Tobi-Koi Fry
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| Tobi-Koi Fry- Photo By en.wikipedia.org Tobi |
What is tobi defined-Tobi: (Toe-Bee) jump; in koi fry it refers to koi that jump in size by eating their siblings. It is very important to remove these tobi koi when sorting fry from a spawn and placing the tobi in separate aquarium; keep the tobi do not destroy the tobi.
Anyone who breeds koi knows about tobi. In other species these are often called "shooters". Koi fry can and do also occur in goldfish spawns; these are the fry that grow to juvenile size at break neck speed and they are noted for eating their smaller siblings. Most koi breeders assume tobi koi do not have the refined characteristics the breeder is looking for, however this is wives tail most koi fry do in fact are generically the same as their smaller koi fry siblings.
What Causes Tobie's? The Answer We Don’t Know: but here’s what we do know.
The primary belief all tobies are not worth keeping and must be destroyed this is mistake Tobi is generically the same to their smaller koi fry siblings, so what explains tobi koi versa same spawn smaller fry siblings.
Behavior killing or eating siblings is well documented in the animal world. Life in the wild or breeding environment can be so brutal, sometimes animals are forced to do terrible things to ensure their survival. Cannibalism and infanticide are well known in many species, but perhaps the most disturbing cases are those of baby animals killing their siblings, sometimes moments after they are born or in the uterus of their mother like the sand tiger shark! Here is a list of just a few species that start their lives as ruthless fratricides or cannibals.
- Praying Mantis
- Queen Honey Bee
- Copidomopsis Floridanum Wasp
- Sand Tiger Shark while still in their mother’s uterus
- Tobi Koi
- Hamsters,
- Rats,
- Squirrels,
- Bats,
- Seals
- Sea lions,
- Otters,
- Polar bears
- Lions,
- Tigers,
- Chimpanzees,
- Nazca boobies,
- Black Eagle,
Species, like koi fish, eat their own young. For example, egg-eating is rampant among male and female koi fish breeding or guarding egg nests. Researchers have found that while the nests often contain eggs sired by other dads, the fish aren’t terribly discriminating in the eggs they munch, which means they’re often eating their own koi fry.
It may be worthwhile to the koi fry fish, experts suggest, because the nutrients supplied by the eggs improves their odds of producing viable eggs and offspring in the future, which increases their lifetime reproductive fitness. Alternatively, the practice may perpetuate because it has a “neutral” effect, neither harming nor helping the lifetime reproductive success of the animal. Egg-eating may simply be a behavior that can occasionally come in handy.
Genetics:
Tobi koi and tobi goldfish carry in their genetic code remnants of everything that come before. A top-notch pair of gosanke or ranchu carries all the genetic material needed to make the ancestral common carp or crucian carp from which they were derived through selective breeding. Koi fry also have all the genetic material needed to recreate the incremental steps in their evolution. In the offspring from a pair of sanke you will find kohaku, higoi and perhaps even a magoi. A group of ryukin offspring may include tobi individuals with characteristics of wakin and common goldfish.
The more ancestral forms are always more hardy. Koi left to their own devices and allowed to breed indiscriminately for many generations, a population of koi will revert back to something resembling the ancestral common carp and goldfish will revert back to something resembling a crucian carp. In a group of sibling fry, those with a more latent genetic make-up will be just a little bit stronger and faster giving them a slight advantage when it comes time to eat or avoid a predator.
But, in the world of koi fish fry, a slight advantage can become amplified many fold. There is a snowball effect. A fry that gets just a little bit bigger than its siblings is better able to capture and compete for food so it grows faster; the larger the size disparity, the bigger the advantage. So, over just a few weeks time an tobi individual that is just slightly larger could be to the serendipity effect.
Tobi are larger than their koi fry siblings becomes ten times larger than its siblings. At some point, the size disparity becomes so great that the larger individual can eat its siblings providing it with a new limitless food supply. The a process that starts from an initial state of small insignificance and builds upon itself, becoming larger and perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous (a vicious circle, a "spiral of decline"), though it might be beneficial instead (a virtuous circle).
Serendipity Effect
How can some tobi be excellent examples of highly refined koi or g goldfish and show no signs of being a latent ancestral form? I think it is because there is the serendipity effect and factors at work as well.
Imagine a group of larvae which have absorbed their yolk sack and are ready to begin feeding. Perhaps some arrive at this stage a few hours ahead of the rest because they were spawned first or their position on the koi fry spawning substrate was a fraction of a degree warmer then the rest, or because of some other factor. The larvae instinctively dart at a moving food particle. Some times they catch it and sometimes they miss.
They are growing extremely rapidly and catching one or two extra choice food morsels can make a difference in that growth rate. Some individuals are just lucky and are able to get a tiny bit ahead of their siblings. As described above, a very small advantage can quickly snowball into a large advantage. An individual with no innate genetic advantage can become a tobi just through serendipity effect.
Other Koi Fry Observations
In some batches of koi fry the size distribution is large and there is an unusually large number of koi fry tobies In other batches the size distribution is narrow and the siblings look almost identical. In general, the better the fry are fed the less variation there will be in their size. If abundant live food can be kept in front of the fry at all times while maintaining good water quality, there is a much lower incidence ofkoi fry tobies.
Under the best of conditions the growth of fry is phenomenal and most of the population (except for those with serious deformities) has the potential to grow at the rate of koi fry. The best way to minimize the number of tobies is to provide better nutrition and husbandry.
The biggest and best koi and goldfish will have had the best nutrition and water quality their entire lives. Periods of less than optimal conditions can have long-term effects. In extreme cases, we say that the fish is stunted.
The younger the koi fish, the more severe and lasting the effect of poor nutrition and water quality. Tobi are considered by most to be undesirables. If they are genetic throw-backs then they probably are undesirable. However, you should be on the look-out for those koi fry fish which have both the genetic potential to meet your selection criteria and the serendipity factor to have gotten off to a fast start in life and become a superb genetics or genes.
It is always a good idea to separate tobi if you can; especially if they have become large enough to be cannibals. Never automatically assume this koi fry has no potential; you would be wrong; just remember the tobies are bigger, stronger and are generically the same as their baby brothers and sisters.
