Thread: Raising Koi Fry - Development progress & Pictures

Fancied raising a few koi fry just for the experience it would bring but without the hassle of spawning my own Koi or buying from online sources.

That's a big ask right?
Someone within reasonable driving distance from me has to go through the hard work of spawning 1/4 million fry, hatching them, raising them on artemia and growing them to a size where they'll take dried food, and then giving some to me to have fun with!

Davej is that person and he kindly allowed me to select some fry from his jumbo Showa spawning.

Popped round and collected just 4 tiny fry (I think Dave was thinking, what is the point of having just 4, leaving him with the remainding 249,996 fry to manage by himself.

The parents spawned on 18th May, eggs I assume hatched 5 or 6 days later, and I collected this tiny handful on Tuesday 25th June at 4.5 weeks old and measuring between approx. 18mm and 25mm.

To make it easier to reference which one is which I'm going to number them 1 to 4 from left to right based on this photo taken on collection day:

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As they were initially going into a 2 foot tank I can also watch development from a side view which will also make it easier to keep track of which is which.
Number 1 is the smallest,
Number 2 is the grey one at the back
Number 3 is the brown one at the front
Number 4 is the white one.

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This 2 foot tank holding 30 odd litres of water is being filtered by a well matured 1000 litre per hour Eheim. The fry had to constantly swim for their lives in order to avoid being spun around in circles. My belief is the strong current will force them to develop quicker and eat more.

They are being fed on Queni stage 1 fry powder.

2 days after collection - Thursday 27th June.

I am feeding the Koi constantly when possible. The idea being to allow them to constantly graze throughout the day. If they spit food out then they've been fed too much and are full, so the best way to manage this is to feed small amounts, wait for the poo to start coming out then feed again and continue. They are getting at least 15 to 20 feeds a day at this stage.

After Just 2 days there's already signs of growth, pic showing Koi 1 (smallest one - bottom left) Koi 2 (grey one - top left), Koi 3 (brown one) Koi 4 (white one):

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Maybe its a little too early for anyone to guess what the grey or brown ones will turn out like, me included, so here's the fry 1 week after collection at 5.5 weeks old, Tuesday 2nd July.

They're now eating Queni fry food stage 3 (I skipped stage 2).

Some colours starting to come through and Koi no.1 (smallest) is looking quite interesting, Koi 2 (grey one) is developing a tancho spot on his head but the rest of him is still grey, Koi 3 is still brown and horrible, Koi 4 (white one) has more beni coming through.

Most of you will already know that white ones are culled out of Showa spawnings, but I fancied growing one on to see the end result. Could turn into a Kohaku, but more likely a Shiro Muji that will always have weak Beni. You never know though.

Growth rate seems to be really good considering they're only in 30 to 40 litres of water. I'm convinced the extremely powerful water current (imagine 1000 lph in a 30 litre tank) is really helping this growth rate, but life is definitely tough for them at this stage, if they stop swimming for a split second they end up swirling uncontrollably around the tank bashing into everything . Obviously pump had to be turned off for the photos.

I'm changing 12 litres of water every day (approx. 1/3) and water temperature is 26-28C at present.

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They are already too big for the 2 foot tank and prep work is under way to transfer them to a 5ft tank.

Brilliant well done Rs, I enjoy this part of the hobby seeing the colours develop and they are doing well for you mate.
My odds are on the grey,dont know why but I have some similar.

I am keeping my whites to see what comes out as it is all a learning curve,in fact I have kept them all except for deformed ones.
Good luck Rs and keep us informed with their progress.

2 Weeks after collection, aged 6.5 weeks old, 9th July.

Having outgrown the 2 foot tank they're now in a 5 foot, 180 litre tank alongside 2 randy male Broadtail Moors.

This tank has 2 Eheim canister pressure filters, around 12 litres of bio media, and turns over at 2200 litres per hour!

Not only are the Koi eating significantly more per feed, but they seem to require masses of oxygen, far more than a single air stone can provide. I had to drop the water level 6" to get enough splash from the pumps to boost oxygen levels.

The 2 moors are chasing the hell out of the Koi, not to eat them, but to make babies with them! They particularly like Koi no.4 (white one), - probably because he's easiest to see as their eyesight isn't great but he's the wrong one to pick on, keeps facing up to them and nipping chunks out of their fins.

Placed a plastic plant in the tank as refuge due to the risk of the smaller fry being accidentally eaten or bit in half.

The grey one, despite being 2nd smallest, can now take standard 3mm pellets but the others haven't managed it yet.

Main diet remains as Queni fry food due to its nutritional value, one feed per day Silkworm pupae crushed in a garlic crusher, one feed of dried mealworms and a large late night feed of bloodworms to keep them going through the night.

Water temperature is now down to 25C, partly because that's the temp the Moors favour, but mainly due to oxygen levels being difficult to maintain beyond 25C.

They're big enough now to get their own individual pics....

Koi no.1 (Smallest). Front half is colouring up nicely with a nice beni pattern. Back half lacks colouration. Viewed head on he's got a very pretty face.

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Koi no.2 (Grey one). The tancho spot is becoming very apparent. No beni anywhere else on the entire body. Looks to have a nice body shape.

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Koi no.3 (Brown one). No idea what's going on here but looks like 2 totally different fish from one side to the other, hence 2 photos (taken 30 seconds apart - It really is the same Koi in each pic!):

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Koi no.4 (White one) Still more new beni appearing even now, still the biggest out of the 4, body shape isn't my favourite but still reasonably good.

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As soon as they were placed in this tank with the bigger fancies, survival instinct kicked in and growth has been phenomenal with the biggest fry over 7cm.

What a difference mate you doing great must be fun every morning seeing what's going on

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

Do Koi have a 2 second memory?

Being in a tank right next to the PC I've spotted some signs of intelligence from the fry not witnessed before (Intelligence that hasn't been witnessed in the entire house as it happens, not just in the tank).

The plastic plant protrudes out the water by a couple of inches. I throw food in and some lands on the leaves above water level. After the food is eaten the grey one (gimlet?) nudges against the top of the plant so the pellets fall into the water, thus grabbing himself sneaky snacks between meals!

One of the filter pipes suctioned to the tank is very slightly curved / bent, only by a few mm. The fry swim back and forth along the back of the tank and as they got bigger started getting wedged between the pipe and the glass. They very quickly learned they could still fit between the slightly wider bit and the glass, so now they swim back and forth at 90mph sweeping upwards to fit through the wider bit, and they get it millimetre perfect every time.



Edit, sorry Louise, got his name wrong, its Vesper, not Gimlet.