Baby Koi Everywhere!

I am a proud pond mommy of hundreds if not a thousand+ baby Koi!

Our pregnant mama Koi must have had her babies a couple of days ago because there are TONS of tiny baby koi fish swimming around our small pond. The babies are brown with tiny swishy tails like the larger koi. They look almost like goldfish. The larger Koi let the babies eat while they sit at the bottom waiting their turn. We feed them about 5 times a day..They range in size to super tiny to about 2"

My husband was given 8 lovely Koi fish a month ago. We were told the one was pregnant expecting any day. We had never owned Koi so did some research and figured out how to take care of them. Most are bright orange in color with one almost black so you can hardly see it and a bright white one with an orange spot.

Alittle about Koi-

"The word 'koi' comes from Japanese, simply meaning "carp." It includes both the dull grey fish and the brightly colored varieties. What are known as 'koi' in English are referred to more specifically as 'nishikigoi' in Japan (literally meaning 'brocaded carp'). In Japanese, 'koi' is a homophone for another word that means 'affection' or 'love'; koi are therefore symbols of love and friendship in Japan. An example of this is given in a short story by Mukoda Kuniko, "Koi-san".

Koi are an omnivorous fish and will often eat a wide variety of foods, including peas, lettuce, and watermelon. Koi food is designed not only to be nutritionally balanced, but also to float so as to encourage them to come to the surface. When they are eating, it is possible to check koi for parasites and ulcers. Koi will recognize the person feeding them and gather around them at feeding times. They can be trained to take food from one's hand. In the winter, their digestive system slows nearly to a halt, and they eat very little, perhaps no more than nibbles of algae from the bottom. Their appetite will not come back until the water becomes warm in the spring.

Like most fish, koi reproduce through spawning in which a female lays a vast number of eggs and one or more males fertilize them. Nurturing the resulting offspring (referred to as "fry") is a tricky and tedious job, usually done only by professionals. Although a koi breeder may carefully select the parents they wish based on their desired characteristics, the resulting fry will nonetheless exhibit a wide range of color and quality.

(This is what my pond will look like in the future!HA!)

Koi will produce thousands of offspring from a single spawning. However, unlike cattle, purebred dogs, or more relevantly, goldfish, the large majority of these offspring, even from the best champion-grade koi, will not be acceptable as nishikigoi (they have no interesting colors) or may even be genetically defective. These unacceptable offspring are culled at various stages of development based on the breeder's expert eye and closely guarded trade techniques. Culled fry are usually destroyed or used a feeder fish (mostly used for feeding arowana due to the belief it will enhance its color) , while older culls, within their first year between 3" to 6" long (also called "Tosai"), are often sold as lower-grade 'pond-quality' koi.

The semi-randomized result of the koi's reproductive process has both advantages and disadvantages for the breeder. While it requires diligent oversight to narrow down the favorable result that the breeder wants, it also makes possible the development of new varieties of koi within relatively few generations.

Koi can live for centuries. One famous scarlet koi, named "Hanako" (c. 1751 – July 7, 1977) was owned by several individuals, the last of whom was Dr. Komei Koshihara. Hanako was reportedly 226 years old upon her death. Her age was determined by removing one of her scales and examining it extensively in 1966. She is (to date) the longest-lived vertebrate ever recorded."
-Wikipedia