Dwarfs arrived!

[Franco724]

I received my "herd" of six dwarf seahorses today from ccritters. I drip acclimated for about two hours and they are now in the tank. It appears i received two males and 4 females.

I plan to pick up some Prazipro to enrich the brine and "deworm" the horses this weekend.

Out of the six horses received 4 of them are already eating vigorously, though as for the other two - I haven't seen them snick up a single BBS. Could it be because they are new and still stressed? Or is something already wrong?

Excuse the blurry photos:

 

[ThunderTang]

They probably are stressed out, I'd say maybe give them a day to chill.

 

[charleneatkins]

they look AWESOME:bounce1:
can you forward me the site so I can check it out.
I have 2 females now, Just got 1 in June, then July
Waiting for male.
Never thought I would have them and have fell in LUV

 

[asianer]

Very nice, what is your tank setup?

 

[Burke]

Sweet. Good luck with them. Yes, please share more about your setup.

 

[Franco724]

The tank is a standard 5gal aquarium picked up at my local walmart. It's ran with a Aquaclear [i think] HOB filter with the intake covered by mesh and a Coralife 10W 50/50 Mini for lighting. I'm still working out a good light/feeding schedule but the horses are fed live baby brine three times a day ...

Here are a few updated shots just before lights out.

 

[Burke]

Very cool setup. What kind of shrimp is that? Anything else in the tank?

 

[Franco724]

That's a sexy shrimp. The current tank inhabitants include 2 nerite snails, a pair of sexy shrimp, and the six horses.

 

[Jeremy Snyder]

Is that fake yellow coral?

 

[Franco724]

Is that fake yellow coral?

Nope. That's a real yellow finger gorgonia.

I've also found two babies in the tank ... though the male is still looking super pregnant. Maybe more tomorrow?

 

[Burke]

Sweet. How many babies do dwarfs have?

 

[Franco724]

Sweet. How many babies do dwarfs have?

Just two so far, at least that I have noticed. The male still seems very pregnant so he may have a few more to surprise me with.

 

[clowns101]

I would say no more than 12-15 babies if that.Mabey more if wild.

 

[Franco724]

These are indeed Wild Caught. And this morning it appears he has released three more, bringing it to a total of 5 babies. Even after those he still looks very gravid!

 

[Franco724]

Well no more babies from that male, how do I know? I just witnessed an egg transfer! I'm quite shocked, the male just had babies last night and performed a successful egg transfer just 20 minutes ago. Is it clinically possible for these things to be THAT horny?! :fun5:

I should probably start cycling another 10gal at this rate ... huh?

 

[timinnl]

Well no more babies from that male, how do I know? I just witnessed an egg transfer! I'm quite shocked, the male just had babies last night and performed a successful egg transfer just 20 minutes ago. Is it clinically possible for these things to be THAT horny?! :fun5:

I should probably start cycling another 10gal at this rate ... huh?

Do the math: 6 + 5 = 11, in two week + 5 = 16 maybe again or another male gives birth (5 + 5) =26. LOL! Also if the male is young still, with each birth the litter with increase. I have one male started with 5 -6 fry and now he is delivering 14 at last count.

In three/four months time add the first batch into it.

tim

 

[small alien]

Please forgive me, I may be wrong, but it looks like your yellow gorg is starting to get some algae growing on it. IME, you will not be able to feed it adequately and maintain water quality in that small of a tank. How long have you had the gorg? You might want to find another home for it. Or maybe you'll tell me you've had it for 5 years and then I'll say, "good for you!".

 

[craigshup]

Just wondering, what do you feed the baby dwarfs with them so small?
are the baby dwarfs much smaller then say H. erectus?
by the way, how long are those babys in your pics. just to give me an idea of size?
like 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch i have never seen a baby SH in person?
I am thinking about getting a pair of the H. erectus but I have never seen their babys either!
It would be good for us noobies if you would keep us posted how they do, good or bad
so we can kinda keep track of the WC adults and your new babies!
It is one thing to see a picture in a book or on the net but another seeing pictures of new arrivels, or new babies from someone that posts or replys here!IMO Plus we all like plenty pictures
Thanks for shareing your pictures, very nice looking SH

 

[timinnl]

Just wondering, what do you feed the baby dwarfs with them so small?
are the baby dwarfs much smaller then say H. erectus?
by the way, how long are those babys in your pics. just to give me an idea of size?
like 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch i have never seen a baby SH in person?
I am thinking about getting a pair of the H. erectus but I have never seen their babys either!
It would be good for us noobies if you would keep us posted how they do, good or bad
so we can kinda keep track of the WC adults and your new babies!
It is one thing to see a picture in a book or on the net but another seeing pictures of new arrivels, or new babies from someone that posts or replys here!IMO Plus we all like plenty pictures
Thanks for shareing your pictures, very nice looking SH

The frys will eat the same food as the adults. 1/4 inch is about right. The dwarf fry are ready for life from the get go. I can only compare them with my H. reidi. The H. reidi is slighly larger but they need a lot of attendition.

Tim

 

[AquariumBiology]

Maybe i'm too much of a naturalist, but i cringe to see plastic plants in a saltwater tank. How about photosynthetic gorgonians like hicksonella? or more branching live rock??