Koi-GoldfishPage2

Koi/Goldfish

QUARANTINE:

I quarantine all new imports or any new fish that we get in for one month. During this time I salt the pond at 1 LB of aquarium or pickling salt or rock salt for every 100 gallons. You can do more if you like but I start off with this amount and add more if necessary. If the fish seem to be ill I usually add a good bacterial medication to the pond to get rid of anything that they may have. Parasites are another thing to look for. Many people use Potassium Permanganate but because it can be very dangerous, I prefer products like Jungles Parasite Guard and find that it works very well and is less likely to kill all of your fish if you happen to overdose. As far as bacterial medications go, the Sulfa drugs work really well and for ulcers, Oxylinic Acid is my drug of choice. Make sure that you have lots of air going into the tank along with salt at 3 tablespoons per gallon making sure that the salt is mixed in another container and then after each addition to the tank, swish the tank water around so that the salt is evenly distributed.

BREEDING

It is so much easier to breed Koi and Goldfish in a pond situation but it is more possible to breed Goldfish in a tank than it is Koi, unless of course the tank you have in the house is a few hundred gallons. :)
Determining the sex of Koi and Goldfish isn't too easy but after you have had them for a while you get to see the differences. Male Koi are more long a slender than the females and the first ray of they're pectoral fins are a touch thicker and the pectoral fin seems to have more of a point than the females do but this is also not easily detected. The males also get these little tubercules (white dots) on the sides of their gill plates and on the first rays of their pectoal fins.
The female Koi, when viewed from the top and just to the side can be seen to be plumper than the male around the anal area.
In Goldfish, the male and female Goldfish, especially those of the egg shaped type can be difficult to determine the sex of also.

SPAWNING MEDIA:

Now, to breed these fish, make your own spawning mops out of any synthetic wool you have around the house. We get a large book, at least 6 inches high and wrap the wool around 50 times. This gives the effect of hanging plants. If you have plenty of horn wort, elodea or Java moss, this also works really well but the synthetic spawning mops can be used over and over again and put away when you are done.
Periodic water changes during the week are important to lower the water and then allow it to raise in temperature on it's own. Live foods such as brine shrimp or small worms from the garden or flies will help condition your fish so that they will be ready to spawn.
You will find that the male will start to chase the female around the tank or pond a few days before the actually spawning takes place. The female will then deposit her eggs into the spawning material and the males will follow her to fertilize the eggs. It takes the eggs 3 to 7 days to hatch, depending on the temperature of the tank water or pond water. The fry will become free swimming at 3 days and at that time it is a good idea to start feeding live foods such as baby live brine shrimp. If this is not a possible, get a good Koi or Goldfish food and grind up to powder from a good brand name Koi food such as Hikari along with pure wheat germ and spirulina. This will help your babies to grow very quickly. The most important thing to remember is that if you have the babies in a tank, get a couple of foam filters so that the water will be filtered and so that microscopic foods will grow on the foam to give the babies some live foods if you cannot provide them. Water changes are very important and over feeding must not be done, as the water will pollute very quickly. To make water changes I get a small hose and place a piece of large celled foam into the hose so that the water flows out slowly and so that the babies aren't sucked into the hose.

If you have any questions concerning this, let me know and I will be happy to help you out.

-Lorraine (Koilady)

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If you have any questions about Koi/Goldfish please e-mail: Lorraine (Koilady)

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