Agreed. The qualifier was usually aren't old enough. I have seem smaller
ones spawn, but it is rare.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"John Rutz" wrote in message
...
rich normaly yes a koi will be biger than 12-14 in when old enough to
spawn, but i have a couple in my pond I know are at least 3-4 yrs old
that spawned this summer and are only 7-8 in The pond I got em from
and my pond were overcrowded with goldfish and stunted them
it does happen once in a while


RichToyBox wrote:
Bruce,

Koi and goldfish both are egg layers. It sounds as if there was a
spawn,
but from your post, I doubt that it was the koi. Koi usually aren't old
enough to spawn at 13". The koi would have lost most of its size during
the
spawn, not gotten bigger. The female koi will look really skinny
following
the egg laying. The act of spawning by koi, (I don't know about
goldfish)
is very violent. The male will be pushing and shoving the female
against
the sides of the pond, plant baskets or anything else, and you will
think he
is trying to push her out of the pond, no simple nudging. Usually for
the
first two or three days they eat the eggs as fast as they can. Between
the
milt from the male, which is nearly pure protein, and the additional
load of
eating, the ammonia level will go very high and burn the gills if not
treated. The fish staying under the waterfall may be showing the signs
of
ammonia burns. Check the ammonia and if it is high, add amquel to bind
the
ammonia into the non-toxic ammonium. Since the filter changes the
ammonia
to nitrites, the nitrites will also go very high, and cause suffocation,
by
causing brown blood disease. Check the nitrites and if high, add salt
to
get a 0.1% salt level. Don't feed until all of the eggs are gone or
hatched, such that you don't see them. I suspect the spawn was the
comets.

Good luck.


--





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

never miss a good oportunity to shut up

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com