Thread: spawning

woke up early yesterday so decided to give the pond its weekly clean.. left hose on as usual to top up pond while i went for a cuppa.came out half hour later and three koi are nudging and pushing an asagi about this went on all day. this morning pond is carnage there's about ten of them at it pond plants are ripped to shreds. just hope they all come out of the orgy in one piece.
last time this happened was 2018 and i was away neigbour said it was like a war zone ended up with three dead and two well battered that eventually pulled through. would be nice if some fry survied but i doubt it. just put a few pellets in thinking it would distract them not a chance totally ignored.

fingers crossed all come out of it unscathed.

keith

fish finally stopped spawning monday. pond is covered in foam and plants wrecked. the fish looking ok and non the worse for the orgy.
But the koi are off there food tested water this morning nitrite and nitrate is high is this due to spawning.
added bioballs to easypod and pond and changing a percentage of water anything else i can do to get back on track.

keith

thanks for the info. they looking brighter this morning and came looking for food but will sit on hands till this evening .foam fractioner almost caught up with clearing pond would be nice if some fry survied but i doubt it. when i came out this morning they were rumaging around the two areas where they spawned flaming cannibals.

keith

hi john
im afraid not no grow on tank so its survival of the fitest. they spawned in two clumps of watercress and for the next three days the koi just munched through the cress and i presume any eggs. strange when it was a goldfish pond id always have a dozen or so survive.

keith

id love too. but having worked for 50 years its time to make the most of retirement and treat the other half so the static caravan in france will get more use (macron allowing). son keeps an eye to the pond but at half a days notice he can get sent anywhere in the country for work so auto feeder goes on and the easypod is auto.
our new neighbours young lad is really intrested as is his dad so could be possibilities there if i get something rigged up.

keith

laid in bed this morning and heard a couple of splashes from the pond. Thought ive heard that before a quick look out of bedroom window and yes their at it again . carnage in the watercress they have been at it two hours now. if only just half a dozen survived id be happy like ive said before when i had goldfish they would spawn every year and survive.

keith

well the carnage finally stopped around 13:00 this afternoon pond is a mess . the good news all seem to have come through it without damage .

keith

the koi spawned again on saturday for about 10 hours.&nbsp;<br>I noticed the pump was not running correctly this morning lifted it out to clear the cage yes it was blocking up with blanket weed but it was also covered in eggs on checking the watercress and side of pond there are a few hundred eggs . so crossing fingers and toes lets hope i can get half a dozen to survive. cant transfer them anywhere as no room and leave for France tomorrow .

Mine are at it like crazy this morning . One fish I least expected and didn’t realise it was female and it’s smallest fish in my pond . Other larger ones which I expected , nothing .
steve

well they seem to have finished , lilies have taken a battering .
couldnt save any egg so hopefull some have fallen into plant pots .

steve

Now I am as surprised as anyone when two months ago I noticed Koi Fry in my pond. I had no idea that any were pregnant let alone being ready to spawn. No fat tummies just all looking normal. The previous week I had been away so it must have all happened in my absence. So in addition to several tens of fry that multiplied as the days went past and quickly they were turning into Mini Koi's. The odd thing is that most of them are black and one grey, two silver and five or so brightly and beautifully coloured.

I never expected that this would happen in my small garden pond, which interestingly gave me around 500+ mix of toads and frogs earlier this year. I've had a pond in my garden for 20 years now and nothing like this has ever happened before. As I live in the South UK I never thought conditions for breeding existed.

There have obviously been quite a few that have died as I now see the numbers dropping and the little ones getting quite big. so the big question is what do I do with them? For the time being they are fine where they are. Water in the pond is all quite chemically sound, but this sunny weather means topping up every day. the fresh water is conditioned accordingly.

I'm getting a Holding Tank so I can transfer the fish and all counted and photographed so I have a record. My eldest one is now 12" long approx. as I've never had that one out of the pond in the 5 1/2 years of it's life. While I have them out of the pond it will give a big job to give it a very thorough clean and allow me to see if there are any remaining unhatched eggs. At this stage of the game nothing would surprise me!

I could do with some advice on how long to keep them before I advertise them for sale or give to anyone who wants to start up a koi pond.

Any suggestions would be so very grateful. I'm posting this message in other sections so that my 2022 Koi surprise gets responses that could help me and others.

I will post photos as possible.

hi john
being back from France an hour cant see an fry yet. going out to clean filters etc the watercress has grown and spread so hoping some may have survived . wish me luck

keith

After mine spawned , (which I see no fry or anything too) , something terrible happened in my pond, 12-14 of my koi died , had some sort of decease , pox or whatever . Not sure it coincided with the spawning which made my pond water in the state it become . I am now left with 6 koi which to be honest do not look quite the same since . I have treated the pond weekly since , latest yesterday with FMG .

shame to say I will give the 6 time to recover or over winter them and see if they survive ,,looks likely I will close down the pond in the new year .

it’s heartbreaking to see so many fish of value die like they did.

steve