Spawning Koi

This article was written by a koi enthusiast and shares his knowledge on how to spawn your koi. During the breeding season, female koi tend to be bloated and round because of all the eggs that they are carrying in their ovaries. Male koi remain quite slim and are shaped like a torpedo. To spot a male fish, their pectoral fins tend to be bigger and more pointed that the female, but not all the time. Sometimes, the males can exhibit a rough surface on the skin. To be absolutely sure, gently press the selected fish along its lower abdomen wall with a thumb and a forefinger. If it is a male fish, they will show some milt from the vent. Females, however, will produce eggs. While doing this, be careful to handle to fish with caution. If you don’t want to touch the fish, try observing them. Females obviously lay the eggs, while the male fish does the chasing. For further observation, you can view Koi structure under a compound light microscope.

When it comes to paring the fish, pair those of the same variety of you want offspring with the same coloring and classification. This is usually achieved through trial and error. Some breeders pair two different types of koi in the hopes of producing a different breed, but sometimes they only produce ordinary, garden variety koi. A pair that produces high quality champion koi should be kept as pairs for every breeding season.

There are certain preparations that the breeder must achieve before spawning of the koi. The author recommends separating the males and females from each other for at least a month before letting them spawn. He also adds that he does not feed the parent fish for a couple of days before they spawn.

When the actual spawning takes place, this can last about 1-3 days after the males and the females are introduced and placed in the same pond. Breeders should take note that several factors can affect the spawning process. These include the temperature, the condition of the water or pressure changes in the pond. As soon as there are fertilized eggs, the suggests removing them and moving them to a separate pond because the parent fish tend to eat them. This can be made easier by spawning ropes or brushes instead of trying to fish the eggs out of the water, since they can be widely scattered in the pond. The separate pond for the eggs should be the same temperature of the spawning ponds and must be well oxygenated.

Observe the eggs as they will hatch in about 4-5 days. Another way of viewing them is under a microscope like the compound light microscope. Handle the fry or the baby fish very carefully because they are very sensitive. They can be moved by using plastic bags or a mesh net when they are only a few days old.

When feeding the fry, they need live and natural feed to live on in order to grow rapidly. A proper pond environment allows for the growth of daphnia and infusoria, on which the fry feed on. No artificial or dried food should be fed to the fry for at least six to eight weeks because it may damage the gills and possibly pollute the pond, encouraging the buildup or ammonia which is very fatal for the fry. A compound light microscope may be used to monitor koi fry.

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It’s that time of year again ! If you want your koi to spawn now is the time.

Sexing Fish.

Females, especially in season are far more rounded than male fish which tend to be slim at all times. The pectoral fins of male fish tend to be larger and more pointed than those of female fish, but this is by no means always the case. During the breeding season, male fish can display a rough surface to the gill plates, again however, not always. To be sure, net the chosen fish and apply gentle pressure along the lower abdomen wall with your thumb and forefinger towards the vent. Male fish show signs of milt from the vent, whereas females in season will provide eggs! This operation should however be performed with great care so as not to injure the fish.

I find the only sure way to sex fish is to watch the fish. The ones that lay eggs are female, the ones that chase are the males !!!

Pairing

This is always initially a process of trial and error. Always pair like varieties if you are trying to produce a certain variety. For example, if you are trying to breed kohakus, use kohaku male and female fish. Whilst crossing a kohaku and sanke/showa is acceptable, crossing a kohaku and a Yamabuki for instance will probably produce only ghost and black koi. Remember that male genes tend to be dominant in any pairing. Always select adult fish only to ensure successful spawnings. Once you have found a pairing that gives some good fish – keep it. If you find a pairing that produces show winners, give me a ring I’ll buy them!!

Preparation

Separate males and females at least one month before you intend to spawn the fish. Provide a reasonably small pond – ideal 2 x 3 x 1 metre deep Or use a spawning net in your main pond. Don’t feed the parent fish for a few days before you expect the fish to spawn. Prepare your growing on pond(s) by seeding them with chicken manure or (if you are worried about your koi catching salmonella!) use leaf mould to encourage the production of infusoria and daphnia which the koi fry will need in abundance from day one.

Spawning.

Spawning usually takes place 1 – 3 days after introducing male(s) to the female(s). It can take place at any time of day or night, unfortunately, typically spawning seems to happen around two am (about the same time as most babies are born!). Spawning can be triggered by temperature changes, change in water conditions, introducing new fish or barometric pressure changes (i.e. thunder.)

Water Conditions

Koi will spawn when the water temperature reaches around 18 Deg +. As always, you need to ensure prime water conditions with zero ammonia or other pollutants present. I have found that the addition of Refresh or similar clay products to the water can to get them going ! To achieve and maintain the necessary water temperatures earlyish in the season (late May) it is a good idea to provide heated conditions so that you can achieve a spawning as early as possible to maximise the length of the growing season.

Spawning media

I recommend using purpose made spawning ropes (see picture). These are soft and easy to handle. Don’t use blanket weed – it is too difficult to collect the eggs without damaging them. A good quantity of media is required to collect all the eggs and encourage spawning. Handling Eggs

Remove eggs as soon as they are laid to prevent parents eating them. This is obviously easy to do if you have used spawning ropes. Move eggs on ropes to vat or separate tank for hatching. This should contain water of approximately the same temperature as the spawning pond and should be well oxygenated. It does not however need to be filtered. Eggs introduced straight into growing on ponds are vulnerable to predators such as snails, tadpoles and dragon fly larvae etc. Having worked so hard to achieve the spawning in the first place, don’t use them as a food source for the local pond wild life!

Handling Fry

Once the fry have hatched, after about 4-5 days, depending on temperature you will need to move them to the growing on ponds. Fry can be moved even when a few days old using plastic bags or fine mesh net. Handle with care however since they are easily damaged.

Culling

Now comes the tricky part. To cull fry successfully you must: a. know the parent stocks. b. be Japanese! c. have extremely good eyesight. d. have a modicum of experience. However there are a few basic principles that should be followed. For example, Utsuris and Showas should produce black fry. Whites and reds develop. You should destroy any fry which are not black. With kohaku /Sanke fry will tend to be orange or orange and white. Any pure white or black should be culled. If you are breeding patterned fish you should generally speaking destroy all plain coloured fry. Personally I find that the fry need to be at least 6-8 weeks old before I can see what I am doing! The Japanese breeders start culling generally at 4 weeks. As the fish get larger, cull out any with deformities, missing fins, two heads etc. Ideally you should cull several times in the season, but in practical terms I find that Herons and Kingfishers do more culling than I do!. Culling is clearly important to reduce numbers to ensure that the fish that you want reach a reasonable size by the end of the season..

Feeding

The fry need an ample supply of live, natural food if they are to survive and grow quickly. Providing the proper growing on pond environment is the surest way to provide a good supply of daphnia and infusoria, on which the fry will develop. Whilst tempting. no dry or artificial food should be given to fry for at least six to eight weeks – it can damage the gills and is also likely to pollute the growing on pond. Any slight build up of ammonia or nitrite will kill fry very quickly indeed.

Growing On

Fry normally reach between 2 and 4 inches by mid October assuming spawning in early June. Factors which will affect growth rates are: - temperature, food supply, volume of fish and variety. If you don’t cull, you may end up with a lot more babies, but they will be very much smaller than desired. Also of course, your food source will be depleted that much faster.

Unfortunately Runts and plain fish grow quickest !. Showa, Utsuri, Kohaku and Sanke seem to be slowest. Another reason why culling is so important.

The growing on environment is also important since baby koi don’t grow well in man made filtered ponds because of a lack of natural food and are vulnerable to pollutants in water especially nitrite.

Now sit back and wait till the middle of October with tremendous anticipation! Personally I can’t wait! Read more on this article