Aweome! I am planning to convert my 60 cube to a horse tank this summer. Best of luck!
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Seahorse Babies
- Thread starter Duds
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Thank you for all the kind words this has been a bit of a learning curve getting things set up properly. They are still doing very well not as many losses as I honestly would’ve expected. You never know when they are going to give birth so they say to start the baby brine shrimp as soon as they do. My brine shrimp took 24 hours to hatch and was able to feed them yesterday and they are amazing hunting down and eating it’s been such a cool process. Here’s a few more pics of them eating I’ve since redesigned their tank with some fake plants they can hitch onto easier.
Very cool. I've successfully raised seahorses myself, but it is not easy, particularly after the first week or so. I strongly suggest that once they can take anything larger than newly hatched brineshrimp you start feeding them brine shrimp that are several days old and have been fed LIVE micro algae, preferably more than one strain. To do this correctly you really need to have your own cultures of micro algae, ideally keeping them extremely clean (at least the stock cultures). It would be good to get a seasoned sponge filter into that tank soon as well, though not sure you have one available if you did not plan ahead for it. You could also (alternatively) use a rock or two of live rock, but you would need to keep this rock away from the seahorses, perhaps on the other side of a screen of some type. Otherwise 'things' will crawl out of the rock, eat the waste food and take out quite a few seahorses in the process. I found as you go forward this is the one time that a UV filter might be of value. IME seahorses have a very weak immune system, particularly if not fed a lot of varied and nutritious foods.
Wow congratulation chief. That’s awesome and good luck with the new fry. I hope they all suceed.
If they live to good size I'll take 4
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Sorry for lack of updates but still going well had a bit of a die off. I expected it would happen knowing their survival rate and it being my first time and not being able to dedicate as much time to them as they probably need. Very hard to count as they are still so small and they don’t sit still when asked but I’d say 30-50 left depending who’s counting and each persons patience level 1, 2 skip a few 30 40 50 lol. I can’t honestly say they are noticeably bigger but they are bolder in color so definitely a good sign I’d say. My male is definitely pregnant again so I’ll have another batch in about 3 weeks or so I’ll end up getting another tank setup to keep the age differences separate this is turning into quite the venture haha. Here are some pics enjoy!
I'll put myself in line for some if you decide to sell some.
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7 weeks this past Wednesday and I have 6 seahorse babies left. My biggest struggle has been keeping a constant supply of food available for them 24/7. They are still on baby brine shrimp I’ve tried shaving frozen mysis but not convinced they are eating it/enough. I’ve talked to other seahorse keepers and they use smaller tanks around 2gallons so they don’t need to search as much for food and waste energy. I have not had any newbies since but plan to grab a smaller tank to try this out next time around they are in a 5.5 gallon tank.
I said it in my earlier post, but will mention again here. You really should get a culture or two of microalgae, feed that to the brine shrimp, then feed the now highly nutritious brine shrimp to the seahorses. I agree that a smaller system would be advisable as well. Once they are taking fully grown brine shrimp, you can usually get them to take small frozen mysis, though there may be a lot of training involved. Meaning that initially you may need to make the mysis, 'dance' in front of the seahorses using a turkey baster.
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I didn’t reply to it before I got caught up but that is a great idea and something I have been looking into/wanting to do. This wasn’t the most planned out thing just keep adapting, changing, adding things. I like the idea of getting some cultures going anyway gets some more live food sources in my other tanks as well as aiding in growing these/future babies further. How simple of a setup does a culture need just an airline like bbs?
As for the mysis I’ve heard shaving it with a peeler to start mixing mysis juice into the brine shrimp before feeding them to get the taste for the mysis and like you said trying to make it dance to look live when feeding them the mysis.
Unfortunately I am now down to just two but they do look good.
Anyone members near Uxbridge have cultures going or wanna ship?
>How simple of a setup does a culture need just an airline like bbs?<
The algae culture can be pretty simple, but there is always the risk of the culture 'crashing' (meaning becoming contaminated) so you should try to keep one flask as clean as possible. I used to use a whole bunch of 2 liter soda bottles lined up in front of a fluorescent light. You just bubble air through them to keep them mixing. Don't bother with airstones, you just need a small piece of ridge airline to get the bubbles to the bottom of the container. You might want to pick up a copy of
Which discusses how to get cultures started. You can get it used for low $. I used to get my starting algae cultures from Florida Aqua Farms, but local peeps raising clownfish will probably also have cultures going.
The algae culture can be pretty simple, but there is always the risk of the culture 'crashing' (meaning becoming contaminated) so you should try to keep one flask as clean as possible. I used to use a whole bunch of 2 liter soda bottles lined up in front of a fluorescent light. You just bubble air through them to keep them mixing. Don't bother with airstones, you just need a small piece of ridge airline to get the bubbles to the bottom of the container. You might want to pick up a copy of
Clownfishes: A Guide to Their Captive Care, Breeding, & Natural History
by Joyce D. WilkersonWhich discusses how to get cultures started. You can get it used for low $. I used to get my starting algae cultures from Florida Aqua Farms, but local peeps raising clownfish will probably also have cultures going.
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Awesome thank you very much!!
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I ended up losing the last two from that round and my male seahorse has given birth three more times since. They are still younger horses so I’ve read that as they mature their fry develop better as they give birth more which I can definitely attest to. So after some trial and error, the fry developing better, switching up methods so much reading and research I have three eating frozen mysis shrimp! I have one that is 15 weeks old and two that are 11 weeks old. And then a batch of 30 or so babies about 4 weeks old still on baby brine shrimp.
Reason for popping this back up the three eating frozen mysis are in a 2.5 gallon tank. I’m concerned with water quality from how much they are starting to eat. I think I want to transfer them to a bigger tank but don’t know if it’s too soon or if a transfer might kill them off which I’ll be absolutely gutted or maybe I’m overthinking it. Any help thoughts comments are appreciated.
Thanks!
And I’ll get pics tomorrow when the lights are on.
Reason for popping this back up the three eating frozen mysis are in a 2.5 gallon tank. I’m concerned with water quality from how much they are starting to eat. I think I want to transfer them to a bigger tank but don’t know if it’s too soon or if a transfer might kill them off which I’ll be absolutely gutted or maybe I’m overthinking it. Any help thoughts comments are appreciated.
Thanks!
And I’ll get pics tomorrow when the lights are on.
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Whoops big delay on the pics my bad busy time of year!! These were taken on the 27th of November I’ll now have to get more updated pics lol
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The juveniles are now eating the hikari frozen mysis which is the same as the parents so that’s exciting!! I’d like to give them a little longer before they can go in with the adults maybe another month or two we'll see. One is 19 weeks the other two are 15 weeks old.
The babies are now on potato peeled frozen mysis and I have I think 14 roughly. These are 7 weeks old I believe I tried writing it on the tank and it wiped off naturally lol.
Our male erectus horse is pregnant again and my wife just realized last night our Reidi male is now pregnant as well so maybe another venture?! We are working on our dream seahorse tank build a 125 gallon. Quite frankly I need to be done sooner than later with all these seahorses lol.
The babies are now on potato peeled frozen mysis and I have I think 14 roughly. These are 7 weeks old I believe I tried writing it on the tank and it wiped off naturally lol.
Our male erectus horse is pregnant again and my wife just realized last night our Reidi male is now pregnant as well so maybe another venture?! We are working on our dream seahorse tank build a 125 gallon. Quite frankly I need to be done sooner than later with all these seahorses lol.
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Still looks amazing! Very fun endeavor you're working on!
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Thank you! Definitely has its ups and downs I wish I could cut down on the losses even more that’s the worst part but they have a terrible survival rate off the bat.
Probably not much worse then r maybe even better than in the wild.
I am looking to get into dwarf seahorses soon heard they are like rabbits and breed often!
That is the one thing that has got me leaning towards the dwarfs as they seem to breed often and if you have the enriched BBS they have a decent survival rate. I saw your post from months ago and the smaller tank is definitely the way to go so they can get more food. I am planning on keeping 10+ dwarfs in my 10 gallon display refugium!
