A journal of an attempt to raise Seahorse Babies

[howdy20012002]

thanks everyone for the advice and tips
I will try a couple of them in the future.
this second batch isn't doing all that well
I think I may have overdosed them on Prime.
I was adding some every water change and I was doing waterchanges every 3 hours...so yea, too much chemicals.
they are moving around more now, but they weren't looking good over the weekend...I haven't removed any bodies yet because I am finding it difficult to tell whether or not they are dead or alive. There are lots of them just lying on the ground, but they are still moving around.
I still have one alive from the first batch.
I am feeding it baby brine shrimp and Rotifers.
I am putting in Phytoplankton into the tank as well in hopes to keep the food alive for while and ensure that they are nutrutious enough to sustain the seahorse.
Raf - reference the rotifers - I take out tank water everyday out of tanks to replace the water that I take the rotifers out with.
I have 10 gallons of rotifers going at all times and generally switch about 4 - 5 gallons of the water everyday out of my different tanks.
the ph and such should be relatively the same as the water in the baby seahourse tank as I have taken the water out of the main SH tank.
I don't think the rotifers are dying in the baby seahorse tank.
I belive that the water conditions were the biggest problem of the deaths...
I am trying to do more water changes and although I want to have some prime in the water, I definitely was putting in way too much.
Lessons learned.
As well, I increased the amount of air bubbles. I am not using a stone, I just have a tube into the bottom of the tank that causes the current to keep them moving and yet, producing no noticable air bubbles to create any issues that I am aware of.
I realize that I always have the chance of some small bubbles, but can't think of any other way to do this. they definitely need some movement and air.
The lamp I do have is at the bottom of the tank so to attract them to the bottom. at the same time, the rotifers and brine shrimp are attracted to the same area. Thus making them easier for the SH to eat.
I have yet to decapsulate the bringe shrimp and am undecided to which way I am going to go. I have read that the shells can cause the death of the SH cuz they get stuck in the mouth.
However, I am really really busy with my Limo company, my career in the army and my Salt water business and am finding that I just don't have enought time to do everything.
So yea, decapsulating may wait a little and I might just continue on with the way I am currently doing things. Currently, this consists of turning off the air supply and allowing the rotifers to settle to the bottom and then siphoning them into the SH tank...I add newly hatched without adding anything. After the first day, I start adding flake food and enrichment formula to feed the brine shrimp to keep them going and nutritional.
My biggest thing is once they are in the baby SH tank, how do I keep them alive and nutritious. I am currently adding phytoplankton in hopes that will work..but any other suggestions would be appreciated. I definitely don't want to add the enrichment formula as the cost would be higher than I want to incur.
thanks again for the advice and if anyone has any suggestions to what I am doing that would be greatly appreciated as I am definitely not an expert in the area of raising them.

[Diana]

Try visiting www.seahorse.org and have a look at some people's reidi setups. I cannot offer any great advice since I have been trying to raise reidi fry for a while now with no luck. The longest I've had one live is 2 weeks. My ponies give birth to over 200 fry every 2 weeks, and its disheartening to flush them but I just dont have the time for them right now.

With reidis its extremely important to keep them away from the surface of the water. That is the reason why the airline tubing is in there, to keep em down near the bottom. So the positioning of the tubing is critical- it needs to create a circular flow pushing the fry quickly back down to the bottom if they happen to catch a ride to the top. Obviously the airline helps with airation, but IMO preventing them from snicking air is the biggest challenge.

How can you tell if they snick air? Its quite easy. You'll see a shiny little bubble in thier 'throat' area. I'd say 80% of my fry have air bubbles by the time I see them in the morning (they are usually always born at night). If you have difficulty seeing the air bubble then try shining a light on them to make sure they do or dont.

I think on seahorse.org its the general consensus that a "kriesel" setup works the best. You'll need a plastic fishbowl. I have yet to try this setup, but once I get some time I will give it a go.

Anywhoo, I'm not sure if it helped, but it would be fantastic if you had succsess with your fry. I cant wait to be able to raise the little tykes. Reidis are definately one of the hardest species to raise... I'm looking into adding another species that have fry that might be a little easier.

-Diana

[howdy20012002]

Thanks Diane for the info.
I got alot of my info from Seahorse.org.
I think that my last batch of babies might have done alot of snicking.
unfortunately not many are left.
However, the one left from the orginal batch is still going strong.
I am feeding it BBS enriched with selco. I hatch a new batch every 2 or 3 days. feed them right away after the birth, then starting feeding and enriching every day so that they are still nutritional for the SH.
Alot of work though for one little guy.
But I am very proud of the fact that the little dude is still going.
it is still really tiny though.
I will keep posting the progress.
Neal