decapsulate or not

[bunsenburner]

Just set up a seahorse tank about a month ago. A pretty neat little set-up in a 21 gal via-aqua tank. I've had a male living in a refgium for several months before picking up a female and mobing them both into a species specific tank. The entire back wall of the tank is chaeto woven into a grid-type light diffuser. The horses spend much time clinging to and hunting the wall. It also hides the heater and circulation pumps. If I could only get my camera and computer talking I'd post a picture.

The pair (H. Reidi I think but am not certain) seems to have mated since the males breeding pouch get bigger daily. I want to try and raise this batch and am wondering how important is decapsulating brine shrimp. I was going to try selco enriched newly hatched shrimp but am open to other suggestions.

 

[Samala]

There is a rumor going about that decapping the eggs decreases the incidence of hydroids in fry and dwarf SH tanks. Since hydroids are a big problem if they get into your nursery I would really decap the eggs. The other big positive thing about decapped eggs is they are loads easier to hatch, less messy, less risk of getting the shells into the nursery and in the end just less waste to clean up in the fry tank. You can even get them decapped and all ready to hatch from breeders now, Dan at seahorsesource.com has them, worth it.

In addition to selco you might also want to invest in phyto (bottled or cultures, depending on your tastes and time budget) and frozen cyclopeeze.

I think reidi are pretty small at birth and do not hitch for the first few days/weeks. Most people raise them in kreisel (sp?) type nurseries.. circular (mod'd goldfish bowl) with circular flow to keep the fry suspended and off the bottom.. their food too.

Seahorse.org is a good source for info on raising fry, its a big job and you'll need all the info you can get. Also see the FAQ thread here, and the Breeders forum should also be a big help as you work with the first batch of fry.

PS: the Chaetomorpha fence/screen sounds really cool. A really great idea!

>Sarah

 

[bunsenburner]

Thanks for your help Sarah!

 

[bunsenburner]

Sarah,
I am willing to spend some cash to maximize my chances and am working on getting a seahorse.org account. I've cultured pods in the past but after a few months lost them, probably due to too much f1 media.

So far I need
frozen cyclopeeze (aleady in the freezer)
round bowl for circluar current
decapsualted brine shrimp eggs (I may try decapping myself in the lab as well)

Dose anybody want to suggest other fry foods. Whats the best phyto. Will rotifers be better for the first few days? Are pther zooplankton reccomended?

Didn't really expect this to happen so fast so haven''t done as much research as I would like. Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Swanwillow]

since they are reidi, they are too small at birth for bbs... need a rotifer culture for the first -week (I think its a week? maybe less?)

I bet other zooplankton would work!!! I don't know much else, and won't unless I decide to let my poor baby kuda live... I have a jawfish and a blenny for when they have babies: I can't even hatch out brine!!!

 

[vwluv10338]

Here is a link for a rotifer culture kit.

http://www.aquaculturestore.com/info/rotifer.html

Eric

 

[Swanwillow]

thanks for that link-I bookmarked it

 

[bunsenburner]

Day 10, 18 left. 1 day old enriched brine will be mixed with newly hatced this evening.