"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-12865/spawning.html has some ideas. I'd skip
the egg yolk because it does awful things to water quality.

## I used it once for pollywogs. I know the mess yolk makes. :-(

Green water is a good start. Any baby fish will eat infusoria living on
the green water. If you're lucky there will even be some daphnia.
Start hatching out some baby brine shrimp once the fry look big enough
to take them.

## I've long since given up on brine shrimp eggs. The hatch rate is always
terrible and they cost a fortune. The frozen baby brine always sink before
the fry get much inside them. I hope to keep the fry going on "green
water," algae and with powdered flakes. They seemed to be picking food
items from the fluffy algae on the sides of the pool and plants.

If you put them shrimp eggs somewhere warm, they'll hatch
as soon as 24 hours, cooler temps take 2-3 days. The reddish napulii
are a fantastic starter food for just about any fish once they've
graduated from infusoria in the greenwater. If you have any submerged
plants with green fuzz algae (even from an indoor fishtank), toss those
in with the fry as well. Most fish with a liking for greenery like koi
will pick at soft fuzz algae as babies.

## I've got tons of green fuzzy things for them to munch on. :-) Plus my
large pond is like pea soup. Odd since the smaller pond (800 gallons) is
crystal clear. I'm sure that green water is full of pond "life." I have a
microscope....

After the baby brine shrimp, they'll be ready for pulverized koi food.
I either crumble flakes or use a mortar and pestle to grind adult
pellets for baby fish if they're really small.
http://www.thekrib.com/Food/brine-shrimp.html has all you'll ever need
to know about hatching brine shrimp. I've done it to grow out baby
tropicals, and it's really quite easy.

## Yes, I agree it's easy *IF* you can find fresh eggs that will hatch, as
I used to do in NY over 25 years ago. The hatch rate back then was closer
to 80%, maybe more. Here (TN) I'm lucky to find eggs with a 10% hatch rate.

Good luck!

## Thanks! I'll let you all know how they make out on algae, pond life,
powdered flakes etc.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
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