250 Showa Koi Fry

[fishin4cars]

they are looking great Ed! I don't know why you say your not seeing colors, Maybe because your new at spotting the colors of fry? actually I see multiple colored nidan (two step fish), One for example in the lower right hand side is showing good beni and white. Probably kohaku but only time will tell. Just a little input, Don't expect the the black to form very fast, Depending on the parents some showing don't start showing their sumi until they are Sansai (Three years old) or older. The longer the sumi hold back the stronger it can appear in a finished koi. so don't over expect to see the black come in now. That could actually be a good thing.
Also in reading your thread i saw you were having nitrite problems, If they have not worked out try slowing the water in your trickle tower. the flow rate may be to much for the bacteria to preform what they need to do. I notice you have only a thin layer of media, the more retaining time the water has with the media the more time for the bacteria to function. In a pond you would have large colonies of bacteria all around the sides plants, deco etc. In your pond your vacumning all that away when your vacumning the waste on the bottom. All in all they look good and for the age I think they are doing far better than my few surviors from my spawn. Out of several hundred i think we may be actually keeping about 30 fry in three seprate homes. Right now I have 7 I have selected to keep and there are at least 3 more in the outdoor pond that I want to pull and raise as well. i've already culled about 50 that I found problems with. All the culling I've done so far is fish without tails, bent backs bad body shape and a very few ugly brown grey ones. We are keeping a few of those to see how they turn out but most look very ugly and a waste of time to try and grow out.

 

[JohnHuff]

Fantastic thread, keep it up!

 

[CountryEscape]

Just read your whole thread, Ed, and very good job to you! Another koi god on this forum. I cannot imagine raising koi from eggs like Matt did, or you buying teeny tiny fry to raise. You have both done an exception job of raising them, and being upset about losing 1 or 2 is outstanding on your parts! I'm hoping to see some baby koi in my pond this year, as I noticed one of my larger koi (she is about 12" long) spawning about 2 weeks ago. Keep staring under the lily pads, but so far don't see anything. I guess the fry would be hiding deep and low, so maybe that's why I can't see them, or maybe they all got eaten. I'm banking on the fact that a few will surely survive.
Good luck to both of you, and thanks for sharing all your time with us!

 

[j.w]

CE some can squeeze into your floating plant rings too and if they stay in there they get to big to get out as mine did.

 

[ed2]

Hi guys!

Thanks for all the input and advice! Wow it's interesting to hear that you think they are showing potential for the colours I've started to notice a few showing patterns now as well since moving them outdoors this afternoon!

Sadly on the three hour drive home (damn roadworks :/) I lost another four fry absolutely gutted at that as I'd been doing pretty well! I certainly will try to avoid ever transporting them again

I'll post some pictures of their new location tomorrow

Ed

 

[ed2]

Actually here's a couple of photos in the meantime... I noticed this chap earlier who was hard to photograph as he wouldn't keep still but he was all silver with a very black head... Not sure where he's come from of what to expect him to develop into??

And here are 3 of the fry that sadly died and were all medium sized out of the 'litter'

 

[thematt311]

Sorry to hear about the 4 fry I kno how it is they def look Great can't wait to see your home setup I'm sure you'll have a great setup u gonna have tO check my growout pond I'm working out it's gonna be boss keep uP the good work u still beating my odds so theirs always tht and in the big picture 4 out of 250 is nothing I def enjoy watching how ur koi are doing thank you very much for all the pics def helps seeing somebody putting as much effort intO theese tiny fish as I do have a good one

 

[j.w]

So sorry about your 4 who didn't make it home. Still you have done very well in that all the rest are doing well. Hope they like their new home and that they do well there as they did at school!

 

[ed2]

Hi all,

Sorry that I haven't updated for a while. I've moved home and gone straight back into 12 hour shifts on the ambulance so I've had little time to myself really.

I had a bit of a nightmare last week because when I got home from uni, having had my mum go to Spain and my dad to Paris, all the electrics had tripped on the pond due to a waterproofing issue on my UVC. I found 90% of the fry belly up or with ballast issues and went into panic mode!

I did a 50% water change from my main pond, which is next to it and really easy via a sump pump pumped through a 400micron filter bag. I also established a constant water change changing 10% of the water per day. I upped the aeration to two very violent/heavy turbulance too. Within 24 hours every fish had righted itself and were back to 'normal' and feeding properly again! PHEWWWW

I've sourced a new pond for them, which is a large fibreglass preformed liner pond that I will stand in the current place of the paddling pool. The warm weather causes the air in the tubes to expand and to leak through the valves, so it keeps going flat and saggy and needs filling everyday. I will also be able to establish a proper overflow system to assist with the constant water change and to reduce maintenance!

Another issue is that I had the fish at 25 degrees indoors and moved them outside at the back-end of a heatwave. Now the water temperature is sitting between 12 and 18 degrees depending on the temperature each day. This is really frustrating as you can probably imagine and I am seeing very very slow, if any, development .

I am very tempted to put a handful of the fry into an indoor tank/water butt/similar and to use the established filtration system indoors again. I would then connect the new pond with a 'flow through' so that it was a branch of the existing pond. I'm fairly sure my established 3500 litre gravel bog could deal with the extra load?


Regards,

Ed

 

[j.w]

Wow you averted a catastrophe Ed! Glad you fixed the problem fast like and all the babies survived. What is the hurry in making them grow? Just wondering :razz:

 

[ed2]

Hi all,

I have just finished clearing up a major catastrophe in my growing pool and I have just cleaned between 100-200 dead babies from my filter

The net covering the pump inlet had come free on one side meaning any fish going towards the pump to eat the food collecting around it were being sucked up and cut to pieces by the impellor. I have two belly up but alive that have managed to make it so I will keep an eye on those.

I now have around 30 maximum left of all of my babies.

I am absolutely devastated

Ed

 

[DrCase]

Bummer I hope the good looking smart ones survived

 

[j.w]

Oh no what a terrible accident Ed! I know how much you cared for them. I'm so glad tho that you still have several left! This is all a learning process and you did your best. If you try it again I know that will never happen again. So sorry for you and the poor babies!

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, to have gone through such a worry, and have them all survive and then have a catastrophe right on top of that .... I'm sooo sorry to hear that! I agree with Dr. Case, hope the smart pretty ones survived. Good luck!

 

[addy1]

Darn ed so sorry to hear! feel for you