Butterfly Koi Spawn

Video of our large butterfly koi spawning in our backyard pond.

[@jennydeleon3911]

Nice koi

[@truason7044]

Nice butterfly koi you got there

[@JamesKing2understandinglife]

I enjoyed your comments as you were filming. I have had some success at having my butterfly koi reproduce in their pool where they live. They do love to eat their eggs if they can get to them and they will look earnestly. Once the babies hatch I think they do very good at surviving with their parents when there are plenty of places for them to disappear from the larger fish. I use very prickly juniper evergreen boughs . They are not fish friendly at all like the very nice unraveled rope that you use. My fish do not seem to get injured by the limbs, but with favorite fish I would not recommend it just so more eggs survive the spawning process. I think I have about 150 two inch survivor babies still in with the adults that I will move to another pond this fall. I will keep about 15 of the prettiest in a 50 gallon aquarium this winter, like I did last year. It took over a month for the koi from last years spawn to warm up to me when I fed them several times every day. I did partial water changes every 2 weeks and almost all of them grew to five to 6 inches over the winter. Their siblings who wintered over outside were all the same size . Your water quality is excellent. Your fish are very healthy and not suffering from overcrowding. Experiencing koi reproduction is very rewarding and getting all of the babies to thrive to culling is not accidental as it is with my method of choice.

[@jerithiede2164]

Yesterday, I caught about a half dozen of the young ones in our aquarium and put them in our smaller garden pond in front of our porch. They seem to be happy enough. There is one larger butterfly - maybe 12 inches or so in that pond, plus a very large plecostamus - about 15 inches. We always heard that, when the big fish can recognize the small ones as fish, they don't eat them. The very first time ours spawned, and we didn't know it, we found a few small ones that survived. We used to put a lot of oxygenating plants in the pond, just floating, but they make more mess than just lilies. We would do more if we were in the business, but it's just a hobby. The ones we have this time are the best we've seen so far. I have quite a few different males, so that may be why. Do need to sell some of the large and a lot of the young ones, but not sure how to do it easily! We do have a couple of favorites that each of us picked out, but that definitely means some others have to go! Thank you for your kind comments!

[@jhazzard314]

Really beautiful fish

[@jerithiede2164]

Many many thanks

[@valti7304]

they look more fancier than the regular koi...

[@jerithiede2164]

Thanks! Yes, they are much fancier with their long flowing tails and fins. That's why we fell in love with them!!

[@gundamghost4735]

butterfly koi are so fucking majestic actually all koi are really fucking majestic

[@giobelkoicenter]

Congratulations with your new babie

[@bersemikoi]

Butterfly koi yang sangat bagus

[@projektor4]

You are blessed with some beautiful koi, congratulations on their up-keep. One idea to find a new home for the breeding pair is to contact MaryEllen Malinowski (channel name) at the koi sanctuary. She normaly deals with koi rescue but maybe she can help you find a buyer. Or how about making the koi pool larger, ...at least deeper with some attractive landscaping if you don´t have the space to expand. Your beautiful fish deserve a beautiful environment.

[@jerithiede2164]

Thank you, but the pond is built into our deck by the house and no room for expansion. We had a catastrophe once where the back wall of the pond collapsed after a huge storm, so we took it all apart and my husband installed rebar and wood framing, so it's not going anywhere soon! If we make the pond any deeper, we would have to erect a fence around it because it would be considered a swimming pool and anything deeper than 3 feet needs a tall fence. It would certainly detract from what it is now, which is why it is only about 30 inches deep. I will keep the lady in mind. I don't know if the info is available, but we are in Nebraska and I hope to find someone locally as I would feel terrible if any were lost intransit, besides the cost of a transport. Worse comes to worse, we have a friend with a small farm pond that we could put them in if it appeared they were in any sort of trouble. They are okay now, but I know that could change at any moment. I've just been too lazy to actually advertise as there's a lot going on in my life right now. Thank you, again, for your comments.

[@kalie960]

Beautiful butterfly koi!

[@jerithiede2164]

Thank you! The young ones we were able to save are really growing and go wild when we get near their tank - they eat a LOT!! Guess I'll need to follow-up with a video of the little guys!

[@kalie960]

I will look forward to that and what did u use for the spawning mops?

[@jerithiede2164]

Ranchu Lover My husband used nylon rope. He unraveled it and tied it to another piece of the rope. It works very well. We bought a commercial one in the past which worked okay, but was really heavy and I think he eventually threw it away. Being soft, the nylon rope doesn't hurt the fish and works well in the water.

[@Northisbest]

Butterfly Koi is cool. Long Fins...It new to me

[@jerithiede2164]

Update today - the day after - they are all scouring the pond, looking to clean up eggs that didn't make it to the spawning mat! They are such bad parents!! ;)

[@huunhandang9012]

verry good

[@AMonikaD]

Very nice, how old are your koi? And how long are both the moms and the males? I've been trying to find out at what age do they start? Mine are 15inches and nothing happening yet....

[@jerithiede2164]

Our large koi are probably close to 10 to 15 yrs old. We don't have all of the big ones now as we gave them to a friend with a large natural pond. We had too many big ones. The smaller ones we have now are mostly a couple years old. Yours may start spawning before too long. Conditions have to be right. Here in the central US, they spawn around the time the water gets warmer. They will start rubbing against the females and their bellies will get larger with eggs. They need pond plants or a spawning rope to catch the eggs. The fish will eat as many as they can. You should be able to find lots of info for regular or butterfly koi online

[@AMonikaD]

@@jerithiede2164 thanks for replying. Actually I couldn't find any info at what age the koi start to breed. I'm used to breeding large pond comets but now got into butterfly koi and cant wait.

[@jerithiede2164]

I just looked and it's about 3-6 years when they are ready to spawn.

[@AMonikaD]

@@jerithiede2164 thanks!!!! Mine are 2.5 to 3 years old! Thank you!. I will use your method as well, worked for the other goldfish so far, and thanks to your video I know it will work on the carp.

[@lovedragonsrobertakistler3250]

Nice koi :) Question: Do you leave the spawning rope inside the pond and let them hatch? If so maybe that is why you don't have many that make it. Do you sterilize rope before each spawning? I am new to this and I have heard these things via utube.

[@jerithiede2164]

No, if we left the rope in the pond, they fish would devour as many eggs as they can. We still get hundreds of thousands of fry from the one spawn they all go through. The rope is dried and stored In an unheated storage building, so we don't sterilize it. Anything on it will be killed. Never been a problem. They will eat young until they are big enough that they can be recognized by the big ones that they are fish. We learned that many years ago when we first started raising them and didn't know when they spawned. Found a couple of very small ones in some floating plants that we didn't know we had. Many eggs do not make it because they were not fertilized. In Japan, of the thousands of eggs that koi produce, only about 1% actually make it to being able to be sold. Some fry are deformed, some just die without reason. Whatever makes it out of the tub, we put the rope in, are culled for deformities. We have a friend with a fairly large farm pond. We have given him some that don't have the best fins or colors. I have sold some locally here in the past. In addition to the pond of the huge spawning fish, we have a smaller pond with some young from the past couple of years. Also have some in a 55 gallon aquarium in the house. We have plenty of fish and don't need any more than we get. We are not a commercial operation. It's just a hobby. Even though we now have subzero temps, we have pond heaters and the fish are just in a suspended state. They do not eat when the water temps get to about 50 degrees. So they will not be fed until the spring when temps are rising. The ones in the house are fed year-round because of the higher temps. Hope that answers any of your questions.

[@jerithiede2164]

Forgot to add, if you haven't seen them, there are some other videos under my name for various stages of the young koi growing. One is of a past spawn that we had in an aquarium in the house. Most of those were sold to people in my FB gardening group.

[@lovedragonsrobertakistler3250]

75 gallon fish aquarium

[@jerithiede2164]

Ours are less than 3 feet deep as anything that deep or deeper, we would have to have a fence around them, just like people do with swimming pools here according to regulations. We also keep all the pumps, skimmers and filters running during the winter. It is below zero here and the water is still open. Sometimes, we have had to set a pot of hot water on the ice to slow melt through if it's frozen over. No banging on the ice, or you can kill the fish. As long as filtration is very good, the koi should be okay if somewhat crowded, but we are actually pushing it. I need to sell a few of the larger ones.

[@lovedragonsrobertakistler3250]

Where are you located? You don't use a heater? I found a link on youtube that uses a floating tote with regular lightbulbs and this keeps the water open for the gasses to escape. I am considering doing this next year.

[@rehancetia3619]

excuse me. may I know . what kind of koi is it .? please. !

[@jerithiede2164]

These are butterfly koi.

[@rehancetia3619]

+Jeri Thiede thank so much

[@wireshautar6435]

Rehan Cetia t

[@stephanie53127]

How old are they when they breed?

[@jerithiede2164]

I think it depends upon weather conditions, usually early spring when the pond starts warming up and they begin eating again. But I think ours started around 2 years. We have had different sizes and ages and some of the younger ones try to get in on the action, also. Except for the biggest momma who is orange with black marks on her back, all the other ones we have now are new ones from previous spawns. We have had some revert from butterflies to plain koi and have been trying to sell or give those away since we really only want the butterflies. Guess I should try to get a newer video done!

[@MrDinidee]

is that an egg?

[@jerithiede2164]

if you mean that gray thing, no it is a pond heater that floats. Their eggs are very tiny.

[@noerdz12]

How big do they have to be to breed?

[@jerithiede2164]

They will be about 3 years old when they spawn. Often littler guys will try to get in on the action because they all get so excited and it can get pretty wild in the whole pond, as you can probably tell from the video. A warm spell usually brings it on. We can tell it's about to happen because the females get really big bellies from all the eggs. We almost hate to see them spawn because it's so hard to not want to save the eggs!! There is only so many we can keep and I do need to sell a few of the big ones, as it is. It's nice to see them during the winter when the lilies aren't covering the water. Do you have some?

[@marvalove5946]

Jeri Thiede i enjoyed viewing your koi spawnin,i live in florida and have a large garden pond i need to buy some male and female spawning koi my number is 6462953399 or email me [e-mail]

[@jerithiede2164]

I would love to sell some, but I'm in Nebraska.

[@hihowego4133]

Hi How big is your pond?( Gallons)thx!

[@jerithiede2164]

We calculate it at about 700 gallons.

[@hihowego4133]

Jeri Thiede I read online that you have to have 10 gal per inch of fish. Your koi are obviously doing spectacular. You proved that theory wrong for sure.

[@jerithiede2164]

Hiho Wego. We know we may be living on borrowed time! With our good filtration system and some additional air stones during summer, they seem to do well But, if something should upset the balance of the pond, we could be in trouble. We do want to sell some, but it takes a special person to want to buy such large fish. We have a smaller pond in front of our house that has too many foot long koi in it, also. With the weather warming up, I hope to try to sell some. It's hard to get rid of some of the really pretty ones! Thank you for your kind comments.

[@hihowego4133]

Jeri Thiede U have trouble selling these gems? Is it that people don't want to pay the high price or they are just too big ? If its size ..these koi are happy in a small pond then its a no brainer ..

[@jerithiede2164]

Hiho Wego I haven't advertised them this year. Have sold a lot of small ones. Need to try again this year, before our luck runs out. I know they raise koi in Japan in big mud ponds. Amazes me!

[@barrykoikeepercooper8052]

Do you still have these koi new subscriber Barry Manchester England 👍 👍 👍 👍 👍

[@jerithiede2164]

Yes, most of them. We gave some to a friend with a large pond because we knew ours were too crowded, being so big, we didn't want to lose any. With winter upon us, they aren't doing too much since they don't eat when temps are under 45 or 50 degrees.

[@barrykoikeepercooper8052]

@@jerithiede2164 great are you doing updates in summer would love to see 👍👍😉😉👍

[@jerithiede2164]

@@barrykoikeepercooper8052 I'll try to remember to do some. Don't normally do much with them since they are so large and really won't grow much more, if at all. I think we did move some from the small pond to this one when we gave our friend several big ones. I'll look. I may have something on the smaller ones in front of the house, maybe just a photo, tho.

[@unconventionalme8048]

Do you sell your butterfly fry/koi? I've been wanting butterflies, but not the slimmer ones, but rather the shorter, and thicker types... If you don't sell them do you know where I could find them?

[@jerithiede2164]

UNconventional Me. We do sell them. Besides the 2 ft ones in the video, we have smaller ones in another smaller pond. I also have some even smaller than those in an aquarium. They are priced according to size and patterns/color. I don't know what you mean by slimmer ones. Males are slimmer and smaller than females, more of a cigar shape. As you can see, the females are quite large compared to the smaller males. We are in Nebraska, so shipping may be quite expensive. We prefer local pick up.

[@unconventionalme8048]

Oh, Ok... I'm in Ohio... I'll try and find your website or where to see your available fish Thanks again for your reply! Your fish are beautiful!

[@jerithiede2164]

Sorry, we don't have a website. Just sell by word-of-mouth or in newspaper, FB sites, etc. The video is all I have, I believe.

[@cayennew3219]

Can I take one or two please?!

[@jerithiede2164]

No, sorry. This is a couple of years ago and they would have to be picked up in person in Nebraska.

[@robertmcgeorge1979]

I don’t think there’s any eggs on there because the Koi fish Are swimming too hard to do that and knocking eggs off So I don’t think this method is worth it for me Rather get real plants

[@jerithiede2164]

Robert Mcgeorge We get millions of eggs off the rope. We don't raise commercially, so not worried about a few thousand not making it to the rope. They stick very well to the rope. We don't always save eggs each year, also.

[@jerithiede2164]

I should add, the koi will eat plants down to the nub, unless you only put them in for spawning. And, will rip them to shreds when spawning. If you want to collect any number of eggs, you need a sturdy spawning rope.