A sacred space for everyone
We have an incredible lineage of koi here. Last year was a monumental breeding season. And this year will be even better.
Come and see the koi puppies, the babies. They are even better.
They are worth watching.
They don’t have the maturity of the older koi, so they don’t have the same depth, but they are young and joyful.
Come and watch their colors and patterns change and evolve as they mature!
What a joy! Today we got to feed our koi for the first time this spring. The water temperature was good and they were ready.
We were really delighted t how the baby koi scarfed the food down. They say that’s characteristic of koi babies. they want to get big, and will eat anything to get there!
they’ve been eating the algae for a while, all of the fish had. but now they’ve found the food. the adult koi, the parent koi, are still fat from last year. That is the great blessing of feeding them up to the max before winter. they stay healthy.
The three white koi that were given to rescue have not done well. I don’ think they were fed up in the fall. they are in the same place as the babies, the same water conditions, so it’s nothing like that. I just think they weren’t fat enough. and it was a shock, because they were only kept the three of them together, and now there are many babies around them.
So they’re in a salt water pool right now. Salt for the koi are like aspirin. It takes down their inflammation and makes them more comfortable. Probably helps their pain too.
Please pray for the three beauties, that they get well and can live here happy.
These babies are really hungry! We’re gonna have some fast growers here! And we have some good koi. Good mixtures, and good pure.
The koi are eating even though it’s cold. they are eating green hair algae. They’re getting ready for their breeding cycle. Soon they will be spawning.
Our friend Dr. Brent, and koi doctor, said that temperature swings are really hard on the koi. And they’ve been having them. They’ve slowed down quite a bit, but they’re riding it out.
it’s funny, they are so delicate in some ways, and yet so sturdy. they are remarkable animals.
we have a lot more white koi in Mandarava pond this year, and people love them. I don’t know if they’ll be ready to sell by the summer yet. We’ll see.
Good news! The koi are eating tonight. And not just algae. Tonight they’re eating Manda Fu which is primarily wheat germ, which is a big step up from the algae they’ve been eating all winter, or not eating at all. It’s big step for them.
They’re all snuggling up to Student 1 right now, they were hungry. but I also think they missed her, she was close to them.
Our beautiful shubunkin fish have been hanging out in the little “cave/house” we built them. They like it there. it’s sheltering, and I bet it makes them feel a little bit warmer. Their pond is warming up too, but they don’t seem to be as eager to feed.
Everything happens in its time.
The koi know spring is springing! they are chowing down, eating veraciously the algae we have been trying to cut down for so long. they won’t get it all, but the interesting part is that they are eating, before the time they should actually be able to eat.
I think they’re getting ready for breeding time, which really is coming up soon. it all depends on weather conditions and water temperature. Last year our spawn happened at the end of April. Chat says a little later. Who knows? Chat knows! Ha ha!
This year we’re gonna do all our breeding and our spawning outside, and our medical care also. We have learned so much! The ones we tenderly cared for and spawned in my Lanai (my entire Lanai) have come to nothing. I don’t even know if there’s a survivor.
The ones we let happen outside have gotten strong and big. Duh. We’ve learned from Mother Nature. Dr. Brent says that’s how it is. They have to build strength in a natural environment. If they can’t make it in a natural environment they weren’t meant to make it. We have managed to harden some of the ones we kept inside. They are doing well though. but we are learning.
And our koi are fabulous!
The koi are parading! OMG! The pod is in harmony! Dr. Brent said that. It’s like a little dance they do when everything is ok. Now they are all around, like they’re dancing.
The show was short but it was beautiful!
Wait, it is still continuing! I wish you could all see this on Youtube live! I don’t know why we don’t do that.
I hate it when people say there are reasons. They are not reasons. The are obstacles we have to break through.
The koi are actually most visible, most enchanting, at night when the lights are on. That’s why I want to have this online, so people can see them at night when they are the most beautiful.
I want to make this all about the people that come to see them and the koi themselves.
A parade.
This is a shot of the koi, in torpor, under the ice. This is under the ice. Jacob took this and I think he did a great job. It shows the majesty that they still have in the winter. So peaceful, energized by each other only. Not eating at all. I guess it’s a time of retreat for them, although half their brains are asleep. They barely function metabolically.
Our job is to keep them safe and comfortable and we’re working very hard at it.
Don’t forget them when you make a donation.