Baby bluestripe pipefish day1

[EmmaPark]

Hello, this is Emma. I'm posting this to record that early yesterday morning, baby pipefish finally hatched from the belly of dad blue stripe pipefish. It's been almost two weeks since I noticed the pregnancy. According to records, the babies hatch between 14 to 17 days after the female lays eggs in the male's belly. So, on the 12th day, I isolated the dad pipefish, and the babies successfully hatched.

I managed to take quite detailed pictures of the babies. I will keep posting updates.

All the photos below are of the babies on their first day after hatching.

Ah, when they feel threatened, they freeze and stop moving. I mistakenly removed one baby pipefish, thinking it didn't survive, but that was a mistake.

Dad pipefish, looking exhausted, is yawning.
Now that the dad pipefish's duty is over, he has been returned to the tank. He is currently reunited with his mate, and they are hunting together again.

 

[littlefoxx]

Oh wow!!!

 

[code4]

So interesting. Whatever will you feed them?

Best of luck

 

[EmmaPark]

So interesting. Whatever will you feed them?

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In one thread, it was mentioned that they eat small pods like Parvocalanus, but I don't have any prepared.

I hatch brine shrimp daily and feed them to the fish, but they are too large for the baby pipefish.

However, I have been cultivating seaweed, but I removed all of it except for one small pool with rocks, mini jellyfish, and an abundance of small pods.

I also have a small tank where I grow a bit of seaweed.
This tank is full of tiny copepods that are almost invisible, so I moved ten of the babies there as a test. I'll observe them until tomorrow and then move more of the babies!

 

[KrisReef]

@Dinkins Aquatic Gardens
Do you guys make any pipefish chow for newborns?

This is a neat situation and I hope it works out for everyone.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is neat!

 

[code4]

I hope there are enough of the pods for all the baby pipefish.