Mirror carp - Cyprinus carpio

The high-backed mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio) is a very well-known member of the cyprinid family. Carp are excellent food fish, but mirror carp are also beautiful  to observe inhabitants for a garden pond. The mirror carp has a nearly scaleless body with brownish, olive or mud brown coloration and a golden sheen. A few very large mirror scales predominantly cover the back of the mirror carp below the dorsal fin and on the caudal peduncle. There may also be scattered mirror scales behind the gills. Mirror carp can sometimes live up to 50 years and weigh about 35 kg. Our mirror carp are delivered as a trio. They are available in sizes 6-9 cm and 12-15 cm.

The mirror carp is a high breeding fish, which was already documented and bred by monks in the Middle Ages. The stocky body is very high-backed, some carp have a real hump. Depending on the feeding condition, the fish can also appear almost round in cross-section.

Wild carp live in warm, shallow river arms and lakes, but they are also found in brackish water areas. Farmed forms have been kept and bred in carp ponds for many hundreds of years. From a purely external point of view, it is practically impossible to distinguish the sexes of carp, so we recommend a certain basic stocking if the garden ponds are large enough - this increases the probability that both sexes will be present in the group and that there will be offspring in the pond. Mirror carp can also be easily socialized with other carp varieties.

Mirror carp do not reach sexual maturity until after their third summer season. In May and June, carp do not spawn until water temperatures are between 20 and 27° C in dense stands of vegetation. The female can lay up to 20,000 eggs. However, very few of the young survive - the young carp initially eat very small live foods such as rotifers, nauplii and other zooplankton. In a well-run, sufficiently large garden pond, the fry will find plenty of this food. If the population of mirror carp in the pond grows too much,  animals should be taken from time to time.

The garden pond for successful carp keeping should hold at least 20,000 liters for four to six of the very sociable carp; calculate another 1000 liters for each additional fish. The pond should contain shallow zones and zones up to 150 cm deep - carp like warm shallow water, and in the deeper zones the water remains frost-free in winter so that the carp can overwinter in the pond. There they lie in cold rigidity at the bottom of the pond in winter. With an ice free holder you ensure that the garden pond does not freeze over completely in winter. In summer, you can ensure the oxygen supply by using special pond oxydarors, water features or outflow stones .

Mirror carp constantly burrow in the bottom because they look for food there in the form of worms, crustaceans, insects, insect larvae, snails and algae, which they suck up with their underslung mouths. They also like to eat algae coverings and filamentous algae . Their burrowing can cloud the water in the garden pond quite a bit, so the pond filter should be large and powerful. Mirror carp will also eat softer aquatic plants. Water lilies, for example, are left alone though.... Mirror carp swim quite slowly. These peaceful giants socialize well with various other pond fish.

Mirror carp are uncomplicated eaters. If the pond does not provide enough natural food for the carp, they are fed with a commercial food for koi or also with a special food for carp. Mirror carps can become surprisingly trusting. You can accustom them well to feeders.

Minimum order: 3 animals
Size: 6-9 cm, 12-15 cm