Top Dog

[dick benbow]

Good advice Mike M! I think I'm out of this thread for a number of reasons but I think a general understanding of fish culture would add to KFG's learning curve.

[Maurice]

I think a step back may be in order! From your postings and PM’s you seem to be running too fast.

Firstly, if your parent koi are conditioned for breeding, there is no need at this stage to be thinking about artificial spawning. 99% of the time I can place well conditioned set of koi in a spawning net, have then spawned and back in their own pond within 24 hours, no injections, no damage from stripping.

You say you are planning to use a 2 year old female at 16”, not the best idea. I tend to use females of 4 years and older, why must it be one so young, have you no others to use to get experience?

You say in your personal messages that you have, ‘put alot of money in this project and need to get a little something out of it other than pure enjoyment’.

Stick with the enjoyment for a while, you will not find much money to start with!



Fry ponds tend to be shallow, my ponds are 3 feet deep, the most important point for good growth is a temperature of 24/25c, deeper ponds tend to stay cooler, or have deeper water which is too cool for good fry growth. I can raise a new born fry to 12” in 6 months at this temperature, in the past I have had ponds where the maximum summer high was 20c and could only manage 4” by the following spring.



My advice echoes much of what has been written above, use some inexpensive koi to learn the art of breeding and raising fry, it’s not all easy. Forget any dreams of making money, if you can cover your costs, you’re doing OK, koi breeding is not a get rich quick project, if that’s what you want, there’s lots of better ways to invest time and money.

It’s more about PASSION, than money.

Maurice.

PS You spelt Kohuka and Sanka wrong, it should be Kohaku and Sanke.

[JasonS]

There's a saying about making money in the winery business: "To make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large fortune." I suspect this applies to koi farming as well.

[koifishgirl]

Thanks Maurice for the help as I might be running a little to fast I just thought that I could get a spawn from the female as I was told that she would be ready by this spring. I guess that I will have to purchase another koi of a larger size and older to do what I want. I have been into koi for three years and I do have some other koi but the ones that I have are not that great and dont really care if I spawn them or not, as I dont want a bunch of junk koi.
One thing for sure is koi keeping is my passion and sorry about spelling as I have never been the greatest in that area
Dick you dont have to drop out of this thread if you dont want to as I am sure you can give me some advice to as I need all the help I can get.
I still want to learn how to do artifical spawning as this will take me to the next level.

This goal is a five year goal of mine and I am in the first year of this goal
#1 purchaseing the land
#2 drilling the well
#4 digging the ponds
#5 fencing the property.
#6 pruchaseing my parent stock
#7 spawnging my koi
#8 raiseing my fry
#9selling only show quality koi
#10 I am very determined to make this work for me.


I wont and dont want to get as big as some of the koi dealers ever, I just want to raise some koi for fun and the enjoyment of see other happy with what I have accomplished. I will make this work and like I said this is a five year goal for me. So I have plenty of time to make my errors and learn things that I need to as this is what will make me a better breeder in the long run.
Like I said before I think that I came to the right forum as I have found everyone to be very helpfull. I still have a lot to learn about breeding koi as this will be my first attempt but I will say this that I have raised all types of egg laying fish in small aquairums in the past as this has been my hobby since I was 10 years old. I have never spawned a pair of koi and raised the fry but I am sure that with the past experience that I have it will not be a problem for me. I will say their are things that I dont know and I am very gald that I have the nice peoples on this forum to help me. Thanks everyone,
Judy

[Akai-San]

Oh my...

Judging from your goals you will be very busy this year. Do you have a contractor in the family? Thats a lot of work! Just remember to smell the roses on your journey. It really is fun. Good Luck KFG.

Aloha.

[koifishgirl]

Hello Akai-San, No I dont have a contractor in the family and I wish I did, for me it is a pay as I go thing. I still have to finish the ponds and I am now purchaseing my parent stock. So it will take me another two years to get all the parent koi I want, and they will only be Sanke, Showa, Kohaku that I plan on haveing and only the momotaro line. Will start out with Kohaku and then to Showa, and yes this is a passion and I love this very much and will be something that I enjoy and can make a little money off of when I retire. I will only keep the very best koi from my spawns and hope to raise show quality koi as I dont want to keep anything else .. I only have two acres of property so I will cull very heavy and keep what is the best and if that is not good enough I will get rid of them and keep trying. I am almost half way their and purchaseing the parent stock, and from here on out is where the slow part reallly beings. Well you know how it goes after spawning you gotta grow the little ones up to a sellable size and that takes time, and how many high quality koi will you get from one spawn, well my quess is only one or two koi. Yes you are rite, I have a long road ahead of me, but I am determined to make a success of this and I dont give up easy, I dont care if it takes me 10 years, it is not a I think I can, it is I know I can for me.

[aquitori]

I hope the best for you, you are starting off with Sanke which is the hardest. My question to you is why don't you start off simple? Starting off with Sanke and Showa is pretty hard for even the Japanese breeders. I think it is even to a point that Mr. Maeda is cutting back production of Sanke.

[koifishgirl]

Where is the challange if you start with simple. I will be starting with Kohaku, I think that their is enough people on the forum that I can get all the help I need. I am sure alot of people have done a Kohaku spawn

[aquitori]

Mo, last I checked "spelt" should be "spelled".

Quote: Originally Posted by Maurice PS Kohuka is spelt Kohaku and Sanka is spelt Sanke.

[aquitori]

I was think of breeding someday, maybe when I retire in the Philippines. But since I am only 31 I got a long ways...Well anyways, why don't you try Asagi..I am sure Dick would be every help full.

Quote: Originally Posted by koifishgirl Where is the challange if you start with simple. I will be starting with Kohaku, I think that their is enough people on the forum that I can get all the help I need. I am sure alot of people have done a Kohaku spawn