No breeding

[merlin1970]

I have large koi around 25/26 inches and 7 to 8 years old and never have seen little ones. All together there are 10 koi in the pond 1 gold fish and 1 shubunkin. Never any babies. What can be wrong they all can't be one sex. I don't know how to tell who is who but going by some of the books stating fin size and body size there should be 1 or 2 males and rest female. I have cattails and plants and plenty of rocks for them to hide in if ever they do breed but nothing so far. Suggestions?

 

[Tula]

Have you ever seen them engage in spawning behavior? If so, it's possible they eat all the eggs, hence no little ones.

 

[merlin1970]

No really but books say that happens mostly at night. I have read that they have hundreds of eggs you would think that one would survive. I just can
t believe after all this time nothing. I've been seeing that smaller ponds and less fish have been having luck with breeding. I thought about putting unraveled rope in pond for eggs to cling to if that would help.

 

[Lisak1]

Well it actually IS possible they are all one sex. It would be a long shot, but maybe!

 

[mrsclem]

I had one pond with 12+ adult koi that didn't spawn for 5 years. Last year they finally spawned after I added floating plants. How large is your pond? Maybe their concerned about overcrowding!

 

[sissy]

Mine eat the eggs most times

 

[Meyer Jordan]

What eggs the Koi won't eat, the Goldfish will.
As mentioned, plants help to ensure the survival of some eggs. The more plants, the better the odds.
Very unusual for mature fish NOT spawning.

 

[Dave 54]

I have large koi around 25/26 inches and 7 to 8 years old and never have seen little ones. All together there are 10 koi in the pond 1 gold fish and 1 shubunkin. Never any babies. What can be wrong they all can't be one sex. I don't know how to tell who is who but going by some of the books stating fin size and body size there should be 1 or 2 males and rest female. I have cattails and plants and plenty of rocks for them to hide in if ever they do breed but nothing so far. Suggestions?

What is the size and gallonage opf your pond , weve never allowed our koi to breed because they are in a 1,000 imperial pond .
Koi depending on size will produce over 50,000 eggs which will play havoc with your filters and cause huge spikes of ammonia .
Many of us have a QT unit that that we pair up male and female koi to breed , then as soon as they have done the deed they are removed bnack to the pond leaving the spawning mats with the eggs attached to hatch a few days later

Dave

 

[angelmandi]

Another factor to consider along with the floating plants, but along the same lines, is that of the flow of your pond. Depending on how fast the pump moves water, ths eggs could be swept away. I have heard of people using things like a bottle brush along the bottom of their pond to catch eggs before they are sucked up into a pump. Similar to floating plants. I stopped putting floating plants in my pond because my koi would destroy them quickly and the roots would immediately clog my pump. But as soon as I did that, I stopped getting baby goldfish, who would use plants to spawn in. I believe pond needs to be at a certain temperature range as well.

 

[lillysbaba]

Consider yourself lucky. We lost our largest 11 year old Koi and three babies from last year from a spawn when we were out of town. Although our family was supposed to be watching for it, they somehow missed the cues (yikes, they are hard to miss!) and consequently didn't do water changes for the ammonia spikes in the water. It was heartbreaking to come home to and a mess as well.
My pond is about 2,000 gal, 5ft by 17ft and about 4 ft deep in the center. We have had multiple spawns in the past 13 years and when they spawn it is very obvious. We have never had submerged plants because the Koi would devour them in minutes (I speak from experience here), and this has never stopped them from spawning. They managed to get on top of the pots of lilies shredding them to the roots with their flailing around. The eggs go everywhere including the rock around the edge of the pond, the skimmer, the sides of the pond as well as the lily pots. Even though they will spent the next few days voraciously consuming the eggs, several somehow remain and three of our five remaining fish are babies hatched in this pond.
For some reason they went about 4 seasons without spawning and then last year commenced to spawning in late April just like they had done in the past. Nothing was different. Go figure.
Foster and Smith has something called montmorillonite clay that comes in a powder form which you can add to your pond which is supposed to add minerals to the water that are good for the Koi.It is the kind of clay that is in the ponds in Japan where the best Koi are raised. It helps water clarity as well. You may want to try that next spring if you really want a spawn.
Good Luck!