Can anyone share some photos of their brine hatcheries?

spankey

spankey

Active member
As I stated, I am setting up a seahorse tank for my son. Its a 30gallon tank and should provide some nice swimming space for the little guys. My question is this. I am considering getting one of those intake type hatcheries? Anyone ever use one of these before and if so, do they really work? Also after brine hatch, can they live in the tank if the horses don't find them right away? What I mean in that line is, pods live, can brine? I have plenty of macro in the tank for such to hide and live rock as well.

Can anyone post some photo's of their hatcheries and describe what methods work best for you? I am just trying to grasp only now after reading that these little guys need to be fed sometimes 2-3 times a day! doh.gif I currently care after 2 reef tanks in my house. One is a mixed reef and another is a dominant SPS tank so I am always up for challenges...

I hope by me asking about the in tank hatchery people don't think I am trying to get the easy way out? I just want to make sure I do this right. If needed I would gladly buy a 5 gallon tank and keep next to the horse tank just for brine shrimp production.

Feel free to post those photos!

Thank you for your time and your information!

Spankey:)
 
Spankey, what type of horses are you planning to keep? Unless you're having dwarves (which I don't think you are since it's a 30g), your horses cannot survive on a staple diet of brine shrimp, and will slowly starve overtime. Please consider this.

I'll try to post pics of my hatchery when I have some more time.
 
Seas inside,

I have been reading about that issue and realize this as well. I am getting tank raised frozen brine eating horses that my buddy is getting shipped in for his store. So I know they will be eating ok from that point. I have also been reading about possibly feeding them krill.

I am OK with the frozen krill, but have one question about that? Do you just chop them up and feed them to the horses that way? I mean they are quite large. Can the horses pick them appart? Also do you soak your foods in vitamins and such and if so what do you use?

Thanks for your help. I want to make sure I do this right and they don't starve and what not.

Spankey:)
 
Another question is this as well? Can you mix dwarves and the larger horses? I really wouldn't do this, but am curious if you can?

Thanks
 
I would be very cautious of any tank raised horses you plan on getting. Especially ones that are trained to frozen brine. Any reputable breeder will train the horses to frozen mysis instead of brine is it is more nutritionally complete.

Just about every "tank raised" horse on the market is actually net pen raised either from Vietnam or Sri Lanka. So esentially you are buying all the health problems of a wild caught seahorse with the possible benefit that it may be eating frozen foods. There have been lots of reports of these so called "tank raised" horses not accepting frozen foods and either starving to death or costing a small fortune in live foods until they can be converted over to frozen.

I am not trying to discourage you, but just want to make you aware of the possibilities of getting these horses.

In your thread on the other site I have listed 2 sources for true captive bred seahorses, both of which are highly reputable on all the seahorse boards.

I would hate for you and your son's first experience with seahorses to be a stressful one and possible end in disaster.

Also it is not good to mix dwarves with the larger species. Their care requirements are totally different.
 
He can get wild ones too, I was just afraid of doing wild ones due to how hard they are? Is this true?

I will check the other board as well.

Spank.
 
Please do not purchase wild caught seahorses!! They require a lot more diligence and have their own set of special needs. Even with the proper care, most wild caughts don't last very long due to the health issues they bring with them.

In essence by buying the pen raised you are getting the same horses health wise as wild caughts so the same precautions need to be taken. Net pen horses are raised in the open waters in mesh pens. Thus being exposed to the same parasites and pathogens as wild caught horses.
 
Personally, I would never let the cysts or the hatching water, come in contact with the water in any of my tanks. The cysts are known to harbour bad bacteria and even Brine Shrimp Direct recommends rinsing nauplii or adults in fresh water before feeding them to the tanks.
Decapping the cysts is a good start to eliminating problems with use of brine.
For the most complete information on Artemia:
CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION 4.0

My Brine Shrimp Page:
RAISING BRINE SHRIMP
 
Hmmm thanks for the info and I will keep all of it in mind. I was able to talk to my buddy today and he is telling me he is getting his horses from a reputable breeder in North Carolina? He wouldn't state whom, but I trust him. He also assured me that the horses he has are eating frozen mysis and not brine.... And at buying them at cost I can't beat the prices. Is this bad???

Thanks
Spankey
 
Well if there is a reputable breeder in North Carolina then it is being kept a seceret from the rest of the seahorse world. There are only 3 commercial breeders of seahorses in the US that I, and most others in this hobby, are aware of: SeahorseSource in Florida, Draco Marine in Baltimore Maryland, and Ocean Rider out of Hawaii. There are many importers of seahorses so that may be the case here. Only way to know for sure is to visit the facilities and find out personally, which most likely will never happen.

If you trust your buddy, and no reason why you shouldn't, then go for it.

I feel you have done the research and know what you are getting into. We will be here if you run into any problems or have any questions.

We'd love to see pics of the horses once you get them.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8729100#post8729100 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spankey
Hmmm thanks for the info and I will keep all of it in mind. I was able to talk to my buddy today and he is telling me he is getting his horses from a reputable breeder in North Carolina? He wouldn't state whom, but I trust him. He also assured me that the horses he has are eating frozen mysis and not brine.... And at buying them at cost I can't beat the prices. Is this bad???

Thanks
Spankey
Click to expand...

I'd be very interested to know of a breeder in NC. Wonder if they allow visitors? Although if it's so secretive, probably not. :D

(Don't have seahorses yet, not quite that brave yet, but hope to in future and reading up on them here.)

-Sonja
 
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