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cagony

koi crossbreed?

cagony
16 years ago

I have a 100x55 ft. natural pond. Last year I introduced koi, goldfish and a few shubunkins. Later that summer lots of fry started to appear in all shapes and sizes. This year alot of them are about 3 inches long and I still have no clue what they are. I read on the Koi forum that koi will crossbreed with goldfish.The forum states that the offspring will be sterile and are usually dark colored on top and gold on the bottom. Most of my fry fit this description. Does anyone know for fact that koi will indeed crossbreed with goldfish? Thanks for any reply.

Comments (34)

  • swiss_apls_tx
    16 years ago

    I'M WONDERING THE SAME THING. I have one 8 inch Koi and several Goldfish and 2 Shubunkins and now lots of fry of varies sizes and colors encluding many dark and some gold on the bottom. I'm tickled to death about all the little calico fry but should I weed out the darkies? I have a 700 gallon stock tank and I know it will be overcrowded. I'd like to move some babies to a natural pond I'm fixing up. What is this "Mule" story about? Kathy

  • newbirdman
    16 years ago

    Koi dont mate with Goldfish . All those babies are most likely Goldfish / Shubumkins . Koi are skinnier then Goldfish when they are babies.

  • pikecoe
    16 years ago

    a{{gwi:215609}} href="http://photobucket
    The 2 grey fish in the center of the picture just below the orange and black oranda and right beside the red and white oranda were given to me last year as tiny babies from a friend that has Koi and goldfish. The bottom one is now orange and the top one is still grey.

  • pikecoe
    16 years ago

    I enjoy seeing the changes in the fish. The new babies I have had hatch out this year, have all changed from brown to orange in about a month. It took a year for the one I received from a friend to turn orange. The other grey one will be interesting to see if it ever changes color. The above picture was taken about 6 weeks ago and the grey one is a lot bigger now. He looks like a shark swimming around in the pond. The red and black Oranda is now all orange. When she got beat up by the males during spawning, she lost all her fins and tail. When they grew back they are orange. Will be interesting to see if the tail and fins turn black again over time or will remain orange. Glenda

  • cagony
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    The Mule story is this..a mule is a cross between a "jack" (male) donkey and a "mare" (female) horse. The offspring is a mule which is sterile..can not reproduce. I didn't think koi would cross breed with goldfish but my fry are very odd looking. I had in the past a watergarden with just comets and goldfish and they did reproduce and my fry now do not look the same. They seem to be changing in color now from dark to lighter. Some are looking yellow and I do indeed have a bright yellow and black koi. Oh well will have to just wait and see. Thanks for replys

  • ccoombs1
    16 years ago

    most (not all) koi/goldie crosses will have no whiskers. Look closely...if your fish has whiskers, there is a 99.9% chance it is a koi. No whiskers it is either goldie or a cross.

  • cagony
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Oh boy..the old eyes aren't as good as they used to be!! Are you saying they should have whiskers already??

  • ccoombs1
    16 years ago

    They will have whiskers right away. At 1" in size, the whiskers are there but nearly impossible to see. Yours are 3" though....you should see whiskers if they are koi. If no whiskers....they are hybrids.

  • pikecoe
    16 years ago

    There were 10 babies in my bog filter when I first discovered them. One was white with a red spot on it's head at about 1 inch. I hope it is a Redcap Oranda. One was a fantail goldfish, orange and white at about 1 inch. The other 8 look like comets. All were brown at about 1 inch and within 1 month had grown to over 2 inches and had all turned orange. I have a new batch and they are too small to tell yet. Glenda

  • Eleanor B
    16 years ago

    About a month ago, I found 3 tiny babies swimming among hyacinth roots in my pond of mostly long-finned koi, a few regular koi and a few comets. One baby was/is peach colored and the other two brown. I rescued them and put them in an inside 30 gal tank with some fantails. Early on, I noticed the peach colored one's body shape was different, more like that of a koi. but figured "no way" since everything I've read about koi breeding describes special procedures and conditions being necessary to breed koi. After reading the comment, above, from ccoombs that koi babies have whiskers at an early age, I put the peach colored one, now a little over an inch long, in a small container and observed using a magnifying glass. I see 2 very tiny whisker-like projections...or it's my imagination...
    Now for the question: has anyone had koi babies happen "naturally" in their pond without any of the special procedures and conditions?

  • ccoombs1
    16 years ago

    Yep....happens all the time. I have a bunch of baby koi in my smaller koi pond that will have to be captured at some point.

  • txgdnr
    16 years ago

    It would be very exciting to have baby fish, of any kind, I've had my pool comets & shubunkins for 12 yrs & have never had babies. You guys are lucky!

  • jancperez
    16 years ago

    txgdnr

    Wow, that's a long time without babies. The first year we had two survive, the second year there were "tons."

    I had two shebunkins, two koi and a catfish. They multiply like crazy.

    I gave a bunch to our pond guy this spring and a bunch to a nice family who were building a big pond.

  • pikecoe
    16 years ago

    It's been 1 week since first discovering new batch of babies. Now they are getting big enough to see better. Got a couple of calico, either shubunkins, fantail or ryukin. And some are still golden brown. They are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. Glenda

  • buyorsell888
    16 years ago

    Koi and Goldfish will interbreed but it is more likely that the fry in question are goldfish.

    Goldfish breed like crazy starting when very young and the fry are dark colored unless they have Shubunkin/calico colors. Koi aren't quite as prolific and take longer to start breeding but most ponders wish they had less babies rather than more.

    All goldfish varieties will interbreed. To breed a single variety they must be quarantined.

    It is very common for goldfish to not turn gold right away. These are considered less desirable by breeders and are usually culled.

  • pikecoe
    16 years ago

    No chance that any of mine are Koi, since I don't have any Koi. Every baby my goldfish have had has changed colors by at least 6 weeks. I still have lots of room in my pond for more fish. I'm still in the excited stage, I'm sure that will change eventually. The only eggs that have had a chance of hatching are the ones that have been sucked off the bottom of the pond through a ton of gravel in the bog filter. I have seen no babies in the pond at all. Although there could be some around the plants that I just can't see. Glenda

  • sheepco
    16 years ago

    Since my pond is only 300ga, I keep hoping my fish (six 7" goldies/comets/shubunkins) will STOP spawning. About once a week I pull out the hornwort and rinse the eggs off. But I just keep hoping the adults will eat the eggs and fry. Well a week ago I spied a fry, and again 2 days ago, already an inch long (too big to eat). Only one...I'm hoping I don't have to find homes for another 27 this fall...or 127...

    Do they stop spawning later in the summer, or in warmer weather?

    The minnows in my (neglected) 150ga stock tank seem to have multiplied too, can't see into the water, but I was messin' with the thriving lilies last weekend and I had fish much smaller than I remember checking out my hands!

  • buyorsell888
    16 years ago

    Goldfish often spawn when water changes are done or when fresh water is sprayed into the pond or when it rains. No matter what time of year.

    they are worse than rabbits.

  • ccoombs1
    16 years ago

    you could just sex them all....and keep only the males or females. No more spawining then! Sexing them is easy to do this time of year. The makes will have rough little bumps on the gill plates and the front edge of this pec fins. It will feel like sandpaper. Female gill covers will feel smooth. This only applies to breeding aged fish...not the babies.

  • pikecoe
    16 years ago

    Not the easiest thing to do in 5000 gals of water and lots of plants and being 4 1/2 ft deep. Could catch a few of them, but most of the others would scatter. Glenda

  • youreit
    16 years ago

    LOL!!! I don't think I'll ask how you know that, Linda. :D

    Brenda

  • obsessed-nj
    16 years ago

    HaHa! Only my air compressor knows for sure and it ain't talkin' ; )

    Linda

  • Clay Swisher
    11 years ago

    If you have too many fry, I've read that Golden Orfes will take care of the problem. I don't know how hardy they are, but are a schooling fish (need at least three), grow to about 18 inches, they eat bugs fry etc. but are supposed to leave the plants alone (don't root around in the pots either). Don't have any, but am doing research. Anyone with any thoughts, please post (when large will they eat the goldfish?)

  • UkDave78
    10 years ago

    Dear all,

    Hoping some can assist me, 2 years ago i created a pond in my garden with 5 shubunkin , 2 koi, orange black and white. 4 gold fish.
    In 2012 only after 2 months in the pond they bread.

    Now I have around 30 fish rangingfrom 3cm to 10cm.
    The koi have bread with the shabunkin and new fish all have wiskers and the colours are amazing with blues, tri colours, red and blacks

    Can these be hybrids as shubunkin cant have whiskers.

    Please help as I have looked all over the net.

    David

  • Poltergeezer
    9 years ago

    In my 900 gal pond I have two fish: one koi, one common goldfish. Got them last year when 3 & 4 in. I only got one of each species because I did not want them to reproduce. You see where this is going, don't you? Yes, I now have several dozen little black fry. So, either koi and goldfish will interbreed, or I have a miracle!

  • michelle_pndlvr2
    9 years ago

    I have a bunch of new hybrids. I know they are hybrids bc I only had one red fantail gold fish and 1 orange and black koi in my pond. Oddly, out of the 25 new babies, now about 2 inches long, 3 are orange and the rest are a dark gray color. They are fat faced like the koi, but a lot of them have the tail like the gold fish. I am wondering if the dark gray ones will turn colors. And if the orange ones will change colors too. I decided to add two sarassas and another koi to add more color to the pond since the gray ones look like a swarming shadow in my pond.

  • Kira Granillo
    8 years ago

    Yes i have a koi/gold fish. I started with 5 and they sadly came down with the worst case of ICK i have ever seen. I only managed to save one. She/he is doing well now and has beautiful color. Had golden scales and light orange fins. Lots of activity and likes being paid attention to when i feed she/he. I named it lucky due to circumstances after i get my tank back in order ill probly get Lucky a friend

  • PRO
    CheriCleans
    7 years ago

    For what it's worth at this point... YES Koi breed with goldfish fantail comets, shubunkins etc... The offspring will be sterile tho.


  • Kenneth Azzopardi
    7 years ago

    I've got 6 shubunkin a month ago put them in a 300 litre pond and I've already got tiny fish running around the females are fat again I love them there cute


  • Trina McCreary Cummings
    6 years ago

    I have very small pond about 5 x 4. Only 3 feet deep and have had the pond 1 1/2 years and have 2 koi and 5 goldfish. And have just saw the new baby fish. They are black. We just cleaned our one out for the Summer and discovered them.

  • pamelaprovine
    6 years ago

    I have an odd problem. I got some gold fish from Walmart and some from petsmart. The first spring I lost some healthy fish did not figure it out till I saw little fry swimming around. The males just ran them to death. The second spring the fry now mature are getting deformaties. Their heads change mouth will not open and they get a bump by the tail fin and sadly they are starving. They look like koi fish. Not all have it. Does any body know what this is?

  • PRO
    H. L. Lohec and Associates
    5 years ago

    We brought one comet (orange and white) from our old house and fish pond when we moved. Bought 3 fantail goldfish (orange) and 2 yellow koi. Now I have 1 small orange colored baby and about 20 black babies. They don't look like koi, and most certainly aren't fantails. Can you breed fantails? What are these - I had no black fish. They look more like a comet than anything else. Our pond can't support this many fish when they grow up. Hoping they are "something" so someone will want them. What are they?

  • Crisjay Nunez
    3 years ago

    Hi guys I'm from philippines I've been breeding koi about 2 years .

    And last 2 month i tried to breed koi female and 2 shubonkin males .

    Like when I breed koi I build them nest .using sacks.

    And hell yeah when I checked them at their breeding time which is 2am in morning in my country.

    I saw them breed chasing .

    So the rummor is not a rummor coz it's true .

    And now I have hybrids in my mudpond I think I have 5k fry .

    And they are beautiful .

    .

    Thanks for reading and sorry for the grammar !!

    Thanks!!

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