A journal of an attempt to raise Seahorse Babies
 

Due to several requests, I am going to try to create a journal of my experiences of trying to raise Baby seahorses.
I have done a fair bit of research on the subject.
However, I don't have any expectations on the viability of actually able to raise any of this wonderful little guys and gals.
Here is the story.

Day 1 - 31 Oct 06
 

At approx 5 pm, a neighbour pointed out a baby seahorse in my SH tank.
Upon closer inspection I noticed approximately 50 baby seahorses floating around the top of the tank.
I honestly dont' know whey they were actually born as I personally did not witness it.
Although I do have a baby fish and SH setup that I am trying to engineer, I wasn't expecting these arrivals and had to improvise.
I grabbed a 3 Gallon fish bowl and placed it into a 10 gallon tank.
I then filled the fish bowl with water from the main seahorse tank.
Using a cup, I gathered up the babies as unobtrusively as possible and placed them into the fish bowl.
I then placed a couple of cupfuls of rotifers from my rotifer cultures and basically that was it.
I must say, very cool looking creatures.

The setup
 

the setup basically is a 3 gallon plastic fish bowl in a 10 gallon tank.
I put fresh water in the 10 gallon tank so not to waste salt.
I placed the heater in the 10 gallon tank portion so that I could have better control over the heat. I didn't want to place the heater directly into the fish bowl fearing that I would cook them.
I then placed a air hose with a air stone in the fish bowl.
However, after talking to Beverley I changed that to a just running a air tube into the tank and put a valve on the airtube. I now have approximately 2 bubbles per second going into the tank.
If you look at the pic and wonder what the shutoff valve is for, basically I took the tank off the system that I was developing where all the tanks drain into one main sump.
the reason for the fish bowl verses the 10 gallon tank as it condenses the babies into a smaller space so that I don't use as many rotifers and they stay at a higher concentration.
As well, with a fish bowl, the babies don't have the abilty to get stuck to the side of the bowl at the surface because the walls fall away verses straight down which may cause some of them to become stuck to the wall and expire.
Again, this setup is from the research I have done online.
To say that it is a work in progress is an understatment.
If anyone has any suggestions at all, PLEASE let me know

Day 2 - 01 Nov 06
 

So far so good.
I awoke to no bodies in the tank.
I placed a cup of rotifers in the tank before going off to work.
I also had a friend come in at noon and place another cup of rotifers into the tank.
After talking to Beverly, I did a 30 % water change at night using water from the main Seahorse tank.
I also placed a cup of rotifers into the tank at around 4 and 9 pm.
I was also placed some Phytoplankton into the tank in the hopes that the rotifers will continue to reproduce and help provide a constant food source for the babies.
As well, I now have a light along the bottom of the tank (again a Beverley suggestion) so to attract the seahorses and Rotifers in more of a condensed area. As well, I think that it will make the rotifers easier for the seahorse babies to see and hunt down.
They are becoming darker, which from what I have read is a good thing.

Day 3 - 02 Nov 06
 

Well, I don't belive it but there were no casaulties in the morning.
I did another 30 percent WC in the morning and placed a cup of rotifers in the tank at 4 am and at 7 am before going off to work.
I am also putting a fair amount of Prime in the water everytime I do a WC so to help control the ammonia and nitrites and will be doing an approx. 30 % WC twice a day. I am going to continually test to ensure that the levels of ammonia and nitrites stay low.
I am continuing to do water changes directly from the main seahorse tank and will be doing approximately a 30 % WC twice a day. I am going to continually test to ensure that the levels of ammonia and nitrites stay low.
I don't know if this is the right thing to do.
However, I feel that the main tank will be able to process the waste in the water and the Babies won't be shocked by putting freshly made water into their tank.
I am able to see lots of rotifers swimming around in the bowl, which is perfect.
Simply put, if the water is good and the food is there, I may actually be able to keep some of these guys alive.
Please once again, any suggestions will gladly be accepted. Just dont' be upset if I don't implement them. This is will be one of many to come batches of babies and I am trying to come up with ways to maximize the outcome.
any comments or questions so far?
Neal

Pics of the parents
 

I thought that I would show the proud parents
Tranvictor, these guys should look familiar.
they used to be yours.

tanks
 

thought that I would show the main tank set as well

the long waited baby pics
 

got home from work
YEAH, Still all alive and swimming
Looking good.
see for yourself
Neal

Looking good!

They are so small!, Keep up the good work.

Way to go Neal! Looking great so far! Keep up the good work!

I'm totally cheering for ya!

Keep us posted!

Nice Neal:

I am glad for the horsies. I see they have a good father.

Vic

Good job so far. Are these kudas or erectus? Hopefully they're not Reidis because those seem harder to rear than the other species, since the babies are pelagic & don't hang onto things. Whatever species they are, looks like you did a good job researching & setting up a proper system.

Anthony

Sweet! Looks awesome, I've been crusin Reef Central for months and came accross this site a few weeks ago and have been a looky-lou for until now, I signed up just to ask this question...

Do you have any idea why the adults "did it"?

Day 4 - - 03 Nov 06
 

Still no casaulties.
They are getting bigger.
You can see them eating the rotifers now.
I am still doing about a 30 percent water change x 2 a day from the main SH tank.
And still adding a fair amount of prime.
Lots of rotifers in there.
Phillybean...the adults "did" it because it is in their nature to reproduce.
I am going to start growing live brine shrimp this weekend to get used to doing it and so that I can have some live adults in a couple of weeks.
Neal

Hah, I didn't mean it like that, I'm still new to reef keeping but my question was what caused it? I didn't think that Sea Horses bred in tanks commonly, what do you think caused yours too? How old are they? Was it just the 2 in the tank? Were there any special conditions that may have helped them to breed? On a lighter note...they musta look funny "doing it" :lol:

I believe they are about a year old. I personally have only had them for about a month. Maybe tranvictor knows how old they are.
actually SH bred quite regularly in captivity. It is just difficult generally to have any luck with raising the babies.

Wow !!!

Way to go, Neal :biggrin: Very cute babies :biggrin:

Looking back on when we were trying to raise fry, I remember having a fiar amount of water movement in the fry bowl to keep the water oxygenated. I read that you were doing 2 bubbles per second. I'd increase it to at least 5 bubbles per second. That way there's gonna be enough O2 for the growing fry.

I know they are still very, very tiny and may not be able to hitch onto anything yet, but please do anchor some macroalgae for them to hitch to if they can/want.

So far so good!!!! Love the pics :)

day 5 - 04 Nov 06
 

Still no casaulties.
Although I think I am going to lose a few cause they aren't moving around that much as the other ones are.
I noticed late last night - early this morning that a few were twitching and scratching. I had read that was a sign of high ammonia. I tested and was at .50. I did about a 30 percent water change and then about a hour later did another 30 percent water change.
I am going to start doing 4 x 30 percent water changes every day. That way I hope that they won't produce too much waste.
In the next couple of days I am going to start up another tank and split them in half. That way the waste won't build up as much.
At this rate, I am not going to have a dining room table left..lol.
I am also going to start the brine shrimp tomorrow so that I get used to that.
Anyways, I am truly surprised that things have been going so well.
I most be doing something right.
Beverley, I am going to add a piece of of macro algae in there tonight.
Give them something to maybe hold onto.
Most of the time they just float around in circles with the current being caused by the slow flow of air bubbles.
they are slowly getting bigger. You can actually see them from across the room now.
I still have tonnes of rotifers in the tank.
I think that this is key for this. I think that perhaps alot of people don't have enough food in the tank for them and the seahorses don't get enough nutrition.
I will post more pics tommorrow.
thanks for the support everyone.
Hopefully in a couple of months a couple of you will be able to buy a couple of these guys from me
I will keep everyone posted.
Neal

Day 5 - 04 Nov 06 - 9 pm
 

Well my first casaulties.
I figured that I would lose a few
I siphoned out 3 bodies and a couple are looking questionable.
Still ain't bad though for my first attempt at this.
Neal

Day 6 - 05 Nov 06
 

well another good day
No more bodies..but a few still don't look good.
However, still kicking for now.
Am starting to do water changes every 3 or 4 hours about 30 percent.
I had added a piece of algae but pulled it because somehow the seahorses were getting stuck in the roots and I had to rescue a couple.
I added a piece of Halymedia for now. They don't appear to be using it yet though.
thought I would show a couple of photos.
Neal

Wow.

this journal is awesome. thanks for the postings

Day 7 - 06 Nov 06
 

about 5 dead today
I think that I overestimated the number of babies.
I think that I have about 40 left.
Impossible to tell really how many are there.
Split the tank in half and put half of them in another identical setup.
Figure that it would be better this way to split the waste so it doesn't add up as quick.
things are still going well IMO overall.
Still amazed that I have anything at all.
I am keeping the tanks around 76 - 77 degrees.
LMK if you have any questions.

day 8 - 07 Nov 06
 

A couple dead today.
the others are doing well.
still doing about 30 percent water change about 4 times a day now that I have split them in half.
things are going well all in all.

Day 9 - 08 Nov 06
 

9 dead today.
I had thought I was going to lose them.
they had been just hanging out at the bottom for the last couple of days.
the others are still going strong though.
I figure I have around 30 left.
Not bad.
I started growing the brineshrimp yesterday
Not sure when exactly I should add them
Any suggestions?
LMK
thanks
Neal

Sorry to hear about your losses, Neal :sad: Do you have any idea why they died?

Wish I knew when to add the BBS. All I can tell you is that the fry have to be big enough to eat them BBS are huge compared to rotifers.

I think that I may have killed a couple of them myself.
I siphon the dead bodies out with a hose and tube. After I looked in the glass, I saw that I had actually sucked up a couple of live ones that had just been lying on the ground. (I don't think gettting sucked up thru a tube did them any good)
Like I said though, I had expected to lose them as most of them had been just lying around on the ground for a few days. The others are generally swimming around with the current during the day. The only time they lie on the ground generally are when the lights are off.
I think though that naturally there will be some that just don't make it.
I am sure that there are lots in the wild that die off just for whatever reason besides being lunch for something.
I don't notice them scratching though much, which means the ammonia isn't high.
I dunno
I am still happy with my results.

Did you just put the live ones back into the tank?

From what it sounds like you are doing very well!

yes i did put the ones back into the tank.
Except for one, I noticed that his tail had been broken, so I put it out of its misery.
I felt really stupid about the whole thing.
I had tried really hard to make sure that they were dead. But I felt I also just couldn't leave a bunch of bodies in the tank as I was afraid of spiking the ammonia levels because of the decomposing bodies.
IMO, if they were just lying on the ground they probably weren't doing that well in the first place and probably weren't going to make it anyways.
thanks for the support. I am really happy with the results so far.
From what I have read online, I am doing better then the vast majority of people already..so yea..I must be doing something right.

How big do they look now?

they are probably about 1 cm in length now
still tiny

Keep up the good work. Sounds like it takes a lot of effort and time to raise these little guys... I'd say your definitely doing something right here as well.

day 11 - 10 Nov 6
 

Well I pulled 9 more bodies out this morning.
The good thing is that the rest are looking good except for 1 or 2 that still hang out at the bottom.
I think that I should slow down on casaulties. I better as I only now have 20 left. But hey day 11...and the fact that I have any left is amazing.
So yea, all in all a good first attempt.
Egads, if Bev is right, then I only have 3 days left before the next batch come.

WTG!!

My Kudas' just had babies on Monday. This is my 3rd attemp at raising the fry. While waiting for my rotifers to "grow out" I have been feeding them frozen cyclopeeze and they seem to manage with that ok.

I don't get big brood sizes like you do, though each time I have had fry the number seems to be increasing.

Day 10 for me has always been the critical day, so I am hoping to make it past day 10 this time.

Glad you started a journal, it is very helpful to me and also very interesting!

As for starting to feed bbs, maybe check out http://www.seahorse.org/ I found allot of useful information. They were a great help to me when my horses came down with worms (ewww). Fortunately I was able to get the meds they needed and treat them and they are back in good health :biggrin:

Good Luck and keep us updated!

Brine shrimp..............
 

Hey Howdy , Don't know if it will help but ,when I raised thousands of freshwater angels , you could see if they were feeding by the pink colour of their little bellies ,which also extended noticably. Maybe the same thing would work with your little guys. Just a thought......................Dave
P,S. you could just syringe a few shrimp into the rearing tank and watch the bevaviour of the sea horses,again small angel fry can be seen attacking the shrimp .Using a magnifying glass helps . Good Luck

reference the brine shrimp did u decapsulize them before hatching them? or how does that work.
if you didn't, how did u get rid of the shell afterwords?
my fear is that the seahorses with choke on the stupid shell
thanks
Neal

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA023


That's the link cc_bruno sent me about deencapsulating brine shrimp eggs. Worked well for me.

HTH,

Anthony

When you hatch brine shrimp you can purchase decapsulated brine shimp or capsulated. When you use capsulated ones, you avoid getting the shells by only draining to a certain point.

If you want I can send you a video link about brine shrimp.