Baby Koi

Koi don't need much help to breed. They need warm water and time. Once the pond gets into the mid-60s in late spring, the males start chasing a female, bumping her sides and pushing her toward the plants and the edges. She scatters thousands of sticky eggs on whatever she's pushed into, the males fertilize them, and the adults go right back to eating, including the eggs.

Eggs hatch in about a week, depending on temperature. A newly hatched koi is smaller than a grain of rice. Everything eats them: the parents, frogs, insects, birds. Out of thousands of eggs, a handful make it.

I never saw any of that. What I saw was later, when they were about two inches long, coming in and out from the rocks and the water plants while I was feeding the big fish. I counted about ten.

This pond has lost fish before. It's in the country, right next to a river. Herons come, and I think there's an otter in the river too. I've watched koi disappear to both.

I didn't do anything for these. I didn't move them or protect them or add anything. The pond had warm water, plants, rocks, and places to hide, and that was enough for a few of them to get through.