H.Erectus "pregnant" for too long...

[FinzAquatics]

Hey Guys,

So what I have been thinking is a pregnant male seahorse still has not given birth after 26 days.. From everything I have been reading, he should have popped around the 19day mark..

Is this normal? Can their first birth take longer than the 19 days?

OR

Is something else wrong? Illness

Let me know your thoughts

Thanks

 

[rayjay]

Sorry but I've never experienced that.
I've had males that inflate their pouches to show the females they are ready, and a few are almost always inflated but they do go down sometimes, and then inflate again. That infuriates me as it keeps me in suspense too long.
I have a young male now (5 1/2 months) that is ALWAYS doing the mating dance with another male, not the female, even with both of them changing their colours, and the one is probably inflated about 3/4 of the time.

 

[redhorse]

Do you know if it is Southern Erectus or Northern Erectus?
Northern can take up to 30 days and the babies (fry) will not hitch for about 20to 30 days after birth.
Most we see on here are the Southern Species but both are available at the LFS.

DID you see the actual egg transfer or are you assuming he is pregs due to size?

 

[FinzAquatics]

I was assuming due to size, so I may be incorrect.

As far as which species, I am assuming southern but not 100%. It is an ORA captive bred Erectus "Black Line"

 

[rayjay]

If the pouch remains inflated, and if the seahorse begins to float tail up, or if it seems to not be able to get off the bottom, then there is a problem and it will have to be treated imediately.
Other than that, I can't think of any reason to worry at this time.

 

[FinzAquatics]

There is no floating what so ever. The activity level of this guy is normal as can be.. Eats like a champ. Chasing around the other seahorses regularly.

 

[redhorse]

can you post a few pics?
Does he continue to court? This is important because, most (not all) most males will stop courting until the fry are born.

 

[FinzAquatics]

He definitely still flirts with the females regularly in the early parts of the day. I have been unable to identify a specific female though.. Hes kind of a ladies man..

The second half of the day he tends to mind his own and goes to a gorgonian and waits to be fed.

 

[redhorse]

Sometimes male inflate their pouches during courting and they just don't deflate. From the behavior it seems he might not be pregnant but that is JMO.
The Black lined from ORA did at one time have a mix of Southern and Northern mixed in their breeding line. (sent them email yesterday asking)
So-----growth rate and other traits can show up every now and then.
Pics?

 

[FinzAquatics]

Here is the best picture I could get of him today

 

[redhorse]

Nice looking pony...

 

[FinzAquatics]

He does look like a pregnant male though right?

 

[redhorse]

here is one of mine.

 

[rayjay]

Finz, it's hard to tell from that picture but it's not a good sign for birthing when it's been so long.
If it had been pregnant for a long time I would have expected it to be much larger pouch after 2 weeks even.
Pregnant Male Erectus
All you could do at this point is to "candle" it.
Hold it up to an extremely bright light and see if you can see any fry in the pouch.

 

[FinzAquatics]

Yeah, im going to try n use a flashlight later today. Thanks

 

[rayjay]

A regular flashlight didn't work for me so I used a 3M candlepower lantern.

 

[FinzAquatics]

Update:

Seems that he was not pregnant. His pouch has finally deflated.

 

[vlangel]

Update:

Seems that he was not pregnant. His pouch has finally deflated.

Sorry that you won't be raising babies, but it sounds like he is interested and perhaps he will get pregnant in the future.