It is very hard to identify, especially for young koi and will be easier for mature koi. There are many tips of how to
identifying your koi gender, such as:
(a) Female and Male Koi
have different shape of fins.
Female koi has larger pectoral fins than the male one, and also
usually have less color. Female fins will also have a rounded edge and will be
opaque. (see courtesy picture)
(c) Body Conformation (see courtesy photo)
(d) Touch Gently Over The Cheeks
Run your fingers gently over the side
cheeks of the Koi. Your fingers will feel rough for male koi, like soft
sandpaper. On the other hand, your fingers will feel completely smooth for
female koi. The roughness is caused by tubercles which grow along the sides of
male Koi. It is beneficial to stimulate the female koi to release her eggs when
spawning
(f) Traditional way
I personally do not suggest this method, unless you are an experienced koi trader/breeder. Turn your koi body upside down with abdomen facing up. Massage carefully and slowly the abdomen part between your thumb and your pointing finger backward toward its vent. You can see white liquid come out from its vent for male koi and like excrement for female koi. Again, do not do this method since it may hurt your koi.
(g) Eating behavior
Observation during feeding time will also give us a clue to strengthen our conclusion, whether male or female koi. Eating behavior of female koi is more aggressive than the male one. Male koi usually will be swimming around after eating one bait before eating another bait, while female koi are more likely to eat more and more bait as often as possible. So you may observe and playing with your koi during feeding time. This eating behavior obviously tell you why female koi are commonly bigger than the male koi.
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Remarks: One of the best Koi dictionaries, in my opinion you can directly connect to the following web site address:
http://www.mankysanke.co.uk/html/japanese_dictionary.html
to be continued (koitutor.blogspot.com>
