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First Time Koi Grandparent

 





 


koiRfriends
Koi Lover

Oct 24, 2005, 8:44 AM

Post #1 of 4 (871 views)
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First Time Koi Grandparent Can't Post
Hello again, Just when I thought everything was taken care of.... You may recall me from a few months ago asking questions about building a new pond and then again how to keep predators away. Well, I now have now 5 was 3 baby koi about 1" long each and lots more questions. Obviously, I had no idea my koi were breeding. Either they didn't like their previous home or it didn't provide enough hiding spots for any fry they did have. I don't even know which koi are what gender. Here are my questions:
1) at 1" are the koi safe from being eaten by the 11"-12" adults? (I do have a water lily and some other plant that floats on the surface of the water along with some crevices from the rocks they could probably hide in).
2) my pond is about 7' by 9' and 3' deep (varies) I have the 4 adult koi and now the 3 babies(unless of course more show up - it seems like everytime I look there's another little one it's making me very nervous). Am I going to have problems with water quality not that I have these 3 others?
3) the adult koi are pigs and I'm not sure how to get food to the little guys. Even if I distract the adults at one end while powdering up gold fish flakes where the frys hang out I'm afraid that the flakes won't get to the bottom where the frys are hanging out. Any ideas on how to get the frys fed?
4) if #2's answer is yes I'm going to have a problem, is it possible to sell/give the babies to an aquarium?
5) how can I tell the gender of my koi. The koi books don't seem to help by saying the female will look fat when looking down and the males will have nodules on their heads and gils. Yeah right, as if I can get that close to see nodules. And frankly, they all look the same shape to me. I do have one that is bigger than the others and she has been acting kinda moody lately???

Thanks again for any help you can give me and the babies Sly they sure are cute little guys.


(This post was edited by koiRfriends on Oct 24, 2005, 9:26 AM)


larz1
Koi Kichi


Oct 24, 2005, 12:30 PM

Post #2 of 4 (860 views)
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Re: [koiRfriends] First Time Koi Grandparent [In reply to] Can't Post
Your pond is roughly 1100 gallons, so you are sized properly for 110" total fish with normal filtration/aeration. If your 4 adults are 11-12" you've got plenty of room for the fry to grow without overcrowding. Enjoy watching them grow a bit before you decide to move them out, it's fun (and addictive)Wink. You may have several more hiding out that you haven't even seen yet so don't be surprized if 3 turns into 10Shocked. If they have avoided being eaten thus far (at 1" they are probably a month old) they're probably going to be fine. When they grow another inch or two they'll actually start hanging out with their parents instead of hiding out so much. The small fry mainly feed on algae rather than fish food but go ahead and feed some ground up pellets(they sink when you crush them) near where they hang out. In a matter of weeks they will begin to develop coloring which will change and grow steadily over the next several months. If you decide you want to thin them out we have an adoption forum on this website, which is how I passed most of mine along. We adopted out about 150 this summer and kept a few dozen to grow out for ourselves.
Females are generally thicker bodied while males tend to be torpedo shaped, but koi can't read the rules so sometimes they break them. The easiest way to tell is when they are spawning, as the female will get extra plump and the males will chase her all over the pond, pushing her against the walls to force her to lay the eggs so they can spray them with their milt. Male gill plates can have a sandpaper like texture and the white faced males tend to be yellowish more often than the females do. There are usually subtle differences in the shape of pectoral and anal fins, but it takes a very practiced eye (better than mine) to sex them accurately that way.


koiRfriends
Koi Lover

Oct 24, 2005, 12:56 PM

Post #3 of 4 (855 views)
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Re: [larz1] First Time Koi Grandparent [In reply to] Can't Post
Thanks a bunch for the speedy reply. I feel much better now although still scared to go out and look for fear they have multiplied even more. I'll have to give the guy who built my pond a call and tell him what a great job he did.... or at least the koi think so. I'll check out the adoption board - thanks for that tip too. I think then given your 'plump' description that I have one female and the other 3 are male... poor gal. Meanwhile, I guess I'll come up with some names for the fry.
Thanks again!


larz1
Koi Kichi


Oct 24, 2005, 9:42 PM

Post #4 of 4 (841 views)
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Re: [koiRfriends] First Time Koi Grandparent [In reply to] Can't Post
Most of ours have names now tooWink. This year was our first spawning (we had two about 3 weeks apart) so it has been an interesting learning experience to say the least. We got to watch the first one so we were able to remove most of the eggs to a hatchery pool, but a few slipped by and hatched in the main pond. The second spawn took place while we were not looking so they were all on their own from the start just like yours. Have fun with them 'cause watching them grow and change is a blastCool.

 
 
 



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