My female is getting beat up!

[Glitter]

Hello everyone,

This is my 1st season with spawning going on. Flock from what I've read. ( I have 2 small and 2 large Koi ) What I thought was a 16" female, as turned out to be a male and is really be rough on my 14" female. I feel so bad for her. She looks exhausted and I can tell she is still full of eggs. I'm not interested in raising fry ( my pond is not big enough )and I don't know any Koi people in my area.to give them too. Should I remove her and if so for how long ? Water temp is between 78 and 82 degrees.

Just curious....I know what culling is but what do you do with the ones you cull out?

Glad I'm not a fish........

Glitter

 

[don't ask]

hello Glitter, yes as a pond owner myself i have and still go thru the spawning stage and at first didn't realize what was happening and why the fish would just sit still and not move much.. well as you know now generally several males follow the female and push against her to help her release eggs so they can fertilize. from what i have heard koi fish do this more aggressively than goldfish.. am sure in some instances the female doesn't recover and is greatly weakened and succumbs to death but in most cases they will be fine in a day or two after spawning is completed.. someone may chime in as to you removing her or them but then you have to gently squeeze her to get the eggs out as well

 

[fishin4cars]

Koi can get pretty aggressive when spawning, they need areas to rub into as well as the males coaxing to release the eggs, If they go after her to the point of exhaustion some separating may be necessary. Spawning mops serve more purpose than just to gether eggs, they also serve as something the female can extract her eggs to. If your not interested in raising they fry leave them alone. Let nature take it's course, you still may end up with some but it will be minimal. I raised one last year, three the year before that, and looks to be about 25 right now this year but I did at least try to raise these this tear (Somewhat)

 

[JohnHuff]

If the eggs are not laid the female will get compacted and will die, so let nature take it's course. Ya, I know, it seems like bullying and is hard to look at, but that's nature. Sex is rough all over.

 

[fishin4cars]

Not always true on the eggs, some can be absorbed. the problem does come when they can't expel the eggs naturally. I've seen females lay some, stop for a week or two then spawn again. In fact I think Koiguys did that last year and breed multiple times, If she gets to stressed she may get so beat up that she can't expel the she'll need to be hand stripped, and I don't think I'm comfortable to do that and I've been keeping fish for many years, trying to talk someone through the process through a forum? I don't think that's something I would recommend for a new koi keeper.