Controlling Your Koi Population
You may think this sounds cruel, removing the babies from their parents as soon as they are born and you may think that the more Koi you have the better, but it will become apparent very quickly that this can be a potentially harmful situation both for your pond and the parent fish.
You may ask, what is so harmful about having more fish the your originally started with?
Well by overpopulating your pond can lead to a number of harmful situations.
You must remember that Koi will grow up to three feet in length regadless of the size of their surroundings. This can turn your beautiful pond into an overpopulated uncomfortable place for your fish to reside and may also cause damage to our pond if it is fairly small.
You must also bear in mind that when you originally built your pond, you set up the filtration system for a pecific number of fish. By adding more fish to your pond, you will increase the amount of unwanted gas and chemicals in the water and this can in turn be dangerous to your Koi.
There are several ways of removing babies from your pond.
Firstly you can stop feeding your Koi for no less than three weeks as soon as you notice that spawning has occured. When you stop feeding your fish, they will start to eat more natural foods, including their young. Whilst Koi do not have a cannibalistic nature they will consume their young whilst they are still eggs or if they are very small and resemble insects. As soon as the baby Koi starts to resemble a fish, the adult Koi will recognize them as fish and will no longer use them as a food source. This is why it is important to start this process as soon as you notice spawning or babies.
Although this would happen if your Koi where living in nature, you may find this option cruel and want another way to remove the number of babies, so how about giving them away.
Check your local pet store or dedicated Koi dealer as they may have a program that accepts unwanted animals and find good homes for them. As it is possible they will sell the fish you give them, they may even pay you for them. You may also find a home for them in our local zoo.
Of course you could look for a local Koi society and let them know that you have unwanted baby Koi. If you cannot find a local society then look online for a message board or forum and post a message there.
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