how do i know which koi fry to cull

[kentuckguy]

I have sevveral koi in a pretty good size pond they have been in there for three years and i have some older babys about 6-12 inches but i have alot that are fry-2 inches long and alot of them are greenor black looking on top with a stipe on the side of their bellies and the bottom is silver will these ever change colors or should i go ahead and cull them,then i have some thats solid gold,and some gold and with a little black spot can someone help me out please thank you

[Julles]

You have to be ruthless, KGuy.  The ugly ones (called Tobys) will never change color, so you'd best just cull them out. 

What I do to help justify getting rid of a fish, is remind myself that koi are "dirty" fish, and each one puts a tremendous burdon on my pond's filter and oxygen level.  Therefore, each fish must really be worth his weight in beauty, to be worth keeping.

[frloplady]

most random pond spawings are not going to produce much in the way of decent koi.  There can be some.

consider in japan a spawn starts out with 100,000 or more and by the time all is said and done with it there won't be 1/10 of that left.  Most of those culled end up as food for something else.

[reptilegrrl]

Advertise the small ones as free feeder fish.  Someone will come take them off your hands.

[tranquility]

the greenish/black ones are culled first then cull any with deformaties such as missing fins, missing gill plates, turned up gill plates, deformed mouth or body....the others should be fine to re-home....
Lawanna