Spawing Koi and Goldfish

I am sorry to be so long getting back to these pages. I think (I hope) you were anxious to hear about the spawning process. The weather here has not been favorable to an internet connection or even, for the most part, turning on my computer. Even as I write this, thunder is rolling and I have no connection to the internet.

I’m sure you aren’t interested in my weather and you probably aren’t interested in what else has kept me busy, but I’m going to tell you anyway. I have a very stubborn hubby. He almost never sees a doctor and a bite on his toe that I believe is from a brown recluse, is no exception to his rule. I have been treating it with Epsom Salts and essential oils and so far it seems to be working. He is lucky to have a wife interested in natural remedies or by now his toe might well have fallen off.

Spawning? The goldfish are still at it. I haven’t seen any spawning activity from the koi since May 20th. But, it seems that every time it rains a heavy downpour the goldfish begin to get jiggy again.

About the beginning: I woke up at 4 A.M. feeling rested and thinking I was ready to get out of bed. I didn’t want to disturb anyone, so I took a pillow and blanket out to the swing next to my pond. The sound of the waterfall quickly lulled me back to sleep.

I was awakened about an hour later by the sound of heavy splashing, it was just daybreak. I blinked to clear my vision. The rambunctious koi were crashing into rocks and the sides of the pond. They were crashing and diving over and into the potted and floating plants as well as each other.



Fish that were not involved in the spawning itself, followed nearby creating a slurping sound as they gathered as many eggs as they could eat before the eggs found a home on the plants, walls and rocks. There was so much activity going on, I couldn’t tell where I should watch next.

The most interesting sight of all was my prettiest calico koi, it is nice to finally know that she IS a she. At one point, she was standing on her head in a corner of the pond. More of her body was out of the water than what she had in the water! I am so pleased to have caught much of the shenanigans on camera. There are still eggs attached to rocks above the waterline, though the first batch of fry has hatched (so has a second and third batch).

I spent most of the day enjoying the show and taking pictures. Later I got a large, deep pot, which I placed in the shade of a redbud tree, and filled it with pond water. I carefully pulled plants and rocks from the areas where the koi had been most active and dropped them into the big pot. In less than two weeks I had both koi and goldfish fry swimming happily in the deep pot.

When goldfish and koi are together, as mine are, it is difficult to identify a koi fry vs. a goldfish fry at first, unless you have a very strong magnifying glass. However, koi begin to show color within a few days, while goldfish take weeks before they begin to change from non-color brown to the colorful beauties they will become.

Because the goldfish have continued the spawning process, I have an almost constant influx of fry, seeming to hatch almost daily. However, I have not bothered to remove them from the community pond. Plants and carefully placed rock formations give the newly hatched fry many secure places to hide from hungry predators.

Plants in the pond not only give security and beauty to your pond and fish, they are also healthy filters to the water quality. Next time I will talk about pond plants and update you on the growth of the fry.