| In your "neck of the woods" having a greenhouse to control the elements and preditors would be a must. yes you can breed koi year around. many in warmer climates get two spawnings a year. ( there's a cost to your brood stock-most serious breeders I know don't subscribe to this practice.) selecting brood stock is the hardest thing to achieve, that i know. in order to do it correctly you must be able to identify quality ( not pattern) and then you have to get lucky that the pair cliques. then you have to gleen articles on fry selection to learn what to look for. It won't be the easiest job you've ever taken on! I spawn my pairs in sterilized
show tanks ( 8 ft diameter ) the male is moved back to the male pond and the female into another show tank for a few days of rest and recuperation before she goes back with the girls. keep an eye on both of them as spawn is a rigorus activity and injuries do occur. the fry should hatch in 3 days and withing two days will want to have live food. daphney
and cultured brine shrimp should be used for atleast a month to get growth before switching to other food types. you can match the growth inside to japanese mud ponds. it's all in food,temp and water volumn.
keep you numbers extremely low. remove those individuals that grow faster than the others to other water with same size siblings or they'll eat thier brothers or sisters. while your learning I'd suggest you try and end up with 24 koi. think about showa or shiro utsuri as your starting point, as the ones with possibilities can be selected at 3 days old. select out 250 nose hair sized babies ( the black ones only ) and begin your experiment. keep notes at what you see happening to the babies each month. hang on to the parents and babies for a minimum of three years to see what develops and how. we are fortunate to have several high class domestic breeders in this country but it's thier livlihood that your curious about so be resigned to know you may have to do lots of elbow grease on your own. I can tell you that in the two years I've bred. it's been alot of work. tomorrow starts year 3 with the shiros and showa pairs being placed together and then it starts.... there are books out there on breeding koi that will help. good luck with your effort. if nothing else you will appreciate
what it takes to get good koi to a place where they will be sought out to put into people's ponds! |