Fry are going to drive me insane LOL.

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So we had fish spawn and collected the eggs... first I read to worry about infertile eggs molding... didnt happen... read low hatch rate... sure if low is 99.9% (aka I never found any infertile eggs)... then I read high die off... ya, I wish!

NOW having separation issues... NO mention of HOW to catch & separate them! Some are growing faster than others, and no matter how much I feed them, the bigger babies are eating the smaller babies... How the frig do people separate out the bigger guys? Several times a day I am starting into their pool, and pulling out the bigger ones I can spot with a small tropical fish net... of course I dont JUST catch the one I am after, but 8-12 others with it (the BIG ones are maybe half an inch in size)... so figured out how to gently shake the net (like panning for gold!) to leave the smaller ones in their pool and keep just the bigger guys in the net...

IS THERE AN EASIER WAY TO DO THIS???

I have no problem with accepting some will die, some may have deformities and need to be culled etc, but it is obvious the big "chompers" need to be pulled out. I thought I got all of todays "chompers" this morning, but just pulled eight more out... I am going to estimate the "chompers" represent less than 10% of the group... My eyes are going buggy staring into their pool LOL.
 

Mmathis

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Sorry, but this is funny, LOL!! :) I would probably be doing the same thing you are doing now, using the net to separate them. Do the bigger guys congregate more when you feed? Maybe they'd be easier to catch as a group if you tried at chow time. Wonder if using a small bucket and letting the water pour into it, like a skimmer, would catch more of the ones you want. You could put your hand over the side of the bucket to keep the big ones in and let the little ones pour out as you emptied it.

Hope you get answers [and preserve your sanity at the same time].
 
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Six more chompers caught/transferred LOL... I swear every time I feed them, I have more chomper sized LOL. I'm guessing there to be 1200-1500 babies in total, and 90% of them are the same size. The "smaller 90%" are about 75% the length of the ones I nicknamed chompers, but half as thick, so when a "smaller chomper" tries to eat the little guys, it can get the whole baby down, except for swimming around with just a head sticking out of its mouth.... The chompers dont seem to hang out together at all, they are just mixed in... I am getting pretty good at swirling the babies in a net and losing the little ones back into their pool, but I do not want to be doing this 5x a day LOL.
 

DrCase

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A few different size nets will help, you can use a smaller net to net the larger fry out of the bigger net
 

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That does sound like a lot of work there Capewind. I like the net idea w/ the small holes so the littler ones can get out but not the big chompers,lol! It does sound funny tho, you trying to catch them like you were doing :razz:
 
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Dont have the net options LOL... the little net is the typical green net you would have for tropical fish in a 10-20 gallon fish tank... the "koi net" has big enough holes in it that a 1.5 - 2" fish could swim through. I guess I just need to practice more patience LOL.

About when will these little guys start changing colors? They are just 2 weeks old. At this point, there are MAYBE 2-3 (no more than 5) that are white, 3 that are sort of brown (easier to spot than the white ones), and all the rest are yellow...
 

koiguy1969

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HA HA!.... JUST KIDDIN'...they all develope colors at their own pace. that orangey yellow color is usually the majority. and they can be anywhere from 1/2" to 3" before really start developing colors.. be patient. and if youve got too many as it sounds, let the "TOBYS" (big ones) munch on some of the smallers until you get a number you can more easily handle!.. what kind of numbers are you looking at?
 
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Enough koi that I cant count them LOL. If I try to factor x number per x square inches, I am guessing 1200-1500 ... like I said, more than I can count. This wasnt an intentional spawning/rearing by any means. The parents spawned in the quarantine pond and we said what the hell, we'd give it a try (most of the eggs were retrieved from the filter LOL).

The little yellow guys are "yellow" so far, not a hint of "orange" yet anyways... I'm expecting several to go orange... Both "moms" are "orange" ... one is definitely a hana shusui and the other, I dont know what she is called ... orange/red fish, but most of her "body scales" are black with an orange belly... One "dad" is orange/red (like the second mom), one is yellow, one is near black, two are blue, and last minute, one calico got in on the action;-)

We have also been "fishing" babies out of the outside pond (trying to get rid of all the comets) and have 23 koi that are 1 - 2" and 2 that were yellow are clearly going orange (one is solid, the other is starting with a dark dot on its head), and several I still have no clue what they are doing... a couple have HUGE white scales coming in on their sides (huge = 2/3 of their sides is ONE row of scales), and others have yellow or orange heads, with "dark" developing on their bodies...

Wishing I could figure out the basics of how to tell colors sooner than later. I was reading most babies were brownish, but even with the larger group spawning outside, we really dont have any that started brown, other than the comets... or at least I think the brown ones are comets (brown on top, gold shiney sides) and look nothing like the 2" babies that I am positive are koi (so if not comets, then comet/koi mutts)...

So now we have 3 baby pools going... one for the "itty bitty guys", one for the "chompers" and one for the 1" - 2" babies.... I'm starting to feel like all I am doing is playing with the dang net moving babies LOL.

I guess back to patience LOL...
 

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I fail to see what your problem is. In your first post you give the impression that you have far too many fry, yet you are taking great pains to save them all. Can you actually raise 1500 or even 1000 koi? If not, why not let the tobies have their fill, and concentrate on the surviving fish? You'd probably still have more than you can accommodate!
John
 
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you are not wrong John, there are too many of them, but we can make accommodations for whatever makes it til they are large enough to place. Just hate seeing them get eaten, and was hoping there was an easier way to catch the little guys to separate them.
 

addy1

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Survival of the fittest! Any fry that makes it in our pond is a true survivor.
 
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I want to raise out the koi and shubunkins, so I can decide what stays or goes... Not counting the koi that spawned in the QT tank, we have about 75-80 babies that we have snagged out of the pond so far. About half are comets (which I do not want to keep LOL). Only 7 are shubunkins, which I really want more of. Most of ours are blue, and cant find them this year... just the red/black ones... Wishing I had some more room right now, as I would bring some of the shubunkins in to spawn. When I was feeding them today, noticed the bluest girl is HUGE with eggs... She is almost all blue, with just a handful of tiny black freckles... She is one of my favorite fish (have to love it, paid over $100 for some of the koi at 4-7", and one of my favorites is a $6.99 fish from Petsmart LOL).
 
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Thought I would post some "baby shots" I got this morning LOL. Couldnt get any pics in the fish tank:-( but got the other kids:)

Caught this little Shubunkin out in the pond this morning:)
DSCN4367.jpg


(S)he is now the littlest one in this group... Brats wouldnt stay still for a pic, so only got about half of them. Most are koi, but there are a few shubunkin babies in here as well.
DSCN4357.jpg


and the comets...
DSCN4380.jpg


and some of the little guys. Kiddie pool wasnt working for me (to fish out the bigger guys eating the smaller guys), so divided them into 3 totes for now where I can see better.
DSCN4382.jpg
 

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