Raising Koi, anyone ever tried ?

[Marshall]

Just curious if anyone here has bred koi or does so now ? If yes then how tough are they to raise as far as skill goes such as health, time investment etc. ? (equipment/finance not an issue) I will soon have nearly 10,000 gallons worth of outdoor pond as well as my indoor stock tanks I already have in the rescue one of which is a fish only tank that is 400 gallons so I thought why not see about raising some koi. Any info is much appreciated. Thanks!
-- Marshall Smith

 

[Marshall]

I guess I should mention I mean to raise them as a operation if you will and most only to the point that they can be sold or donated to other pond's because that is why I got the idea in the first place. I am not trying to become the stepfather of 300 koi with 20 acres of my property covered in lakes lol but I do think they could possibly be therapeutic to many people so that is where the donate idea comes into play. Either donate the fish to a pond for that purpose or use my facilities in someway to make it possible. Hopefully the funding from the sell could fund at least partially the other pursuit and I already have the licence and experience of the aquatic turtle rescue which helps alot not to mention saves a ton of money that I would not have to spend a second time as I already have my 5013-c

 

[mrsclem]

This year was the first time I was able to get fry to raise. I was lucky that my Gin-rin koi spawned several times. It is a lot of work to try to keep any amount of the fry. I moved the eggs to stock tanks with filtration and an air pump. I lost thousands to frogs, mosquito larve and dragonflys. Then there was the bull frog and snapping turtle. After all this I managed to keep 90+ fry. Decided not to bring them inside so they are back in the pond to be rounded up in the spring. I sell my excess to help with the cost of the 2 ponds.

 

[Marshall]

This year was the first time I was able to get fry to raise. I was lucky that my Gin-rin koi spawned several times. It is a lot of work to try to keep any amount of the fry. I moved the eggs to stock tanks with filtration and an air pump. I lost thousands to frogs, mosquito larve and dragonflys. Then there was the bull frog and snapping turtle. After all this I managed to keep 90+ fry. Decided not to bring them inside so they are back in the pond to be rounded up in the spring. I sell my excess to help with the cost of the 2 ponds.

Cool. Thanks for the reply and the advice. Offsetting costs would be nice and since I already have the large indoor space with the turtle rescue I would be able to keep eggs/fry indoors with up to 800 gallons available for them to keep them safe from predation.

 

[koiguy1969]

ONE OF MY FRY HATCHERY / NURSERY PONDS....