Hey all,

I've got an outdoor pond, with about 6 kois, its about 900 gals or so, not that long, but quite deep at about 3.5'. My Kois are about the jap fantail kind, not too sure, but how big do they have to be to breed? and is there a way to help them along? a change in diet perhaps?

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195G Pleco - 13" Clown Knife - 14" Silver tinfoil barb - 7", 7 Clown loaches - 4-5" 1 Black ghost knife - 7" 2 Tilapias - 4" 2 GT's - 3"

Hi Shark. It's not necessarily the size of your Koi that will determine whether or not they will spawn but their age. When we were breeding our Koi we would wait until they were three years old before we bred them. I have heard that they will breed at two years old though.

Yours Koily, Lorraine

Hey Lorraine! Thanks for replying to my post, thought it got archived or something because no one had responded! I think I bought mine about a year and a half ago, not sure how old they were when I brought them home from the LFS, I guess I should wait a while longer, did yours breed on their own? or did they need a trigger? Thanks again

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195G Pleco - 13" Clown Knife - 14" Silver tinfoil barb - 7", 7 Clown loaches - 4-5" 1 Black ghost knife - 7" 2 Tilapias - 4" 2 GT's - 3"

Hey Shark, so good to meet you. I would remove the breeders from the big pond and put them into a smaller pond for breeding purposes. I would make sure that the pond had the best water quality, I would feed them lots of live worms from the garden (make sure there are no fertilizers in the soil), make water changes about twice a week from the bottom of the pond and before you know it, they were spawning.
I would make my own spawning mops by cutting pvc pipe and using elbows to make a rectangle and then use wool by wrapping it around a book that is about 6 to 8 inches tall (wrapping it around the book about 30 or 40 times), cutting one end and then tying the other end and then tying the mop to the pvc.

As soon as the adults were done spawning I would remove them from the spawning pond back into the big pond and I'd make a one third water change from the bottom of the breeding pond to remove the excess ammonia that was emitted by the spawning of the breeders.

Raising the young is another matter but we can discuss that later if you would like.

Do you know how to sex your fish?

Yours Koily, Lorraine

Thanks for that very informative reply! You told me exactly what I wanted to know, as for moving them from the big pond, can I move them to an aquarium instead? There is another smaller pond to use if I indeed have to, but the aquarium to me would be better as I can keep an eye on them The spawning mop sounds like a really good idea too! I'm not 100% sure on sexing them, but I know it has something to do with fin shape/opacity, and also body shape and size?

So, it all depends on how old they are and not how big they are? Is there any correlation between size and age?

Again, thanks Lorraine for your help! much appreciated

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195G Pleco - 13" Clown Knife - 14" Silver tinfoil barb - 7", 7 Clown loaches - 4-5" 1 Black ghost knife - 7" 2 Tilapias - 4" 2 GT's - 3"

Re: Breeding Kois

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Thanks for that very informative reply! You told me exactly what I wanted to know, as for moving them from the big pond, can I move them to an aquarium instead? There is another smaller pond to use if I indeed have to, but the aquarium to me would be better as I can keep an eye on them

Hi Red Shark. I would put them into the smaller pond where they would be able to get smaller live foods to help them grow. When you bring them inside, you have to make sure that water conditions are perfect and live foods availble to them. When my fry became free swimming I would feed them live brine shrimp which I hatched in a 1 gallon jar along with some freeze dried food such as krill and tubifex worms and some flaked foods like spirulina and a good Koi food such as New Life Spectrum for Koi & Goldfish. This food is very expensive but I tried it last year for the first time and I couldn't believe how quickly my fry grew. I would put all of this dried food into a coffee grinder so that it came out like a powder so that the young fry could get added nutrition.

Also, we have some half barrels in our yard that have dead leaves at the bottom and produce a ton of Daphnia. The only trouble is that as soon as the water starts to warm up, the Daphnia seem to die off. We had one pond where the Daphnia were so prolific that my tropical fish net would bend while bringing it out. This is a good food for young fry after they get a little larger.
In these barrels, mosquito larvae grow and I fish them out to feed to the young Koi also.

The spawning mop sounds like a really good idea too! I'm not 100% sure on sexing them, but I know it has something to do with fin shape/opacity, and also body shape and size?

Male Koi are normally more slender than the females and on the first ray of their pectoral fins you can find these little tiny tubercules (like white dots) which can be felt if you run your fingers along this ray. You can also find these tubercules on the sides of the gill plate. The males rub up against the female with these tubercules to get her in the mood for spawning. The first ray of the anal fin is not as thick as on the female and the males tend to have larger pectoral fins but this is not always the case.

As for the females, when viewed from above you can see that they are much rounder around the anal area and the first ray of the anal fin is thicker on the female than on the male but the first ray of their pectoral fins is not as thick as on the male.

So, it all depends on how old they are and not how big they are? Is there any correlation between size and age?

Yes, I am a Water Garden Consultant and I have been to many ponds where I have seen Koi that can be five years old and maybe only six or seven inches long whereas in a pond that is much larger where water conditions are very good and the Koi in these ponds are always much larger. But, like anything in life, there are going to be some Koi that grow faster and larger than others due to whatever might be in their genetic background.

No problem Shark. Maybe if we can get enough people who are interested in the pond hobby, we could go to the chatroom.

Yours Koily, Lorraine

Again, thanks Lorraine for your help! much appreciated