We decided to start spawning a couple of weeks earlier this year and although the weather has been pants the temperature in the polytunnel where we spawn has been quite good. The first to spawn were the Showa. Same female as last year but we put her with two different males, from Kazuto, that we bought in last year but didn't use.

They are more kindai than the last males so it will be interesting to see what difference they make. We carried out first cull yesterday and Jules came to give us a hand. There were, officially, a bazillion koi fry to go through and boy does my neck ache today!

They went out into the mud pond yesterday evening. I always find spawning time a little tense because you can never be 100% certain how a brood fish will perform, how the eggs will develop and how many fry there will be. Once they have hatched out it is always exciting and then when they swim up it's even better! Putting them out into a mud pond is worrying because they are just so small. I have to say though, culling yesterday showed that they may be small but they have all the instincts and abilities that we have come to expect from our koi, despite their size. Now that they are in the pond though, they have become invisible and we just have to sit tight and see how they get on.

When we put the Showa fry out yesterday it was cold and horrible and we decided that we probably wouldn't be able to see them today and so wouldn't keep looking. We couldn't stop ourselves though and Mark went and looked first thing but couldn't see anything, as expected. I went and looked a little later and there they were! The little guys are loving it out there!

That's when it hit me. It's not just a job. It's not even just a way of life. It's and OBSESSION!.

We also have a bazillion Goshiki and Kohaku which will be going out today too. At least we don't have to do any selection on them before hand!

We have also spawned Shiro Utsuri, Hariwake and Ochiba. We have a couple of more spawnings to do but will probably leave it a week before we do any more. I can't say exactly what we will spawn as we have several females to choose from and sometimes we don't make our final decision until we are about to take them from the brood fish tanks!

Thanks for your help Jules and here are some memories of the day for you!

Lisa

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