My babies! (H. Erectus Seahorses)!

BrooksReef · Feb 12, 2011

I do not move the female, however, I am trying out moving the male this time. So far, he is fine. He is in a 10g tank with a sponge filter and a HOB Aqueon filter. For the past 3 mornings I thought I he was going to have the babies, but he hasn't. I am hoping for tomorrow...

btkrausen · Feb 12, 2011

Nice videos. Looks like you caught some great footage of the entire process, from mating to birth, to raising the babies. Great job man.

gflat65 · Feb 12, 2011

No female? How are you getting eggs? I thought the female was important in that she checks in with him daily, etc., but I guess not.

I should have some tomorrow. It's been 14 days since the last egg transfer, and he's been consistent so far. I will likely try a few different approaches this time. Since the kreisel didn't get a good trial last time, I'm going to start with it since I can keep it in the main system (shouldn't pollute the water in the main system). I'll likely move some out into other containers to try other things. Gotta get some dan's enrichment...

Do you just start with enriched BBS for the first few days?

BrooksReef · Feb 13, 2011

Well, he's about to explode! I've got two warning fry right now... many many many more to come!

gflat65 said:
No female? How are you getting eggs? I thought the female was important in that she checks in with him daily, etc., but I guess not.

I should have some tomorrow. It's been 14 days since the last egg transfer, and he's been consistent so far. I will likely try a few different approaches this time. Since the kreisel didn't get a good trial last time, I'm going to start with it since I can keep it in the main system (shouldn't pollute the water in the main system). I'll likely move some out into other containers to try other things. Gotta get some dan's enrichment...

Do you just start with enriched BBS for the first few days?

I hatch BBS then feed them the 1-2 hour old brine if they hatch at the right time. I only do this for the new borns. If I've not got any available, I feed them 48 hour enriched. The nice thing about the Erectus is that they can eat 48 hour enriched!

After the egg transfer, I waited about 13 days then moved him to the tank he is in now. The female is not important from here on. :nerd:

Good luck with your next brood. I've said this before, but keep the water circulation very gentle. Just enough to break the surface tension.

gflat65 · Feb 13, 2011

I started a thread in the fish breeding forum for this brood. These were all at the top of the water column, unlike previous broods, so maybe that's a good sign? Got 168 into the kreisel this time.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-breeding-forum/55444-another-attempt-h-erectus-fry.html

BrooksReef · Feb 13, 2011

Sweet, gflat! That is a very good sign that they all swam to the top. They have to fill their swim bladders!

BrooksReef · Feb 14, 2011

So... many... babies. There are at least 150-200 that I got today. There SHOULDN'T be any more..

I moved them into my old 20g and took down the 10g they were in. So far so good... they're mostly eating. None are floaters (no overinflated swim bladders), and they are not flicking! Which is somewhat surprising.

Pictures to come.

skinz78 · Feb 14, 2011

WOW what are you going to do with them all? How is the older brood doing?

BrooksReef · Feb 15, 2011

Well, for now I have the broods in separate tanks. Since I'm having such success with my 4-5 week olds, I didn't want to chance it by putting the new fry in there with them.

I'm going to see how the new fry do in the 20g I have them in. I set it up just like my other fry tank, so I'm hoping for similar success. Especially since these babies are from the same brood as the 4 week olds in the other tank.

fishypets · Feb 15, 2011

Before you know it you'll be a sponsor on R2R selling horses Brooks! Please remember your ARC buddy when you make it rich!

BrooksReef · Feb 15, 2011

fishypets said:
Before you know it you'll be a sponsor on R2R selling horses Brooks! Please remember your ARC buddy when you make it rich!

Haha, Clint! Please remember me when I come begging to trade Seahorses for expensive Chalices.

BrooksReef · Feb 18, 2011

As my first brood (well, first 2 broods) approach 5 and 6 weeks, I am pleased to announce that many are eating frozen minced mysis, but most are still on cyclops. I am also noticing a change in their colors... some have white stripes, some have yellow heads with black bodies, and others are still all black or all clear. I also have one orange one! They are so funny to watch!

The newest brood which is about 5 days old is doing very well too! They are in a 20g that is set up like my bigger fry tank with the 5-6 week olds. I have only counted two lost so far! I am hoping to keep it that way. Man, they love to eat! It is fun to watch them "hunt!" :nerd:

Alattner · Feb 18, 2011

wow BrooksReef you got it going on awesome thread and awesome job with the seahorses i always thought they would be fun to keep but hard.

gflat65 · Feb 18, 2011

Awesome. Not going as well for me. We've got at least 20 left. They are mostly fat little pigs, but had lots of swim bladder bubbles and some non eaters. I just got in some Dan's, so I'm going to work on that tonight for the remaining bunch. They were doing really well, then they were removed to clean the kreisel (she had a hard time siphoning the bottom-we've got a tool for that now

). The next day, I think we'd lost half of what was in there. Time to get on some steak and potatoes for these guys.

dougers31 · Feb 18, 2011

Those babies are so cute! How much time would you say it takes on a daily basis to raise and care for them?

BrooksReef · Feb 19, 2011

gflat65 said:
Awesome. Not going as well for me. We've got at least 20 left. They are mostly fat little pigs, but had lots of swim bladder bubbles and some non eaters. I just got in some Dan's, so I'm going to work on that tonight for the remaining bunch. They were doing really well, then they were removed to clean the kreisel (she had a hard time siphoning the bottom-we've got a tool for that now). The next day, I think we'd lost half of what was in there. Time to get on some steak and potatoes for these guys.

Sorry to hear that! I am glad to hear the remainder are doing well, though. Are you keeping up with cleaning and water changes?

dougers31 said:
Those babies are so cute! How much time would you say it takes on a daily basis to raise and care for them?

I devote about 2 hours a day to these guys.... water changes, cleaning, feeding, formallin, staring at their adorableness.

gflat65 · Feb 20, 2011

Had a nice long reply, but IE lost it. Love MS...

Essentially, I think water quality has been at least part of the problem. I've had the kreisel in the parent tank getting turnover water from the overflow. I think I'll go with a 10 gal with sponge filters for the next brood.

Had issues with enriching... Used an 8oz glass (less than half full), an immersion blender, 1/8 tbs of Dan's, and blended for 2 min. Couldn't get it to pass through the seive, so i used it as is. No swimmers the next day (1.25L bottle with 1 day old BBS). Any ideas?

I think providing nutrional food has been an issue, too (in addition to the enrichment issues). I've been feed the BBS some food I got from marine depot with the brine cysts. I didn't realize how long it'll take to get a nanno culture to the size I need for my uses, so I'll likely hunt down some live phyto (most likely Reed's).

MimicOcto8 · Feb 20, 2011

that is just so cool! i'm planning on setting up a small seahorse tank and i just cant wait!

BrooksReef · Feb 21, 2011

gflat65 said:
Had a nice long reply, but IE lost it. Love MS...

Essentially, I think water quality has been at least part of the problem. I've had the kreisel in the parent tank getting turnover water from the overflow. I think I'll go with a 10 gal with sponge filters for the next brood.

Had issues with enriching... Used an 8oz glass (less than half full), an immersion blender, 1/8 tbs of Dan's, and blended for 2 min. Couldn't get it to pass through the seive, so i used it as is. No swimmers the next day (1.25L bottle with 1 day old BBS). Any ideas?

I think providing nutrional food has been an issue, too (in addition to the enrichment issues). I've been feed the BBS some food I got from marine depot with the brine cysts. I didn't realize how long it'll take to get a nanno culture to the size I need for my uses, so I'll likely hunt down some live phyto (most likely Reed's).

I've forgotten to ask you this before, but are you using decapsulated cysts from Seahorsesource? If not, you might want to seriously consider doing so. They are extremely useful and make life a lot easier. Also, are you enriching the BBS for two 12 hour periods using Dan's Feed before feeding?

MimicOcto8 said:
that is just so cool! i'm planning on setting up a small seahorse tank and i just cant wait!

Thanks! And make sure to keep us updated with your Seahorse tank!

gflat65 · Feb 21, 2011

I just started using the decapsulated from seahorsesource three days ago. Much easier and less mess.

We were into the second round of enrichment (maybe an hour) when we noticed that there didn't appear to be any BBS swimmers. How important is it to sieve the solution after blending? I've tried selcon a few times, too, but not consistently.