Seahorse Babies

[Richard]

I currently have 4 pairs of seahorses 2 proven breeding pairs (proven as i`m raising the fry lol) and 2 other pregnant males so in theroy 4 breeding pairs

2 pairs of yellow/orange Hippocampus kuda kuda seahorses

2 pairs of pure white seahorses (unknown exact species at current time)

i`m having great succes with rearing the seahorse fry with very few fatalities adorable little critters they are lol

what i was wondering though was what other foods can i possibly be feeding them on as to give them a slightly more varied diet?

currently i`m feeding on newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii , rotifers and frozen mysis scrapings.

ages of seahorses
1st brood - 2 1/2 weeks old
2nd brood - 3 days old

Richard

 

[saxolady04]

cool

 

[Dragonscales]

Hi richard, great job

You should be very proud of yourself to have a low mortality rate after 2 and a half weeks, even expert breeders usually have losses by this time. Thus far you are providing them with a variety in their diet which is always a good thing. Are you enriching the brine shrimp? This is important due to the low nutritional value they contain. It is also great that they are already taking to dead (I'm assuming due to the "scrapings" part ) mysis as this is a good staple diet for when they are older and also contains a much more varied nutritional value than the brine shrimp. The rotifers are also a good thing and something you should keep up.

From the sounds of it you are doing everything right thus far and deserve to give yourself a good pat on the back for it, seahorse fry are notoriously difficult to raise in large numbers.

I have a few seahorse forums which will help you greatly in not only raising the fry, but also in identifying your unknown adults. If you have a camera just try and get a few good pics of them and post them up there, the people there are pretty spot on with species identification, which to be honest, can be quite difficult in alot of cases. In respect of the Admin's wishes though, I won't post the forums here, I will PM you with the addresses.

 

[Richard]

Yes i am enriching the brine shrimp also i`m only using newly hatched brine shrimp once it gets to around 24 hours old i move it to another tank and grow it on for the adult seahorses and my many other fish.

The mysis scrapings i generally put in the tank from day one even if they dont initially take to the dead food just it being in the tank is getting them used to it making the weening over process a lot easier.

They say that the 1st 14 days are the most crucial for the seahorses but i have read somewhere that for the 1st 3 days of their lives you leave the light on 24 hours a day and feed them every 4 hours (hardly any sleep for 3 days lol)
Being as they are fed almost constantly for the 1st 72+ hours of their lives seems to give them a bit more stength which might help towards the lower fatility rate. After the inital 3 days drop the lighting back to normal lighting hours and reduce the food intake to the normal 5 times a day.

Seemed to work for me so far however very long tiring days with water changes every day and a room full off phytoplankton , rotifers and brine shrimp bottles/tanks lol .

 

[chris777]

Congrats on your babies, glad to hear they are doing well.

 

[platyperson]

Ask your LFS about rotifers, they are really small and work for even the smallest of fry and babies