Page 37 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 17

Some breeders will let the parent Koi spawn naturally
onto spawning ropes while others will do it artificially.
Yamamatsu Koi Farm are one of these and René was
lucky enough to spend one night with the Sakai family
while they did this with a selection of their Sankes.
The parent Koi had already been selected and were
mixed in a holding pen, when the time was right
Toshiaki selected an anaesthetised female and started
to strip her of her eggs, this can be anything from 200
to 500,000 eggs, interestingly the breeders don’t say
how many females they have used but how many
stomachs they have used. Once the female has been
totally stripped of eggs she is carefully returned to a
holding pond to make sure she makes a full recovery.
Next the male (also anaesthetised) has his sperm
removed by using a specialised syringe. Once this has
The fertilised eggs are been achieved the next part is to weigh out the eggs
carefully and evenly poured and then mix the sperm to each batch and then
over the spawning ropes. carefully and evenly pour the mix over spawning ropes.
The fertilised eggs will remain in the tank, eyes can be
seen in the eggs at around 60 hours old and within 3 to
4 days the eggs will hatch, it’s a fascinating process to
watch and to see how efficient the breeders are at
doing this.
If for some reason the eggs don’t hatch or any other
reason then plan B is put in place and they use the next
The female parent Koi is
anaesthetised and parent Koi they have ready. All over the mountains there
carefully stripped of her are breeders having long sleepless nights as they breed
eggs then carefully their future Koi.
returned to a holding
pond to make sure she
makes a full recovery.

The male, also
anaesthetised, has his
sperm removed by using
a specialised syringe.
Once this has been
achieved the eggs are
weighed and mixed with
the sperm.
The fertilised eggs will
remain on the spawning
ropes, eyes can be seen
in the eggs after around
60 hours, they will hatch
within 3 to 4 days.
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