Koi Pregnant? Fish "Birds and Bees"

[leni]

Right then, I think my "Nemo" is pregnant! it's (assuming she) is very bloated underneath and does not have a nice shape to her as the rest of the koi! Is she pregnant or just greedy with her food>?

Also how does a fish get pregnant? how does all that work? trying not to sound too pervy

Cheers fellow fish friendly people!

leni

 

[bribones]

lol good question
the female basicly produces the eggs and lays them and the male swims over the egg doing what males do ie produces sperm thus fertilising the eggs they will sometimes go through a mating ritual (sort of dance) but theres no sex as it is involved
the recent warm spell may be responsable but dont hold your breath only time will tell,keep an eye on the fish,ryan will be able to tell you time scale details

good luck

 

[ryan]

Female Koi will often become more 'rounded' or 'plump' then males when they are sexually mature, this means they are carrying eggs. However, I female carrying eggs is no guarentee of fry as Bribones says the eggs also need to be fertalized by a male, so you have to have two parties ready to spawn. This generally occurs as the temperature rises slightly in spring, you can get later spawnings after rainy periods where the water temps drops slightly and is brought back up but it isn't to common and the fry will find it hard to survive winter unless they are brought inside.