STAGES OF SPAWNING & DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO Stages of Spawning YOUR BREEDING STOCK, THE RAISING POND & RAISING DAPHNIA (WATER FLEAS) Preparation

CARE OF THE FRY Fry Care

SPAWNING MATERIALS & THE SPAWNING POND                Spawning

CULLING  If you have come this far without loosing the lot then congratulations, BUT now the real work begins. The fry should be around 6 weeks old and already you have culled out the bent and odd looking ones. This is where you can lose the lot if you do not cull *severly*. As in nature, the parents only have to replace themselves so take this as a guide - nature will cull around 90% of the fry or more. One of the main problems is that hobbyists/ breeders try to keep too many fry and this is their downfall. You need all the room you can get to raise healthy, good quality fingerlings. Culling hard goes hand-in-hand with good water and feeding practices. I cannot emphasise this enough, too much overcrowding leads to slow growth. This cannot be made up later and with cannibalism you could lose a winner. (If you over crowd, even your winners won't grow!) Poor quality water = poor quality fingerlings. Depending on the variety of fry, it may take 6 to 8 weeks before you can cull effectively as their colours and pattern have not fully shown through. After the first culling it is time to add treated water so that the depth allows more room to move and for them to grow. I would not go over 60 cm yet but would have the filter running slowly. You should re-cull every 8 weeks until they are 6 months old. By then you should have the best of them. If you have a problem with killing fry, then put the culls in a bag of water and put in the freezer or have a bucket handy with MS 222 in it to anaesthetise them. For me, after so long doing this I just bury them in the garden, they make very good fertliser for my tomatoes! When they are about 6 months old you should have enough to choose the best tategoi (young koi with potential) and thus reducing your numbers again. Do not put the young koi in the main pond yet as the larger koi give off an enzime which will stop the growth of the young tategoi. When they are at either 9 months or 20 cm then it will be safe to put them together.    TIPS ON CULLING  This can be a daunting task for the novice but this is how I cull:- Choose a good sunny day do not feed the fry before culling. Pick a spot in the shade close to the pond have ready: tubs, air stones, buckets, nets, table and stool if required. I have a floating timber box with fly mesh on the bottom which is about 1/2 mt square and 15 cm high. This floats in the pond and I use it to hold around 100 fry I have caught in a large net. I then transfer about 20 fry to a tub (with pond water and an air stone in it), from this tub I pick out the culls and dispose of them into another bucket. The good fry are then transferred to another tub filled with pond water and air stones. Keep in mind to not over heat the water as stress is a killer, I advise changing the water regularly. I continue this method until I have finished the whole pond. Only around 1/3 of these could be worth keeping after the next cull. When the pond is empty I transfer the good ones back into the pond and go on to the next pond. ~ The first cull is to take out the deformed ones and the solid colours (if your spawn is Sankes, Showas etc). ~ As you progress along to the next culling sessions you look for pattern and colour all the time raising the standard of acceptance untill finally you have up to 20 good fry to raise to a bigger size.