How to Breed Koi Carp Fish and Take Care of Baby Koi - Japanese koi Fish Farm

the time is only 9 45 a.m but for the staff  of sakai fish farm it's already mid-morning   their working day began four hours  ago such as the current workload   the business is in the enviable position of being  the largest nishikigoi farm on the planet such a   position however brings with it a tremendous  workload one that is ultimately never ending   foreign koi dealers visiting japan will find  very little available stock to purchase at this   time of the year for the breeders themselves  though it is early mornings and late nights   for this is the time of year when parent koya  spawned and the all-important process of growing a   nurturing fry takes place over the course of this  program we will follow the staff of sakai fish   farm through the process of breeding nishikigoi  from initial preparation of the hatchery to when   they are strong enough to be placed in either  an indoor concrete pond or in one of the farm's   more than 80 mud ponds sakai fish farm is a vast  operation stretching across the valley as it does   a continual investment strategy coupled  with an advanced breeding program   allows the farm to service the ever increasing  worldwide demand for the company's product most of   us are familiar with the fact that sakai have won  the all japan show on a number of occasions and   that the farm is famous for its jumbo specimens  some of which measure in excess of 90 centimeters all koi of whatever size begin  their journey in the same way   and at sakai fish farm that  journey starts right here   this is the breeding house or hatchery where  all the farm spawning activities take place   needless to say it's an area not usually open  to the public there are no koi for sale in here   spawning ropes are hanging up as a  segregating nets all ready for use   there is a complete and utter avoidance of  chemicals here everything is cleaned in fresh   water and fresh water only nishikigoi eggs  and newly hatched fry are incredibly fragile   the slightest hint of a problem can  render an entire spawning worthless   at one end of the fish house there are two  sets of potential kohaku parents in a pond   together with the spawning ropes you will notice  that there is a second net being placed inside the   pond one that will allow the water to flow freely  but that for now keeps the male and female apart   she is almost ready to spawn and the male has  been placed in the same pond too should we say   get her in the mood for the night ahead sakai fish  farm have over 100 parent coin from which they can   select those suitable for spawning tonight the  farm will spawn two sets of kohaku one with the   aid of human intervention and one completely  naturally in time the staff will be able to   compare the results and learn more about the  potential quality of any single oya or parent coin kenturo sakai has the official title of head of  overseas development but as is so often the case   he actually does much much more than that kenturo  still has a very hands-on approach to the business   that one day he will inherit and he works as  hard as any other member of staff on the farm   kenturo speaks excellent english having  spent two years studying in the usa   and our thanks go to both  him and his father and uncle   for allowing us unique access to something  visitors are never usually allowed to see as darkness falls a number of staff remain at  the farm and simply observe the behaviour of   the spawning fish the male has now been placed  inside the net and it's clear to see that the   behaviour of these fish has changed considerably  both actually appear somewhat agitated something   in fact quite normal the entire carp family  will almost exclusively always spawn at night   although a natural phenomenon there are a  number of reasons as to exactly why this is so   firstly the water temperature is generally a  little higher having been warmed slightly by the   sun during the day and the oxygen content  is also beginning to return after being   naturally lowered by the sunshine this pond is  currently controlled to 24 degrees centigrade   also in the wild any predators will  be less for threat in the darkness   so calf are given a better opportunity  to naturally spawn without interruption   the entire process usually taking a good number of  hours to complete the staff are right on hand to   check the amount of eggs the female releases  each time the oil brush against one another it's very important that the female is removed  at the right time taking her out of the pond   prematurely could have adverse effects on the  entire process this is the first time these   koi have ever been spawned together and for  the staff this is a particularly anxious time   it can be a long and arduous night often  koi will not begin to spawn before 2 or 3am tonight though things are progressing nicely and  once kentero deems that the female has released   enough eggs naturally the male is prohibited  direct contact with her being placed outside   of the internal net although still in the same  pond the female is now left for approximately   one hour simply to relax and de-stress before  being anesthetized the staff know she's ready   to have her eggs extracted but are careful to  make the experience as easy as possible for her   the male 2 is now ready to have sperm  extracted from him and although he's   still in the same pond and he can still see  her it's now a case of look but don't touch outside the hatchery where there is far  more light all the necessary equipment   has been prepared that will enable the staff  to perform their tasks as easily as possible   syringes towels bowls scales fresh water  all is on hand and readily available   sakai staff record absolutely all the  parameters of each and every activity   that takes place on the farm and this  data is kept and analyzed in an attempt   to obtain as much information as possible all  of which can be subsequently used in the future the water used to anesthetize the koi is  from the exact pond it has been swimming in   the staff were very firm on this point stating  that any koi can immediately recognize a change in   the water parameters it finds itself in something  that would thereby cause added stress at a time   when stress needs to be kept to an absolute  minimum the less relaxed decoy the longer it   will take to fall asleep the male is bagged ready  to be anesthetized and to further help the process   a relaxant is added to the water before  the fish is moved to the bowl itself   these are very precious very important nishikigoi  and they must be treated with the utmost of care   as the anaesthetic begins to take effect the fish  starts to lose its natural buoyancy and at this   point it will soon be ready if when a coil is  lifted from the water it puts up no resistance   the anaesthetic has worked its magic its vent  is cleaned with a saline solution simply to   ensure the area is free of germs the underside  of the coil is dried and then using a syringe   the sperm is slowly extracted and transferred  to a nearby jar it's very important to get as   much as possible in order that the maximum  number of the females eggs can be fertilized the volume of sperm extracted is then carefully  weighed and the amount logged for future analysis   a real scientific operation in this case the  male produced over 10 milliliters of liquid   once the male has served his purpose he  is replaced once more into the same pond   to slowly come round from the anaesthetic as  with any koi having just undergone this process   he is carefully monitored by a member of staff  to ensure he regains full consciousness at this   point attention turns to the female she is first  caught and bagged before the relaxant is added after a couple of minutes she is placed into the  anaesthetic bowl and she too begins to slowly   lose buoyancy it may well take a number  of minutes before a certain fish is ready   but this process cannot be rushed every coy is  different and you must make sure that they are   completely unconscious before removing them from  the bowl again the saline solution is used to   clean the underside of the fish and as the vent  begins to swell the staff gently extract the eggs   from the female as the fish is turned thousands  and thousands of eggs come streaming from her   and are collected in a sterile bowl it's  very important that the staff get as many as   possible from the female as unreleased eggs  can cause health problems at a later date   the females muscles are somewhat  relaxed so extraction is not difficult once all have been removed the female is  instantly returned to recover alongside the   male that will in any second become the father of  her offspring 844 grams of eggs approximately 10   of her body weight were removed from the  female which equates very roughly to around   three-quarters of a million eggs of course  there's no exact way to measure that number   kenturo gently mixes the eggs and sperm together  and it's at this point albeit fairly primitively   that the next generation of sakai koi begins  it's exciting to think that just maybe right now   an all japan grand champion of the future  is being created kenturo makes sure that the   sperm and the eggs are thoroughly mixed together  before taking the bulb back into the hatchery   the liquid is poured into funnels which  the staff use to gently distribute evenly   across the spawning ropes in the same pond  to which the parent could have been returned   both koi will rest here for the night before  being taken back to their indoor holding ponds   the eggs are dispersed across the ropes  in the hope that they will find a place   on which to attach themselves from whereupon  they can fully fertilize and go on to hatch   some will inevitably miss the ropes but will  hatch quite happily on the soft internal holding   net another reason as to why it's used without  such a piece of equipment many of the eggs would   otherwise be flushed down the bottom drains  or into one of the other outlets from the pond   another reason to ensure the eggs are distributed  evenly is to try and prevent eggs joining onto   one another something which can hinder their  development the spawning ropes are incredibly   fine and the many many tiny strands give the eggs  a vast number of places to which they can join   within just a few minutes you can see the  newly formed eggs already attached to the ropes   technically fertilization has already taken place  although it will be a couple of days or so until   the eggs fully hatch and the first forms of free  swimming life can be seen although the male and   female have been placed together in the pond they  will no longer attempt to spawn and therefore   disrupt the eggs they are simply there to relax  after what has been for them quite a hectic   and confusing night kento stated that he would  expect 65 to 70 percent of the eggs to hatch when   spawning coin this way compared to a far lower  rate of success when koi left to spawn naturally the two koi in the adjacent pond had also  by this time begun to spawn themselves   and again the staff were on  hand to ensure that all was well   there would be absolutely no human intervention  at all here the two fish were left alone for the   entire duration of the night after which  time they would have finished spawning   although the female releases a similar number of  eggs there is no guarantee that the male sperm   actually comes in contact with more so a certain  number of her eggs actually remain unfertilized   when the previously seen extraction methods  are used there is a far higher success rate   notice that actually it's not the largest of coin  that are used as parents rather it's those that   display the characteristics that sakai want to see  in the offspring notice the deep red pigmentation   the high quality skin and the good body shape and  pattern of all these oil going this all points   to good genetics those that will hopefully be  passed down to the next generation of nishikigoi   already you can see that the eggs are beginning  to attach themselves to the ropes a good sign of   course although it's already into the early hours  the staff have for once had a relatively early   night and they can now go home for a well-earned  rest this is the one night of the year that   these two koi will be allowed to spawn so maybe  it's time now for all of us to leave them alone the sakai family hold a certain level  of prominence in the small town of daiwa   kenturo's great great grandfather  owned much of the surrounding land   and actually built this stunning japanese temple  which can be found in the center of the town   still used today the temple will forever stand  as a lasting legacy of the sakai family in daiwa   the fish farm itself can be seen from many  vantage points along the valley stretching   as it does to a number of fish houses all  of which are full of sakai bred nishkikoy   the natural beauty of this area is immediately  apparent especially at this time of the year   the lush green shades of the abundant  rice paddies instantly recognizable   across the landscape the farm is fairly unique  in that it uses its own bloodlines of parent koi   for each and every spawning not for many  many years has a koi bred by another farm   being used at sakai and in this way they can  be absolutely sure of no cross-contamination   a selection of core in the farm are randomly  tested every three months for the dreaded khv   virus and never once has it been found to be  present at sakai fish farm kenturo and his   father are actually assisting the japanese  government in their research into the virus   one that if it got a foothold would bring the  entire japanese nishikigoi industry to its knees two days later and we return to check on the  condition of the newly spawned kohaku some of   the eggs can clearly be seen to have hatched and  very very tiny koi measuring just three to four   millimeters in length begin their free swimming  lives there are still a number of eggs on the   ropes a few of which may still hatch although the  majority of those left at this stage will know not   as you can surely understand these first few days  in the life of these fry are absolutely vital and   the main factor that determines whether or not  they survive are the water conditions they are   given to reside in anything less than excellent  water will very quickly be vital to these fish   and with this in mind kenturo explained  to us that at this stage one of the most   important things is a sufficient supply  of oxygen he said that it was absolutely   vital that newly hatched fire be given adequate  aeration notice however that the air stones have   been placed outside of the holding net so as  not to disturb the eggs or the newly hatched fry   at this stage they are still clearly very fragile  and powerful oxygen bubbles exploding towards   the surface could easily cause irreparable  damage being outside the net the benefits   of the oxygen can still be felt by the koi  without its physical presence causing a problem   another way in which these nets are absolutely  invaluable to the process of breeding nichikoi   next to the pond is a large tank of what is known  as artemia basically live shrimp larvae this is   the very first form of food that the fry receive  and as such is very important to their development   not until they are moved to outdoor fry ponds are  artificial foods used the artemia is added within   a few hours of the first eggs hatching in order to  give the fry a source of food as soon as possible   over the next couple of days the koi stay in  this pond to begin to grow a little stronger   any eggs that are slow to hatch are  given ample opportunity to do so   before being discarded for the staff however  there is little time to waste and for the sake   of the fry's development they are anxious to  get them into the outdoor ponds just as soon   as they are deemed strong enough to thereby  maximize the time they have to naturally grow   during the warm weather before they are  placed outside however it's important   that the staff have some idea of the number of  fry they are dealing with as you would imagine   this too is a fairly delicate operation and needs  cool heads and calm hands to perform it properly   after all these koi are the future of sakai  fish farm the free swimming fry are very   carefully netted from within the pond using  a fine meshed net and transferred into a bowl   this large bowl is then divided up into smaller  bowls of approximately 2 000 fry at a time   the sheer scale of this operation is absolutely  incredible yet it runs like clockwork   each member of staff knows exactly their  job and goes about it with the minimum fuss   and disturbance these fry are just a few days  old and it's almost impossible to think that   one day some of these actual koi we're  seeing could approach a metre in length   yoshimichi sakai kenturo's uncle  oversees this part of the operation   and his extensive experience allows him to  fairly accurately estimate 2 000 pieces five   of these bowls are then placed in a large plastic  bag ready for transportation to the outdoor ponds   each bag of ten thousand fries accounted for  so the staff can know roughly the population   of the pond even at this size overstocking can be  a real problem kenturo explaining that if you put   too many fish into a certain body of water not  only are the required growth rates not achieved   but the stronger fry will actually end up eating  those that are weaker which leads to all sorts   of problems whilst there's no way of measuring at  what point a frypond becomes overstocked years of   experience lead the staff to know when a sensible  rate has been reached the bags are loaded onto the   back of a small truck and taken to a fry pond  where they will be carefully released for the   next 40 days they will be closely monitored  and fed a very specific diet until such times   they will undergo their first car where upon  approximately 75 of them will be discarded   once the spawning ponds in the hatchery have been  emptied of their fry the staff then immediately   prepare them for their next inhabitants the  ropes are individually taken from the water   during which time any unhatched eggs left on them  were removed this is an important task in itself   as bacteria would soon grow over  any eggs that had been overlooked   subsequently disease could quickly occur when the  nets were next used in the spawnings that follow   again though only fresh water is used never  ever any chemicals vigorous washing will remove   any remaining eggs into the pond itself  whereupon they can simply be flushed away   once this has been done the ropes and  internal nets are left to dry for a few days   before being used once again sakai fish farm  realise that not only is the condition of   their water paramount to the success of their  business but that the equipment they use also   needs to be of the highest quality this is one of  the reasons why the farm have been so successful   every element of their operation is  undertaken in a professional manner sakai fish farm have more than 80 fry ponds in  the area that surrounds their premises wherever   possible they are close together so the staff can  service the ponds easily and a number literally   adjoin the main facility building you will notice  that yet again extensive aeration is in place   kenturo could not stress highly enough how  important oxygen is to nishikigoi whether   they be fry of just a couple of centimetres  in length or indeed a pond of jumbo pieces yet   still people seem not to heed the advice given to  them even when it comes from people such as this   the other thing to notice are the large  lengths of wire that span these ponds   in all areas of rural japan ponds such as this  are under a constant threat from the predators   that lurk in the skies above even now as we  stood filming right above us circling menacingly   was a bird that given the chance would  help himself to the ultimate meal of a pond   of newly hatched sakurai fry with a  wires not there predators would enjoy   rich pickings indeed in probably one of the  most valuable meals that bird would ever eat   the majority of such birds will return again and  again to a feeding spot until the food source is   exhausted so for kentaro and his staff the  need to stay one step ahead is paramount as we've explained the need for very young fry  to be given the correct food is unquestionable   and the staff of sakkai fish farm have over the  years developed their own unique food for this   very purpose obviously the size of the granules  depends on exactly the size of the fry at the   time of feeding but the farm has the facilities to  grind the food exactly as they wish here we see a   member of staff adding of live bacteria to the mix  this is to add strength to the koi and to prevent   infection from occurring fry of this size being  incredibly susceptible to disease in the first   few weeks of their life once the food had been  ground to far finer granules we followed kenturo   and some of the staff to the fry ponds as they  made one of their twice daily checks the ponds   are completely surrounded by netting and covered  with wire again to deter would-be predators   at 400 square meters in size this pond contains  approximately fifty thousand kohaku fry spawned   just over two weeks ago you can see how the  orange coloration is already beginning to show   although any sign of pattern is still  to emerge kenturo took some food and   walked around the entire perimeter of the pond  distributing evenly the finely ground powder   these ponds are fed approximately five kilograms  of food per day and although it appears so small   that it's hardly worth putting into the water  even at this size the fryer happy to receive it   kenturo admitted that so many of the western  hobbyists he had met actually feed koi in   their home ponds with far too large a pellet he  explained that the food offered should be of a   size suitable for the smallest fish in the pond  he went on to say that even then the smaller the   pellet given the easier it is to digest notice  again here how very heavy aeration is present   the staff use feeding time as an opportunity  to check all ponds both for the growth and   development of the koi as well as for any sign of  infection or disease whilst the various processes   involved in producing fry of this size are indeed  fascinating sakkai fish farmer primarily known   for producing mouth watering nishikigoi of far  larger sizes kentro beckoned for us to follow   him as he headed up into the hills to check on  some of the largest mud ponds the farm owned taking a short drive to the outskirts of  daiwa as the road begins to wind its way   up into the mountains kentaro stopped the  car by three of the farm's largest mud ponds   you will notice that not only are these ponds  primarily functional but that also a number   of attractive plants and shrubs have been placed  around their perimeter this is nothing whatsoever   to do with nishikigoi simply that kentaro's father  the man universally known as hiroshima sakai   wanted the area to look nice for the  people who had to pass it on a daily basis   how good to see that the farm are willing  to give something back to the community   in which they are based there are in  fact three ponds adjacent to one another   all man-made gradually sloping down the hillside  into the valley the very very high grade koi that   sakai produce those that would compete for the top  show prices do not go to mud ponds instead they   are kept in concrete ponds back at the facility  so the staff can watch them at far closer quarters   that is not to say that these koi are low class  far from it these accord that the farm will sell   for thousands of pounds each such as their  quality and size all are 70 centimetres plus   but as is often the way look smaller when viewed  from such a distance these ponds actually only   contain 30 koi each and again this is the  primary reason as to why the japanese can achieve   such phenomenal growth rates the sheer volume  of water that each one has combined with the   favorable water temperatures that the region  naturally produces means that these fish are   given every opportunity to thrive factors such as  this also contribute to the overall price of koi   when you consider what it costs to not only  purchase this land but to excavate it farm   it and maintain it it's little wonder that koi  of this quality carry considerable price tags   that's without even taking into account the amount  of food required to upkeep the stocks all the   man-hours that go into physically doing all this  work the hot humid weather however allows the koi   to sit and bask in the conditions and it's only  when the automatic feeding machine dispatches a   measured amount of food that the koi suddenly seem  to awake from their stupa and move across the pond   some of the koi present here are oyugoy those  that have not been used as parents this year   sakai has just over 100 from which to choose  although obviously the farm doesn't have the   space to be able to spawn from all of them  every year this number of oygoy however   gives the staff so many combinations  from which to choose future parents   and so much opportunity to experiment with certain  sets and to monitor their offspring the worldwide   koi market continues to expand and change with  every passing year ten years ago kenturo explained   the farm had only one or two foreign customers  nowadays they can barely keep up with the demand   the japanese market for koi however has slowly  declined over time and only now is beginning to   show signs of resurgence as a new generation  of hobbyists begin to take up the reins   yet again all three of the ponds are heavily  aerated using mechanical generators the oxygen   from which stimulates water movement  and therefore movement of the koi also   the pond of course also contains high levels of  natural food on which the koi will feed being   as they are members of the carp family they are  natural bottom feeders and will enjoy nothing   more than burying their noses into the pond  floor in search of a morsel of natural food   this diet is highly supplemented of course by  sakai's own highly secret koi pellets which are   given to the fish four times a day these koi will  stay in this pond until october when they will   return to the farm and either be offered directly  for sale or overwintered as either tatty [ __ ] or roygoy the town of daiwa lies in the very  heart of japan's south western region   and as such finds itself largely surrounded  by open plains forests and rugged landscapes   indeed just a couple of minutes walk  from the sakai facility will find you   surrounded by a beautiful bamboo forest nestled  amongst the seemingly endless rice paddies   upon closer inspection you can actually  find some very interesting wildlife   things such as this incredible spider that  we found crawling along an upright bamboo   various snakes are also often seen as well as  many other forms of uniquely japanese wildlife   whether or not the spider was actually poisonous  or not we didn't wait around to find out   we thought it was more sensible to return to the  farm knowing for a fact that nishikigoi don't bite the next stage in the jigsaw of successfully  breeding koi comes some 40 days later when the fry   returned to the farm for their first car kenturo  explained that this coal was so important as it   determined those koi that would actually go on  to become what the farm would refer to as tatigoy   whilst not all those selected will even make it  past their first year at this stage they have   been deemed as having a certain potential for  the staff this is a long and arduous task and   at least eight people are doing this job every  single day for most of the entire season of summer   they all take it in turns to do this job and even  kenturo his father and his uncle are happy to muck   in and do their bit each and every member of  staff is given a counter so there is a record   of exactly how many koi have been selected  this data is invaluable in the years to come   note yet again the aeration is used heavily at  all times in order to aid the overall well-being   of the coin kentaro explained that in  kohaku this variety the most important   single factor was that there was some kind  of red pigmentation visible on the head   any koi without this would immediately  be discarded all kohaku of whatever size   should have some kind of head marking kenturo  took time out to show us exactly what he meant   all of these koi have been selected to grow on  and if you focus on any single one in this net   you will clearly see that every single one  has some kind of head marking even more koi   to have perfect body shape and fantastic skin  without a decent pattern it would be unsellable   even though the colors are faint you can still  see them beneath the skin and in time they will   hopefully come through notice also the difference  in size but the very small ones still make the   grade only very very tiny koi that have some form  of defect would be discarded for being too small   even though all these koi come from exactly  the same spawning it's incredible to see the   difference in size already body shape at  this stage is also unimportant unless the   koi has a disproportionately large head  that tapers quickly to a very thin body   approximately three quarters of these  fry will not make it past this first car   whilst those selected will go back into the  fry pond for a further 20 days before being   cold again those kept after that point are then  housed at the large sakkai tozei facility to be   grown on for the remainder of the summer kenturo  stressed again and again that only those coy with   any semblance of red on the head would be kept you  can see how even the tiny ones have been selected   the staff are very strict as to the koi they  discard if they are in any doubt as to whether   or not the koi is suitable it will be rejected the  farm believed that it's the severity of the coal   that allows such high quality koi to emerge  a year or so down the line overstocking in a   fry pond is a definite no-no they need as much  space per fish as is possible the importance of   this operation cannot be underestimated it is  fundamentally vital to the development of sakai   koi and is the primary reason why summer on the  farm will always be the busiest time of the year as we've seen newly hatched fish go into the  fryponds at just a few days old and remain there   for approximately 40 days before they are gathered  up into a holding tank and returned to the farm   approximately 75 percent of those fry are  then cold as the staff choose only those   that show any sign at all of developing  into potentially sellable nishikigoi   from here the remaining quarter returned  to the fryponds for another 20 days   this is a pond of sanki about to undergo their  second culling at about three or four centimeters   in length you will notice an awful lot of black on  their bodies something that's a characteristic of   being put into a fry pond and something that will  fairly quickly subside when the fish are brought   inside to overwinter what exactly in the water  chemistry it is that causes such an amount of sumi   kenturo was unsure but speculated it's probably  due to something in the natural mud on the   bottom of the ponds whilst they are man-made with  concrete sides the bottoms are completely natural   thereby giving the koi access to minerals  that naturally occur on the pond floor   kentero did admit however that sanki  were not as easy to breed or cull   as some of the other varieties that the  success rate was not generally quite as high   sanki as a whole while still being one of the big  three gosanki varieties have actually decreased in   their prominence in the past five years or so but  this year's all japan show for example the five   top koi were either kohaku or showa with not a  single sanki in sight the staff are careful to   ensure that the net is right to the edge of  the pond and that all the koi are collected   once inside the fish house the labour intensive  task of culling yet another pond of fry begins at all times of the year the staff  of sakai fish farm work incredibly   hard certainly in the autumn time when the  harvesting of mud ponds needs to be done   and the farm itself is awash with visitors  from the four corners of the globe   nothing however compares to summer time when the  process of spawning and culling is the main task   all the staff are capable of culling correctly  such as the training they are given by the   management team of the farm but to try and  minimise what is after all a very laborious   process the staff are on a work rotor of jobs that  need to be done this ensures that each and every   member of staff remains as fresh and motivated  as possible they clearly worked very hard but   are treated well and there is a tremendous sense  of family at the sakai facility as we can see   here all the management and staff take breaks  together and clearly enjoy one another's company the sakurai fry ponds are actually only used for a  very short space of time throughout the course of   the year from the point at which the newly hatched  fry first go outside to when they return inside   for their second culling this 60-day period  however is actually the most crucial as it's   during this time frame that the characteristics  that ultimately define the koi naturally develop   as soon as they've been taken inside the pond  is drained down and a tractor is brought in to   turn over the bottom of the pond this regenerates  the natural food and bacteria present in the mud   which contributes so much to the conditions  these fry are kept in once the pond has been   turned over it is drained down and left until such  time as it's ready to receive its next inhabitants once the friars spent 60 days  outside and endured two culls   those that make the initial grade are  brought inside for what remains of the summer   this is the sakai tozai facility a  substantial greenhouse that contains   only what the staff refer to as nursery ponds  all full of koi spawned earlier this year   none are over three months old but already  you can see the size of some of these fish   you will notice again that the stocking rate of  these concrete ponds is kept to a sensible level   in an attempt to help the koi grow each one  containing between 1 500 and 2 000 coin the water   is of course heated but the prevalent conditions  of the area especially in the height of summer   dictate a naturally high water temperature and the  ponds are less than a meter deep this of course   allows for the maximum growth of the koi and many  fish will double in size within a matter of weeks   shade can be added to the greenhouse if required  and the fish are fed using automatic feeders four   times a day at the risk of repeating myself again  you can see that each pond is heavily aerated   ensuring a good level of oxygen at all times the  air temperature in this fish house is stiflingly   hot and in conditions like this it's little wonder  that such incredible growth rates are achieved   from the point the egg fertilizes a single fry has  about a two percent chance of reaching this stage   so all these koi have actually done extremely  well indeed to find themselves at this point   exactly how they will develop  from here though is another story   for another time this is virtually the final  part of the spawning and culling process   and although some of these koi will be sold  cheaply as tatistar come the autumn time many   will continue as tatikoy and will go on to  become excellent nissai sanzai and beyond although sakai fish farm is located over  an hour's drive from the actual city   no trip to the area would be complete  without visiting the hiroshima peace park   a memorial to the many thousands and thousands of  people who died and continued to die as a result   of the atomic bomb that devastated  the city on the 6th of august 1945.   we visited the park just one week shy of the 60th  anniversary of the attack and as such saw a number   of tribute wreaths being laid to commemorate the  dead the bomb actually exploded in mid-air a few   meters before it hit the ground itself and in that  moment the city of hiroshima was turned into a   living hell only a handful of buildings were left  standing one of which was this the city's main   civic hall it was decided to leave it standing  as an everlasting legacy of that fateful day   visiting the park is an incredibly emotional and  moving experience and some of the photographs   displayed in the exhibition hall especially those  of japanese children are particularly haunting   there are various memorial statues around  the park but the most poignant of all   is the eternal flame something that has been  burning since the park opened and will only   ever be extinguished when the world's last nuclear  weapon has been destroyed including this footage   as part of a programme about breeding koikap  may seem somewhat flippant and unnecessary but   such is the impact the park has on those who  visit we felt it more than warranted inclusion   it's a place that makes you glad to be  alive we visit japan to ultimately see koi   but as you wander around this place you realize  that there are far more important things in life we sincerely hope you've enjoyed this visit  to hiroshima and the sakai fish farm and that   you've learned something about the way in which  the japanese masters of nishikigoi approach the   spawning and breeding of their living jewels i  must stress however that this is most definitely   not a how to breed your own grand champion program  if anything it opens my eyes to exactly how   difficult it is to breed nishikigoi to any level  at all and how the conditions which we in the west   have to contend with are actually not conducive  to breeding high-class koi a number of factors   are against us most notably the need to invest in  suitable parent stocks the need for a considerable   area in which to undertake such a breeding program  and of course the monetary investment required   there are a number of fish farms outside of japan  who are successfully breeding their own stocks now   and these people should certainly be  highly commended but for truly high grade   koi as of now the only place to get  them is the home of nishikigoi itself   such is the experience of these people experience  gained over virtually a lifetime's work dedicated   to breeding better nishikigoi that they still  retain the edge over people such as us who only   dream of achieving similar goals perhaps though  that's one of the reasons as to why the often   talked about mystique of koi remains so real and  why we return to the far east time and time again you

Channel: ORNAMENTAL FISH FARMING

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Keywords: how to Breeding Koi Fish, japanese koi fish, koi fish farm, big koi fish, Koi fish breeding, Baby koi care, Koi fish farm, Koi fish varieties, Koi breeding, Koi fish care, Koi carp, Japanese koi, Koi fish farming, Koi fish pond, Koi fish food, Koi fish tanks, Koi fish health, Koi fish water quality, Koi fish species, Koi fish hatchery, Koi fish farming techniques, Koi fish genetics, Koi fish spawning, Koi fish feeding, Koi fish market., koi, koi breeding, koi fish, fish

Id: aaaCsm5NMyk

Length: 41min 32sec (2492 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 25 2018