Koi Spawn in Southern California

[DrDave]

This past Sunday morning at 6:30 AM my Koi began their spawn.
The water temperature was a surprising 62.9 degrees F. This spawn is 5 weeks earlier than last year and caught me totally by surprise. I will be busy for a while and may not have much time to respond to questions, these next few days are critical to the success of the fry.

The spawning orgy lasted 8 hours and it was interesting to watch their behavior.

Research I have done on avoiding fungus led me to add Methalyne Blue as a precautionary measure. It is now Tuesday afternoon. i expect to see some hatching as early as tomorrow. It takes 3-5 days for the eggs to hatch. Time to get out the brine shrimp hatcheries and start hatching food for the fry.

Many thanks to Ian for starting this new Topic where we can add threads on our spawning events and experiences.:bowdown:

 

[DrCase]

Keep us posted DrDave, My water is 70 but no action yet.

 

[Julius Leonid Maestral]

How old and what is the size of your spawning koi?

 

[DrDave]

They are about 4 years old and 18" or so long. I noticed 2 year old males tagging along when the action was occurring.

 

[trkyhntr]

how old do koi have to be before they spawn?

 

[DrDave]

At 3 years, they should start if they are in good health.

 

[c2c7390]

seems like its a little on the cooler side than normal

 

[DrDave]

The fry started hatching today. I placed eggs in 4 seperate places and the indoor tank produced the first hatch. Now the painstaking task of seperating them from the muck in the water. Nylon socks over the filter intakes and time to set up the brine shrimp hatcheries.

It took 2 hours to isolate 70 of them and place them in a seperate tank. This handfull came from 1 cup removed from the tank. I have over 120 gallons with eggs.

The methalyne blue didn't completley eliminate fungus but I didn't have it the day of the spawn. I suggest anyone who is going to do this have that and their hatcheries ready before hand.

 

[DrCase]

we want to see a pic of the lil guys..

 

[DrDave]

That is going to be tough right now. They are transparent and all you can see is 2 black dots where the eyes are. I will try. I do have some photos from last years hatching. These were about 3 days old when taken.

 

[c2c7390]

very cool

 

[DrDave]

I stayed home from my real job today to tend to the fry. I was quite surprised that my small tank hatched a day before the outdoor areas where I have eggs.

I went to the shallow end of my pond where I have a forest of Parrots Feather and scooped into a clear container some water. In that 2 cup scoop, there were dozens of fry.

Now all 4 places have hatched and there must be several thousand fry. I will take some photos later of the nursery I set up from a kiddie pool. I made a quick and efficient bio filter using bottle caps,and a tote container with a shower drain.

 

[DrCase]

They show up good DrDave..

 

[DrCase]

Checked my pond this morning and the koi in my lower pond have started to spawn...water temp is 68 we had a thunder storms most the night and 2" of rain....I hope they lay the eggs on my rope mop heads

 

[DrDave]

If you want to keep the fry, you need to do 2 things. Treat the water with methylene blue and remove or isolate as many eggs as possible. The Koi will start feasting on them until there are no more. The fry will be under constant attack, especially by the smaller Koi that can see them until they are gone.

I used plastic fencing to keep my Koi away from the Parrots Feather in the interconnecting stream between ponds so the fry will have a safe haven there.

I also have a special area set up and of course tanks. In all, I have several thousand fry that are safe from being eaten.