Cheap diy spawn mops

[koikeepr]

I noticed the goldfish getting frisky early yesterday morning, so needed to act quick with a cheap spawning mop idea so they could lay their eggs. I went out to Wal-mart and purchased cheap acrylic yarn for $2.50 (buy the thicker one versus the thinner one). I decided to purchase a dark colored yarn so I could more easily see the light colored eggs. If you buy white or light colored yarn, seeing the eggs will be pretty difficult.

I needed something to float the yarn. So, with an ongoing excuse to drink wine for the betterment of my fishies (ahem!), I grabbed a cork and a plastic zip-tie.

I cut about 15 lines of yarn that were approx 26" long. I then folded them in half so in the pond they would hang 13" long. I neatly wrapped the half around the wine cork and zip-tied them tightly to the cork like this:

Here is what the finished product looks like:

You just dunk 'em in the water to get the yarn nice and wet. The yarn strings will float to the surface for about a day. After about 24 hours, you will see that they are water logged and they hang down into the pond. And your little cork will keep the spawning mop floating!

This morning I went out to look at the mop since I noticed the fish were acting all busy around them, and sure enough, they were covered in eggs.

So, there you have it, a cheap, DIY spawn mop!

 

[koidaddy]

Great idea!:alieneyesa:

 

[ZmanArt007]

Would these work with koi fish as well? I don't really know what differences their spawning techneques have.

 

[koikeepr]

yes, totally. I made them for the koi, but the goldfish got frisky first.

Same spawning techniques.

I was hoping everyone would hold out until the new pond was built, but the birds-n-bees wait for new new ponds! LOL!

 

[koidaddy]

Do you have a thread that you have documented your spawning progress/process?

 

[koikeepr]

I don't, but I can start one now that I have eggs. I'll give it a shot. The biggest dilemma I forsee is transfering the spawn to the new pond. We'll see how they adjust to it.

 

[nigil]

Interesting, will give this a try.

 

[daddio42]

Thanks, a lot cheaper than the $50-$70 Spawning Mops

 

[koiguy1969]

i made mine similiar only bigger (more strands) tied them together with fishing line and fastened the line to a fishing bobber

 

[koikeepr]

that's a perfect alternative as well. Heck you can use a rubberband to fasten the yarn of you like. Whatever you've got around the house. I happen to be a zip-tie fanatic and put 'em on everything.

 

[koikeepr]

Thanks, a lot cheaper than the $50-$70 Spawning Mops

Thanks daddio! I'm basically too cheap to spend money on those expensive spawning brushes! You can sure make a lot of these cheapy ones for $50-$70 bucks!

 

[Roadrunner]

Brilliant idea we would use a mop head (uk saying not sure what they would be called over the pond, but it would be white I love the clever thinking of the dark background.
It's a shame you never took a snap of the eggs not for my lucky benefit we have been lucky and seen this for ourselves GREAT IDEA AND WELL THOUGHT OF FOR THE DARK BACKGROUND

 

[koikeepr]

Roadrunner, I do have a pic of the eggs on the spawning mops and you can see how well they stand out on the dark yarn. You can see the photos on this thread:

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/my-koi-spawning-t5505p2.html

 

[penguin20]

Thats great koikeppr!

Hmmm..It seems that I wanted to buy a goldfish now and do what you have done to yours.

Thanks a lot and keep it up!

 

[Boxcar]

Great idea! It hasn't been the same for my Koi since I removed the papyrus a few years ago. Beats trying to get them off the sides before the Koi eat them all. Thank you.