The eggs from my first kohaku spawning have hatched and I got my first sense of the volume of hatchlings today as the first few became visible on the sides of the tank and netting, and took a little swim when I nudged the spawning ropes.
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| Kohaku fry, clinging to the side of the cage net |
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| Close up of the kohaku fry. The large holes in the net are 1mm x 2mm, which shows how small these new hatchlings are |
Here's a short video of the new hatchlings swimming when the spawning ropes are nudged:
Video linkLooks like a decent number, which is some relief. I won't know for sure until I drain the pond down, but I'm working on the basis there are sufficient numbers to warrant giving them one of the outdoor ponds. Now my attention turns to bridging the temperature gap between the spawning vat and the outdoor pond.
In the outdoor pond, the water has gone clear - which I was hoping for. And there are daphnia throughout the pond. What I don't know is whether the bloom is too early... Time will tell.
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| The green water has cleared ! You can see the bottom. |
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| Daphnia bloom - the reddish looking clouds |
Inside the polytunnel, I've spawned another set of kohaku. Same males, different female. It's my first test of spawning and rearing hatchlings in a recirculation pond. I mentioned some time ago how I met Allan Bennett from Australia at the All England show last year, and he rears in this way - and I am trying to replicate the method this year.
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| Spawning ropes prepared - cleaned in water from the tap, then hung in the sun to dry |
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| I contained the Oyagoi in this cage net to keep the males and female close together and to provide a jump barrier |
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| And they're off..... Spawning started early this morning, |
This female has a very neat laying technique - she's meticulously covered every part of the spawning ropes with eggs. I'll know in 24 hrs what fertlisation rate looks like on kohaku set #2.
