Breeding koi in garden koi ponds
Vol: 417 Date:
Nov 6th 2004
The Water Gardens Gazette
1. Breeding koi in garden koi ponds .. by Ben Helm
2. Pond Filters, UV's & Pond Plants On Line
3. Get Brett's Newsletter
4. Admin section
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1. Breeding koi in garden koi ponds .. by Ben Helm
Let me first introduce Ben Helm who has contributed this article and will be a regular contributor in future.
Ben Helm is a qualified marine biologist who has kept fish for most of his life. He has written masses of free information for the specialist aquatic and garden pond titles across the world for over 10 years and has recently written two chapters for a book on koi. He used to farm ornamental fish for a living and was head of the fish farming and aquatics dept for 5 years at Brooksby College (UK). He has appeared on BBC TV and Radio, talking about his passion for Japanese koi, ponds and fish-keeping. Ben has also lectured on ponds and aquatics to trade and consumer groups across the world and is currently the marketing and product manager for a leading brand of pond food. Ben knows the pond supplies market in the UK intimately and is able to provide reliable free information on most aquatic products. Plants are important parts of aquatic systems and algae and blanketweed are in facts types of plants discussed at great length by Ben. Ben lives in Nottingham area in UK
Visit Ben's pond keeping, breeding caring for koi website
How can I get my mature koi to spawn?
I have been a koi keeper for five years now and I haven't bought any koi for the last three years. My pond is approximately 3,000 gallons and has nine koi. They are all between three and four years old and range from 20cm to 45cm in length. Everything is running very smoothly at the moment, the filters are well matured, the fish feed well and are happy and healthy. I am now at the stage where I would like to take on a new challenge. I would like to start breeding my own koi but I'm not really sure how to go about it. I have read some books on the subject but I still feel as though I need a lot more information. Can you help me out?
It sounds as though you have a fine collection of koi that are ideal candidates for spawning. Assuming that you have a mix of both males and females, your koi will by now be sufficiently mature to spawn. There are a number of practical things you need to consider before embarking on the path of becoming a surrogate koi farmer. Furthermore, you should be aware of the limitations you are likely to face, which hopefully will temper your expectations. The koi that are in your pond will respond to environmental cues in the same way as career broodstock do in Japan, so where possible, to help you understand the spawning process, I will touch on some tricks that the professionals use when farming koi.
To breed or not to breed?
Now that you are looking to breed your mature koi, you will hopefully have taken into account the risks involved.
Many koi keepers do not wish their koi to breed, as the spawning event is quite stressful for koi. Unlike at all other times, koi are not graceful or reserved in their spawning behaviour. If males significantly outnumber ripe females then females in particular can become quite exhausted and physically damaged as the males drive and bash at the swollen females in their attempts to expel their eggs.
This can lead to loss of scales and permanent scarring and when I used to farm koi, I had regular contact with a number of koi keepers who wanted their females to be induced and stripped artificially to release their eggs in a controlled manner. Many of these females already exhibit damage from previous spawning activity. On the more positive side, you have the opportunity of increasing the number of koi in your pond, tapping into the genetic and biological potential of your own koi.
Visit Ben's pond keeping, breeding caring for koi website
What makes koi spawn?
I am a little puzzled as to why your pond full of mature, healthy koi has not already spawned spontaneously in the preceding years. They are no more likely to spawn next year by you simply wishing them to do so. Once you have identified the key spawning triggers, you will have to intervene accordingly in order to stimulate a spawning response.
Koi spawn in late spring/early summer in response to environmental stimuli which signal that their environment will provide their fry with the physical conditions and natural food supply so crucial for their good growth and survival. Even though koi are in-bred selected descendants of wild carp species, they have retained this biological clock from their ancestors, and it is something we can capitalise upon when trying to stimulate them to spawn.
Two key factors that stimulate koi to breed are water temperature and day length (photoperiod). These stimuli work in tandem to influence when koi spawn. Water temperature will fluctuate at comparable dates from year to year, whereas photoperiod is far more consistent. I.e. We know that June the 21st will be the longest day each year but that temperature will fluctuate year on year and is not as predictable as day length (especially up in Lancashire!). The overall effect of these interactions means that koi will spawn at different times all over the country (or perhaps not spawn at all).
It is the increasing day length that has the greatest effect on maturing the female's eggs, with water temperature having more of an effect towards the time of spawning. Koi are happiest to spawn at about 20 degrees C or on subsequent cooler mornings once these temperatures have been achieved. The final trigger for spawning may sound obvious, but once the females' eggs are ripe, the factor that finally causes the eggs to be released and spawning activity stimulated is the presence of males. By keeping the sexes separate, commercial farmers can prevent spontaneous spawning events, but unfortunately, in your pond, you are likely to experience (or even miss) a spontaneous flock spawn.
Problems with a flock spawn.
Besides the risk of physical damage, a flock spawn immediately limits your productivity as a koi breeder. As soon as a female koi releases her eggs into the pond, there is a 30 second window of opportunity for the sperm (which are now heavily diluted in your pond water) to fertilise the eggs. After that, as the eggs swell by taking on water, the micropyle (small duct) through which the sperm will fuse with the female genetic material will close. This will lead to an overall drop in fertility rates, having a knock-on effect for the fry numbers.
A flock spawn also impacts upon the quality of fry produced. The specimen varieties that we stock in our own ponds are the product of crosses between similar koi varieties. The probability of achieving something similar in a spawning free-for-all in a koi pond is greatly reduced. So in realistic terms, you should aim at producing viable fry that you can grow on (irrespective of their livery). Don't expect these fry to resemble any recognised varieties, as this can only really be reliably achieved by spawning known parents under controlled conditions.
Why are your koi not spawning spontaneously at the moment?
Having farmed koi for over 7 years, experience shows that you need to have complete control over all of the environmental stimuli to have a chance of being successful. By doing so, you can virtually guarantee a spawn. In a garden pond however, you have to accept the environmental conditions provided naturally, often with unpredictable results. The natural conditions will of course prove more difficult in the north of England, compared with the south. You can however, increase your chances of spawning by manipulating your pond's temperature at 2 key periods in the calendar year.
Autumn-Winter. Koi that experience a cold period (4 Degrees C or below for 1 month) have been shown to spawn more reliably the following season. Ensure your koi experience 1 month of ambient temperature through the winter.
Spring-Summer. Once you have reset their biological clock to 'zero' (by giving them a cold period), you can now increase their chances of spawning by heating the pond from mid February onwards, achieving a minimum of 15 Degree C each day. Again, experience shows that if koi experience 1000 degree days (see Boxout), they are likely to spawn. This certainly works for professional carp and koi farmers who make this strategy the backbone of their farming husbandry.
Allowing your koi to experience 1000 degree days.
The water temperature is raised gradually, held at 15 degrees C and your koi are subjected to a lengthening photoperiod.
The golden rule in maturing females is to subject them to 1000-degree days. That is, 3 days at 15 degrees C = 45 degree days and so on. A tally of degree-days should be kept to ensure that at least 1000-degree days are achieved prior to spawning. Once achieved, koi are likely to spawn. Give them a final helping hand by bringing your pond temperature up to 23 Degrees C.
Spawning time.
Once your pond approaches the 1000 Degree Days mark, you can add spawning media (soft rope/woollen mops) onto which your koi will deposit their adhesive eggs. These can then be later removed as your koi will soon help themselves to the eggs (and later on - the fry).
Fry rearing.
Even for the professional koi breeder, raising fry is the most challenging part of farming koi. This is certainly the experience for most koi keepers that experience an unplanned spawn. The short notice does not allow sufficient preparation which means that many thousands of eggs will only become hundreds of fry. Ultimately only a handful of homebred koi will reach fingerling size. For this reason, if the hobbyist is keen to breed from their collection, they must provide the eggs and fry with suitable conditions to hatch and grow out in.
Quite paradoxically, the best environment for fry to flourish is in a green, unfiltered but natural pond, full of microscopic zooplankton. It is often resistance against such an 'unsightly' pond that results in only a handful of fingerlings being produced in the same pond as the broodstock. Stocking fry into 'stew ponds' is the method used by commercial koi farmers grow on their fry in both the UK and Japan. If you have any spare clay-based land, then dig yourself a fry pond; it will certainly increase your yield.
As an encouragement, it must be remembered that each year even commercial breeders produce many thousands of very poor, low-grade fry similar in appearance to those produced by accident in koi ponds each year. The difference being that the commercial breeders start off with many more and are able to cull hard, ensuring that only those fish exhibiting good characteristics make it to market. As koi keepers, we should be thrilled with any extra home grown koi that we can produce, being loathed to cull any of them.
So in conclusion, it is a little mystifying why your mature koi have not already spawned in your pond. As one of the key factors is water temperature (a likely limitation in sunny Lancashire!), by investing in a pond heater and using it wisely and strategically, your chances of spawning koi in your own pond will increase. However, be well aware of the risks and limitations involved. We should be realistic when trying to breed koi and raise fry in the same pond, being happy to see only a handful of fry reach 2-3" in their first year, irrespective of their coloration or pattern which are likely to be disappointing.
Copyright 2004, all rights reserved. This article may be duplicated for use provided all biographical information and web links are preserved. exactly as above
2. Getting ready for winter in cold areas and putting the pond to bed until Spring
By far the best article I have read on winter preparations was written by Peter J May (the Perfect Pond Detective ... see one of his books here http://www.perfect-pond-detective.com/perfectpondrecipe.html ). I trundle this unbeatable article out every year about this time
PUTTING THE WATER GARDEN TO BED FOR WINTER - by Peter J May
This is the season of our discontent, us poor water gardeners. The registered temperature slowly crawls down the thermometer and the world of the water garden slows to slumbering. With only a gradual change it is hard to know precisely what to do and when to do it, but certain pool events are a definite indication that the time has come to put the pool to bed for the winter months.
PUTTING THE PLANTS IN ORDER
With the diminishing hours of daylight and the reducing temperature, the plants in and around the pond have decided to call it the end of the season. Amongst the Marginals, the fleshy stemmed and thick leaved plants like the Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris and varieties) may have succumbed weeks before the real cold comes, preferring an early rise at the dawn of spring. These will need cutting back to the crown of the plants.
Any exotics like Canna hybrids lilies should have been removed at the end of September, and planted in ordinary compost and kept in a frost-free green house. Arum Lilies can either be settled deep in the pool or alternatively over wintered in pots in a greenhouse. Gone are the days when we would plunge the pots into clinker beds in cold frames along with the dark leaved Lobelia cardinalis in trays. With the current spate of mild winters in the south, gardeners find that as long as the plants are in large enough groups, they survive quite happily outside.
Some of the thin sword shaped leaved rushes and reeds will still seem very much in their element, perhaps acquiring attractive russets that subtly flash changes as the autumn winds rock the swathes of plants en masse. It is always a dilemma in cutting these back, as the movement from these grassy plants lends life to a scene that is otherwise dormant.
For small water gardens it perhaps wiser to at least cut off the seed heads before they shed, since all these marsh reeds and rushes carry an armoury of seed to perpetuate their species, scattering them on the wind to all four corners of your water world. In the water garden that is a wildlife haven, the remaining standing leaves will keep a cover for the ingress and exit of insomniac amphibians and thirsty mammals, but unfortunately will also serve as hide for herons. If you have to net your pond against the autumn fall, cut them back to one third. The net will then double as a heron deterrent.
Floaters. A sure sign that winter is on its way is when the floating Water Soldier (Stratiotes aliodes) and the Frogbit (Hydrocharis Morsus Ranae) sink out of sight. Frogbit will lie as winter buds on the bottom of the pool. Rescue it if you have a mind for a thorough clearout of the pool. Mid October was best for this, as the water was still warm and the drowsy wildlife would recover before the cooler temperatures really affected the water. Other floaters may need to be taken indoors.
Some floating plants that will definitely need some tender loving care: Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) ....This dies back to leave spiny edible fruits, if it has been a good summer. Do not let them dry out at any time. They should be sown in pans of loam underwater from April-May. Heat to 18-21c until germination then grow them unheated. But dont let the temperature drop below 7c. Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) ... If there are any off shoots, separate them from the parent plant and float in shallow water at above 7c. Water Hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) ... South Africans and Florida folk are amazed we should want to preserve this plant, but it has a beautiful flower and will help to keep algae at bay. It can be planted into loam or compost in a frost-free greenhouse. Alternatively float in shallow trays of water. Over winter at over 10c. Fairy Moss (Azolla filiculoides) ... This succumbs to hard winter frosts, when it turns bright red before disappearing. Many people would be glad to see the end of it in their pools, but if you want to overwinter it, it should be easy enough in a bucket in any frost free, light environment. The lilies, if they are still struggling on through October, their leaves will be looking diseased and mottled. If you can reach any of the worst leaves, give them a gentle tug to rescue them from rotting in the bottom the pool. Every little helps in preventing the build of detritus in the bottom of the pool. The lilies themselves want as little disturbance as possible until late spring.
POND PUMPS ... Remove any submersible pumps for waterfalls or filters to give them a thorough clean and overhaul, even gently scouring away any build up of lime or silt on fins and bearing surfaces. Put the pump back at a level less than 30cm(1ft) below the surface so that only the surface water is in the cyclical flow of water in the pool. This is so that the water at the bottom of the pool, if left undisturbed, is more likely to remain at a more even temperature. The pumps can be left in operation until it gets really cold, but there will be very little biological activity from a biological filter cooler than 10C (45F). If there is any chance of freezing, shut it all down and drain the filter box. You ought to start from scratch in the spring.
POND BIO FILTER ... If you have not looked already the filter is in need of a major service. The Ultra Violet clarifier needs cleaning too if you have one. The filter needs back flushing if you have that facility, otherwise scoop out the medium and rinse it in pond water or rainwater to flush out the worst of the muck. It does not need to be spotlessly clean, but check the chamber in the base because if the system has been overloaded at some time in the summer the evidence will be there to see. Scoop out this mess and rinse with pond or rainwater water. The filter will continue to operate mechanically at all temperatures above freezing but there is little point in using the U/V unless the temperature of the water rises well past 10C (45F). If this is likely then many U/V clarifier manufacturers advise you fit new a bulb. If it freezes, drain the filter and start again in the spring as though from scratch.
GET NETTED ... If you have not got a biological filter, then all the microbial activity that happens in biological filters has to happen in the bottom of the pool. All the muck that falls has to be digested by bacteria down there. But with the advent of winter this activity slows right down at a time of year when the potential load is increased by falling autumn leaves. This has to be cut to a minimum.
First, any leaves that have found their way in to the pool need to be dredged out with a net. Leave the resulting muck to drain away on the side of the pool for 24 hours. This will give time for any wildlife you have accidentally scooped up in it to make its way back into the pool.
Serious fish keepers suggest a partial water change of about a third of the water if it has been a hot summer. This will dilute any concentrated soluble salts that may have built up through evaporation. Treat any fresh tap water with proprietary pool conditioner.
If the pool is small enough, cover the water with a net. Stretchy nets that can pegged or held in place by bricks or stones can be obtained from your nearest aquatic store. If the net sags into the water, support it with long battens of wood or even a ladder.
POND FISH ... If there are any particularly fancy fish, like fantails or bubble eyes, that may have difficulty competing in an environment with bigger more robust fish, contemplate keeping them in a tank indoors over winter.
Koi keepers know that fish will still come to be fed, if feeding is a routine, way past the temperature at which they are capable of digesting food. Being cold-blooded animals their systems can only summon enough reserves to digest very low protein foods between about 10C (50F) and 7C (45F). So only feed a little winter feed or maybe a wheat germ based food two or three times a week. Below that temperature, feed nothing at all. As the temperature of water in the pool drops to around 5 C (41F) the fish begin to hibernate. Arm yourself with a thermometer that will register these temperatures accurately so you wont have to guess what is going on.
AS WATER TURNS TO ICE ... Something very strange happens to water at 4C (39F). Instead of warmer less dense water being at the surface, as in the summer, the density changes and the water that is closest to freezing becomes the least dense and floats to the top. The result is that the bottom stays at a fairly steady temperature under a blanket of cold or frozen water.
If the pool freezes, there is nothing to worry about for a few days. There is plenty of oxygen in cold water even if the fish needed it. But if there is any rotting matter in the bottom of the pool, toxic gases produced in the muck could build up. In order to maintain gaseous exchange between the water and the air, float a ball or a piece of wood in the pool. A pool heater is the most effective method of maintaining an air hole. But even in recent years, I have seen these frozen into ponds.
End of article
Click this link to go to site that offers many different heaters type heaters into search box that you will see and you will find a lot of information on installation and specifications. The information you will find will show you installation diagrams that will explain exactly what is required.
De-Icers for ponds (even patio and indoor ponds)
These of course are far more simple and low cost devices and can be viewed and explored at the same site ... ie click here . One of the models offered reads as follows and this will give you an idea as to how they work.
Heats the water, keeps open an ice-free area of approximately 30" in diameter at minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Thermostatically controlled, which shuts off at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Heavy-duty float will not rust, corrode or leak. Special 10" heating element. 6' heavy duty grounded wire. If tank runs dry, heating element will not burn out. Individually packed. 120 AC voltage.
You can also check here for a whole range of low cost pond products of all sorts by clicking this link http://www.practical-water-gardens.com/sitedirectory9.htm here you will also find numerous autumn pond treatment possibilities
3.The BEST low cost bio filter and UV equipment
Information on Alfagrog
Without getting too technical this means that 1 litre of Alfagrog can hold the
same amount of bacteria as 200 litres of plastic tubes. In other words a box
using plastic tubes needs to be 200 times bigger in volume than one containing
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Alfagrog fantastic low cost biomedia ... buy here, search for SUPRA after clicking
Alfagrog looks a bit like cinders, it is lightweight, comes in different sizes and you can literally blow through it because it is so porous.
"The Complete Pond Solver" by Tony Roocroft
2004 Edition. Essential reading for anybody who wants or has a garden pond. Get 12 Excel pond calculators free as well as "Water Lilies and Pond Aquatics" ebook also free
Pond plants and pond supplies on line
Pond plants ... every garden pond should have some (even those small barrel ponds I discussed last time). Here are some suggestions for this season and where you can get them on line ... click the image banner below and then choose Water Plants once you get to home page
They have nice basic variety of water lilies for sale ... every pond should have a water lily or two. There is also a wide range of marginals too. Well worth a look Other plants available ... see the pictures at my web site by clicking the link not placed here to reduce download time
NEW REPRINTED AND IMPROVED VERSION "The Perfect Pond Recipe Book" Unique DIY Book and Manual by Peter J May ... I am pleased to provide this space for Peter who has helped myself and my readers so much over the years. I fully endorse this book. I first got it around 1995.
"The Perfect Pond Recipe Book" is not just for those flat perfect bowling green situations. The techniques shown in my book enable you to put a pond or waterfall into any terrain.
Do take a closer look at Peter's book and information Click here and go to Perfect Pond Recipe Book Page
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