Selecting through the green vortex tank

The project is supposed to be quietening down at this time of year, and even though the first frost has come and gone, winter is looming and christmas is only 7 weeks away (can’t believe I just said that!!!) .. it still feels as busy as the main summer breeding season and I’m still prioritising really hard to keep the project going.. and pushing as much non-essential stuff to the right as I can.

Problem is… the fish are growing , and selections are rapidly becoming essential –to think out the tanks, and I also want to a closer look particularly at the babies we’re rearing from ‘sharkey’ as it’s the first year we’ve had babies from her to grow on over the winter.

Last weekend we managed to fit in a few bits on the koi front. And high on my priority list is creating some space for the keepers from the selection of the 3 step kohaku female’s babies that we selected last week.

And to create that space.. we cleared out the small keepers from the May 16 spawning that I’d been growing on in the green vortex tank.. and we selected some to continue to grow on and these are now large enough to go in with the other larger fish from that spawning.

Here's a link to a video of a few of the keepers:


I thought I'd captured a few more... and the better ones too! only problem, I didn't press the record button! we'll just have to wait until I next catch up the tank for those few...

overall, some of these 'smaller ones' from the may 16 spawning have benefited from the protected conditions away from the larger fish, and I think there could be a few interesting ones coming through from this batch. i've now moved the best ones into the main growing on tank with the other may 16 keepers.. as they are large enough to fend for themselves now, and can take the 3mm pellet that the others are eating.

a few pics from the selection



finally got round to installing an auto feeder onto this tank... which is growing on the better ones from the may 16 spawning

I gave a talk on the project for the Yorkshire Koi Society a month ago, and I’m off to the Midland Koi Association (MKA) tomorrow night (Tuesday 8th Nov) to do the same. It’s my first visit to the MKA and will be the last talk I give in 2016; with another 3 already planned in for next year. I do like getting out to the clubs, and I profess that now we’ve had a little success on the breeding side of things – it’s nice to be able to share some good news stories along side all the challenges that I end up recounting when I run through the project.... Its always good to remember how we got started and how far we've come. and yet, i've barely scratched the surface... there is still so far to go.