Raising freshwater aquarium and pond fishes is one of the things that I love to do. I started it as a hobby when I was still in my elementary years. I started with swordtails and guppies place in an ordinary large basin. These types of aquarium fishes reproduce live youngs as they were live bearers every three weeks. Guppies reproduce every week or two. It had become a problem when my tank was crowded. So be careful in raising these live bearers. It was transferred into a huge aquarium tanks and mixed with various compatible aquarium species. Until now, I successfully raised them and breed fish like angel fish, oscar, goldfish, pleco, cichlids like convicts, parrots and many of them. But what really made me busier was raising Koi. Koi is a Japanese name for Carp. They come in variant bright colors on their foreheads and backs which made them very attractive to look in ponds. I manage to have 20 of them in a 20 ft. x 3 ft. own made pond. Breeding is a little bit tricky and you will need a lot of patience and hard work in order to breed them successfully and here are my tips if you are into breeding koi. You will need to place two well conditioned 3-5 year old male along with one 4-6 year old female koi into a breeding tank. A male koi is identified as slimmer with white spots in their pectoral fins and gill covers and the female having a bulbous body and bigger abdomens which is softer when full of eggs. Place as well a net or any garden net at the side of the pond as this will arouse them during mating as well as serve as a hangout for the fry once the eggs are hatched. Leave them for 3 to 5 days and if nothing happens, recondition them. The mating begins at dawn when the male koi chases the female and rubbing or pushing the female’s abdomen with their head. During this period, give them privacy and do not disturb. The female will later on start to spawn and releases her eggs. The male koi will fertilize the eggs once released by the female. The spawning can reach up to 5-8 hours and after this process, remove them from the breeding tank as they will be hungry and eat those eggs in the tank. The eggs will hatch in about 3 to 5 days and do not feed them in another 3 to 5 days. I use boiled and finely powdered egg yolk, daphnia or brine shrimp. One month after, start culling. For me, good quality kois are those that attract me. So culling may not be an option. You will be so proud of your own raised koi than buying it from a pet shop. Check “My Koi Gallery” and see photos of koi eggs, fry and my own raised KOI.