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Wow Matt, that's just bycatch after a single scoop? That is an amazing yield - congrats ! No doubt some really nice ones just waiting to be discovered!!! Really look forward to seeing these develop.
So far, I've been totally skunked this season! There was a spawn in my main pond yesterday, so perhaps there's still hope.
Senior Member
Thanks Sean, I sure hope so! Well that was not from just one scoop. That is from taking a short handled 6"x8" net and sliding it on the bottom of the tub for a couple of feet maybe 4 or 5 times. I move it slowly, trying avoid catching as many, but they are not very elusive at this stage. The tub is about 6'8" across and filled to about 18" (350-400 gal). I estimate that that ice chest photo is from running the net over about 20% of the bottom and netting a third of the depth. So even if none of the fry moved out of the way, that should be no more than 5% to 10% of them. Usually either I don't get that many fry or something happens to a lot of them, whether tobi or some sort of mishap, which keeps the culling from being too overwhelming. I can't help but think, if most of these make it a few more weeks, this is gonna be a lot of work. But it always seems to works out.Originally Posted by spkennyva
Seems like you usually get a couple or maybe more spawns going some years. I find that amazing, as I have never tried to raise more than one spawn in a season. Have you tried different pairs or groups this year or just your beautiful kohaku group?
I've occasionally found that a female was not ready, or perhaps she or the male(s) with her just did not feel good, and nothing happened. Maybe your kohaku group will feel more like it later this spring.
Seems like significant changes of most any kind seem to trigger them, such as a 20%+ water change with a little different temperature. Rain and storm fronts seem to stimulate koi. I don't know if they would be fooled by a water sprinkler. I've heard of putting up a night light to simulate a full moon, but have not tried it. I do think adding more water flow near the surface with an extra or larger pump may help. They seem to all want o get in the current and start pushing each other. Maybe that helps get it started.
Senior Member
I've swapped out females twice. Ran fresh water. We had a full moon not too long ago. I generally have no trouble getting them to spawn. This year I jinxed myself by posting the pair prior to the eventIf nothing by tomorrow, I'm going to swap out the gin rin kohaku female for one of the other females.
Senior Member
Hope it works out. We want to see what you get Sean. I take it that is has been warm enough for a spawn there. Water was 55 F here this morning, but starting to warm back up.
Senior Member
The water has very slowly warmed back up to 64 F. They are growing a little, but very slowly. Glad I did not try to spawn them a few weeks earlier. Even if I could have, it would not have helped their progress much.
I am backing off of the yeast and increasing the granules of crushed pellets. Soon I'll start feeding them some seafood paste. So this afternoon I blended 30 oz salmon, 30 oz mackerel, 12 oz tuna, 15 oz pumpkin, & 15 oz English (sweet) peas. I put that in 4 one-quart zip-lock bags in the freezer.
One tip I'll mention is that since I like the chunks of this frozen stuff to sink, I don't use too much moisture in the mix. That makes ice that is buoyant so the chunk floats off. But if I don't use enough moisture, it may be hard to blend. I find that if I drain the water out of all the seafood cans, but not the can of peas, it works out pretty well.
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