Baby dwarfs disappearing?

[wendy32693]

I had started out with 27 baby dwarfs that the adult dwarfs had. But slowly i have been seeing less and less babies like they are just disappearing but I dont see any dead ones anywhere. I searched for nearly an hour yesterday and found about 5 babies. Before i could find the babies all over the tank now it is hard to find even a few of the babies. Is there something in the tank that could be eating them? I have 1 very little blue leg hermit crab, 3 small pipefish ( 2 pipefish are white and one is brown with blue spots) but the pipes hardly ever come out of hiding and about 3-4 little shrimps. Then i have 1 of the snails that bury themselves into the gravel ( i dont know how to spell the name). Is one of these tank mates possibly eating the babies? All of my adults dwarfs seem to be very healthy and the babies were eating also.

 

[jus1moretank]

The babys might be small enough for the hermit crab to eat them.

 

[mtc1966]

the crab and not sure as but its possible they are small enough for the pipes to eat . lets see if one of the pros chimes in.

 

[wendy32693]

I took the hermit out, the two smaller pipes I dont ever see them as they are always hiding but the larger white one ive never seen it mess with the babies, only goes after the brine shrimp, the larger one is always out and swimmng around. that onr is about 2.5 inches, the other two are a little bigger then an inch

 

[timinnl]

By any chance do you have gammarus or any copepods cultures in the tank with them?

 

[wendy32693]

No, I havnt put any into the tank. only thing I have fed is enriched baby brine

 

[timinnl]

What kind of shrimp do you have in there?

 

[wendy32693]

Just these clear shrimps sold as feeders, look like ghost shrimp. But it couldnt be them I just added them 2 days ago. The babies were already down to like 5 when I had added the shrimp.

 

[timinnl]

Good to know. I would remove the ghost shrimp also. They will be a problem when they get larger. A pipefish of 2.5 inches could be the one eating them after nights out? Also how are you handling the artemia before, during and after the hatch?

Kind Regards,

Tim

 

[wendy32693]

I believe it is the pipefish eating the babies they are the only posible thing left in the tank that could be eating them as I am down to only one baby dwarf I will take the pipes out and put them in my reef tank. Is there any shrimps that would be ok to keep with the dwarfs to help keep the tank clean.
Hopefully my adults decide to start having more babies.
The brine I use decapsulated brine and hatch them then put them in all new water with enrichment then run them through a cofee filter before I feed the dwarfs as ive read your not suppose to get any of the brine water into the seahorse tank

 

[wendy32693]

I took out all shrimp and 2 pipes, cant find the 3rd one yet as its a small one but il eventually find him

 

[mtc1966]

cool your population should be back in no time.

 

[wendy32693]

how long do they usually take before they decide to start breeding? Ive seen a couple of adults at night do the twitching and wrapping their tails together but no pregnant dwarfs yet.

 

[mtc1966]

i know erectus reproduce about every 21 days .not sure on dwarfs but i bet they are similar .

 

[Clownfishfan]

If the baby's happen to die it's definantly the burrowing snail that's eating them ,otherwise it's probably the pipefish.

 

[wendy32693]

alright thanks. Hopefully they decide to start breeding