Day 1 of 2009 spawn

So its that time of year again. weather warmed up nicely so was decided to plan spawn for sat morn. Thursday night i moved female doitsu sanke into 500 gallon breeding tank which was already prepared with spawning ropes in place.

Friday afternoon male kohaku and male showa was added to tank. then added small heater to tank to keep temp at 20c + overnight.

Alarm clock set for 4.00 am in morn. and off to bed early :-)

4.00 next morn cup of tea in hand walked up to tank. and looks like we are in buisness, all going to plan. both males were getting excited as daylight appears.

Approx 5.00 am. they started chasing her around and then she started to realese eggs. lasted for approx 4 hours which is normal,

Separted koi at 10.00am. kept female separte for a few hours to recover. but not in breeding tank as she would have eaten all her eggs by then. :-)

left eggs to harden. and dosed malichite in evening to tank to reduce fungus growth on non fertile eggs.

Just wait too see now how many fertile eggs i have. hopefully tomorrow might start to see which ones are staying clear coloured.

heater is kept in tank to keep temp up above 20c.

daphnia adults was put together to produce live baby daphnia for when baby koi hatch and require live food. (see next post for daphnia culture)