H. Reidi. Fry

[pamlee78]

My male has delivered 30 or so fry. His and my first. I wasn't trying to breed but they did. I know they are difficult to raise, so I placed half of them in another 40 gal pod tank that I get my own supply of pods for my pair. They also love frozen mysis.
I wonder if the fry will eat very minute sized copepods? There are copious amounts of pods all over both tanks.
Also how long after the live birth should I think about rinsing the males pouch out? I read you should do this.
Thanks

ps. I will be sad if they don't make it, but better prepared next time now that I know they will produce live broods.

 

[rayjay]

First of all, you ONLY rinse the pouch if the seahorse has pouch emphysema. You DON'T rinse between fry batches.
Also, the mating will many times happen very shortly after he birthing so if you were to flush, you could be flushing away newly deposited eggs.
Yes, the fry will eat copepods, but you probably won't have enough density of those copepods for feeding as they consume a lot for each fry.
For rearing, there have been a lot of varioius ways to rear reidi fry and hobbyists have experience varying degrees of success.
I think most attempts have been using a kreisel of one form or another, and some have succeeded using just a tank. I failed 9 times before I found a way that worked for me, and that was to use 4 litre jars (pickle) that I had accumulated.
I use the greenwater method, putting enough phyto in the jars to colour the water light green, (not just a faint green) feed with rotifers for the first two weeks, and I do a complete water change every two days, replacing the rots and phyto at that time.
After two weeks, I put hitching material in, and start feeding both rots and bbs together for another two weeks.
After the month has gone by I stop feeding rots.
These are some of the jars before the phyto is added.

This is after adding phyto. The pic is misleading because of light placement that shades all but the one on the right with the light next to it, but they all have the same amount of phyto in them.

 

[Peka]

I use as different set up than Ray. I use a homemade kreisil in a 10 or 20 gallon tank with a sponge filter, HOB filter and a UV if it is not being used on my other baby seahorse tanks.

I feed rots for the first 3 days and then I start them on baby brine. Anyone without a pink belly at this point gets culled to give the others a better chance at survival.

The most important thing to remember is do what works for you. Not every system works the same for every individual..

Good Luck with the babies....