Top pond filled with hatchlings from August 16 #2 spawning
Arrived home last night from a business trip utterly knackered . couldn't sleep properly in the hotel while I was away and on the journey home I was looking forward to saying hi to Amanda and the kids, and then go to bed !
I took out 6 bags like this one filled with hatchlings.
Before removing the brushes and gathering in the net
But.... A quick perusal around the fry ponds and I decided the top fry pond was ready for hatchlings. We've been growing the hatchlings from both August spawnings and they are doing well - not quite large enough to eat daphnia yet, but I expect they will attain that size in the next few days.
With the top pond ready , I decided to catch one tank of the August 16 #2 spawning hatchlings (roughly half of the total number of hatchlings), and introduce them into the fry pond.
I think the cycling was just right for them - and we have the other half of the hatchlings in hand in a separate tank if I've made a mistake with the cycling ; and we could introduce them later if we feel something goes wrong in the fry pond for the ones we introduced last night.
And here's a video of the net gathered in, to consolidate the hatch into a small space, ready for me to bag up:
I've gone with the August #2 spawning hatchlings for the top fry pond in preference to the August #1 spawning hatchlings for two reasons:
1. That brood set has produced lots of koi that have won competitive show prizes; and
2. There are enough hatchlings from that spawning , that I can test the fry pond out using half of the hatchlings, knowing the other half is still sufficient number to repopulate the fry pond in full ; a useful backup. With the August 16 #1 spawning - there are enough hatchlings to populate a fry pond but with no spares.
The bottom fry pond is cycling, at roughly the same speed as the top pond; so should be ready for hatchlings either this weekend or next weekend.
It's fingers crossed time for the top fry pond....
