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how to get started

 





 


mary1208
New User

Apr 29, 2006, 8:37 PM

Post #1 of 4 (779 views)
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how to get started Can't Post
Hi all - I'm new to this site but excited that I found it! We moved to a new house last year that had a 4000-5000 gallon outdoor lined pond full of koi. We have about 20 large koi, ranging from 12 - 24" long, in a variety of colors and about 25 smaller ones - 4 - 8" most in darker colors.

We've got an understanding finally on how to maintain the water, manage the filters, net it in the fall, keep them breathing during the winter, etc. Now we're wondering about breeding and selling them. We are buying a spawning net this weekend, but have no clue as to the how, when, where of this process. Any advice or ideas anyone has on the basics to this for us would be appreciated.

Secondly, we are interested in trying to sell some of them - both large and small. Those of you who have gone through this process - what do you recommend? It looks like we should put them in a separate container to take the pictures, but where is the best place to post them for sale and what are the going prices by size? How do you ship them or do you only offer them locally?

Sorry for all the questions - but I know you experts out there are dying to help us out! Wink
Mary


zoul
Member

May 1, 2006, 10:23 PM

Post #2 of 4 (739 views)
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Re: [mary1208] how to get started [In reply to] Can't Post
Dear Mary
koi breading is easy. Just let them do it, they will spawn any where they can. the trick bit comes after that as the parents and adults will see the eggs as a food and eat them so you gotta be quick if you wanna save them. trouble is with uncontroled spawning you get a mix of all koi. This is becouse several males will chase a female and the offspring will be all mixed, (unless you only have shiro beckos only)
also you have other problems when selling your koi. Myself i don't like to buy koi that are not japanese becouse of the KHV (koi hepertitis virus) this came from the israle koi. so if the parent fish are japanese and you are prepared to cull the odd mutant and you have a pond to grow them on you gotta consider food. water flees are good as are brine shrimp but first they need inflosora you can grow that yourself, plastic bottles with water a crushed lettuce leaf and plenty of sunlight.
Some fry grow fast and will eat the smaller ones, so you need to seperate them or cull them they should coulor up in a couple of weeks and then you either sort or cull them. Some people are real good at that and know what coulors are worth saving.
As for selling them you have to tell the buyers where the fish come from just becouse the parent fish may be japanese dose not make the offspring japanese.
Start off with a local aquatic shops. if you have the space to grow them on say upto 4or 5 inch you might be able to get afew pennies for them. it's not gonna make you millions but it dose make you feel good. try trading for equipment and food.
Don't worry about the big stuff like trading them on Ebay yet. Remeber when you start some thing new ( KISS) keep it simple stupid.
sorry i when on so long but hey i can talk koi all day


mary1208
New User

May 1, 2006, 10:47 PM

Post #3 of 4 (735 views)
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Re: [zoul] how to get started [In reply to] Can't Post
thank you for your help! my understanding is that we can put the spawning net in the water and wait for the eggs to start attaching to it and then flip it over so the eggs are protected while they grow (fry? new definition of that word for me!) in the same pond. They told me at the pond place where we get our supplies that they won't spawn until the water temp hits 62 degrees F. Will the other fish eat the eggs if they are on the spawning net before we flip it over?

I didn't know about feeding the babies - i'll look into that.

I don't know the origin of the fish in the pond (we acquired them with the house) but I know the big ones have been there for many years. We have one that we're told is 32 years old! Some of the fish have the feathery fins and tails - are these butterfly koi? Are they more valueable or desireable than the standard ones?


zoul
Member

May 1, 2006, 11:16 PM

Post #4 of 4 (727 views)
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Re: [mary1208] how to get started [In reply to] Can't Post
dear mary
yes the eggs are very stick and will attach them selfs to anything. they spawn early morning most of the time. Its mainly temp and daylight that triger spawning. i would get the eggs out ASAP becouse they will eat them, i'm not sure if flipping the spawning mat over would stop your large koi from just flipping it back and feasting.
if you have like a large fish tank or space to make a small pond oh or one of those kidds paddling pools would be ideal. Get some metholine blue it slows down the deteriation of the unfurtile eggs so as not to polute your water then in a week or so you will have fry yay babys. don worry about filteration for you young ones just to regular water changes about 10% a day just exchange it with your pond water.
butterfly koi or angle koi well some people like them some dont. personaly i don't maybe i'm a purist like that. lol but hey people who like them will pay so to those who like them they are worth more to us that don't like them you couldn't give them away no offence

 
 
 



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