to gather the eggs, and this method only gathered a portion of the spawn. In an attempt to duplicate this in other ponds, we created floating furry baskets that have been quite successful at being the chosen location for a Koi spawn. The baskets are a man-made fur like material suspended from a floating ring. What turned out to be an un-planned benefit, was that we could reach into the bag, grab the bottom, then invert it back into the water. Now, the eggs were all on the inside of the basket and safe. We have used this method now for several years and it has made our spawns much more predictable. The baskets are placed into each pond when the water climbs to 60F degrees. Then we watch and wait. When a pair spawns, we invert the baskets as soon as they finish. The eggs will start hatching within days. This gives us time to prepare a 200 gallon tank for them. We fill it with anacharis, top it with duckweed, and provide good circulation. The new fry will be almost too small to see. Then, a small percentage will grow much faster than the others and become cannibalistic, eating their brothers and sisters. We have yet to find a way to stop this. Overfeeding did not help, the bigger fish just got bigger and more aggressive. The best solution seems to be providing heavy cover for the new fry.
So far, we seem to end up with about 10% of the fry after one year. Still not bad, as 5000 eggs means about 500 one year old Koi. Somewhere in their first year, the cannibalism stops and I've never witnessed Koi attacking one another beyond their first few months.
The Spawning Baskets are available in several sizes Small - 13" Diameter, Medium - 16" Diameter, Large - 18" Diameter . Small for fish to 2 pounds, Medium for fish 2-10 pounds, Large for fish 10 pounds and larger.
This is another fantastic idea created by pond folks. Check out our
"Pond Tips" for other great ideas.
