Maurices open day

[stuart t]

Maurice has been very busy and I pointed out that he had neglected this board recently. He told me that while balancing a bottle of wine he had tried to post on here about his open day but after typing a few pages and thinking he had posted it successfully it all went horribly wrong.
Anyhow I thought it might be of interest that viewers here had a quick look at Maurice's recent post(s) on koichat.com. I'm sure there are some here who view all the boards but there maybe a few who don't. I'm sure all would agree that for a British breeder in his first real year to produce 9 month old immaculate chagoi of over 50cm it's quite some achievement. This year we will all have to watch this space................

Stuart

[GazKoi]

Well done Stuart and just for some of those guys who want a look hopefully the link below will work...have a look i am sure you will not be disappointed !!!!!


http://www.madaboutkoi.com/cgi-bin/d...rum=DCForumID9

[Maurice]

Thanks Sturart, the post I had typed and lost was about the start of my breeding season. it included a photo of a row of spawning nets in the mud ponds.

I'm sure the folks who view the board will be interested in the open weekend and I'll post some photos after the date, but my post was not to 'tout' for business.

Four sets under way at thew moment and more to come next week.

[Regenmeneer]

Hello There

I'm a hobbyist from the Netherlands and new to this forum. This due to the fact that for some reason the forum would not accept me. I could not sign up because of some technical error. Thanks to Brian Scott I'm here finally.

I have a question for all off you. I have been trying to find out what material the spawning nets are made off, and how they are suspended, and if weights or frames need to be used?

Sincerely,

Regenmeneer

[tewa]

hey maurice

once the fry are hatched from the spawning net do you remove and release them into the mud pond straight away or do you wait till they are a certain size than remove the white temporary housing in the picture.

tewa

[Maurice]

Regenmeneer, I buy my spawning nets in Japan, either brining them back with me, or having them sent over. They are supported by strings to overhead bars and have frames in the bottom to weight them down.

Tewa, once I see the fry free swimming, I drop the net below water level and let them swim out when ready.
Maurice.

[tewa]

hi maurice

thanks for sharing, I am planning on trying some spawning next season. Unfortunately i don't hink i will have the room to build as many mud ponds as you. I have seen your site and love your work. I was planning of putting a 50 ton liner pond just for raising fry, i was planning to put 5 to 8000 fry in the pond. I just want to ask is it absolutely necessary to use red clay at the bottom, does the layer of clay at the bottom create an eco system that helps deal with waste from the fry. Could i just make soft water for the pond and not use any clay but instead add calcium montmorrolite powder clay, maybe even add some sacks of zeolite to help with the ammonia levels a little. Do you add freshwater to these mudponds everyday?

What number of koi do you keep in your mud pond as they grow from 5cm to say 30cm?

Sorry maurice lots of questions, am excited to start breeding

[Regenmeneer]

Hello

Maurice, thank you for answering my question. Can you tell me what kind of material the spawning nets are made off?

Sincerely,

Regenmeneer

[Maurice]

Tewa, 5 - 8,000 fry will do well in 50 tons. First cull I bring them down to around 300 - 400 and final cull 100 if you have enough of the quality you are looking for.
It depends on what you are after, you can raise many more if you like, but they will all suffer poor growth if you keep too many.

A liner pond will do fine, don't worry about a clay bottom.

Regenmeneer, the nets are made from nylon, or similar man made material, you can make them yourself from net curtain material, but it needs to be REALLY fine to stop the new born from swimming through.

Gota go feed the ponds now.
Maurice.

[B.Scott]

Hiya Chris! Glad to see ya made it to the forum. Welcome aboard!

Maurice is correct about the spawning nets needing to be quite fine. I put some 3 week old fry in a net with 0.6 mm hole in it and lost 90% of them because they swam through the netting. It's a tough way to sort for size instead of quality.

Fine curtain netting (vitrage) made of polyester will do as well. You may have to weight the bottom to keep it from blowing about in the water though. Those little weights they use for holding down garden table cloths do quite well!


B.Scott