H Reidi
- Thread starter MM WI
- Start date
MM WI
New member
Thank you, I think I moved them ahead too quickly, the ones i still have from my first batch have grown nicely and look good but my survival precentage is not good, I started losing some every day after 7 days when I cut the rots because they seemed to be eating the bbs so well. Nice orange bellies but that is where I started losing some every day. I have a second batch going, I will leave them on the rots longer. - Mark
I doubt that the losses are all due to the food change. Some of the fry, usually the larger ones, will eat bbs sooner than most.
H. reidi and others that produce pelagic fry are VERY difficult to raise.
For me it was worse than many others as it was the tenth batch before I finally succeeded.
Over the years now, I've much more experience but still can have big failures.
First, health of the parents has a lot to do with producing viable fry IMO.
I've also found first batches of fry from juveniles are much more difficult than those of a mature adult seahorse IME.
As mentioned, the pelagic fry are smaller and much harder to raise than benthic fry like H. erectus.
I try to keep the food density in the fry containers, extremely high, and removing the uneaten food before the next feeding so that they are only feeding on well enriched nauplii.
H. reidi and others that produce pelagic fry are VERY difficult to raise.
For me it was worse than many others as it was the tenth batch before I finally succeeded.
Over the years now, I've much more experience but still can have big failures.
First, health of the parents has a lot to do with producing viable fry IMO.
I've also found first batches of fry from juveniles are much more difficult than those of a mature adult seahorse IME.
As mentioned, the pelagic fry are smaller and much harder to raise than benthic fry like H. erectus.
I try to keep the food density in the fry containers, extremely high, and removing the uneaten food before the next feeding so that they are only feeding on well enriched nauplii.
ThRoewer
New member
I had the same problem with reidi. They would eat artemia nauplii but were unable to digest them. I watched them eat and could see how the nauplii passed in about a minute or two through the baby seahorses digastric tract. When it came out on the other end of the seahorse baby it was stunned for a seconds or two but then started swimming away - it was frustrating to watch because I didn't have enough rotifers at that time and my seahorse babys were wasting energy on something they couldn't digest.
IMO, the reason the fry pass live nauplii through their system is because the food has been left in with them for too long. When they keep eating and the food is passed through before it can be processed they end up with no nutrition from the feeding.
Find a way to remove the food from the fry container after a suitable feeding time period and you stop this problem.
I've not been able to solve the problem in the rotifer stage but then I've never seen rots pass through them like brine nauplii. Maybe just too small to see though.
For brine nauplii I have a mini-filter I place in a larger mesh that allows the brine nauplii to get through but not the fry. It is hooked to a timer so that I turn it off when feeding and about 45 minutes later it comes on and removed most of the nauplii.
In my early years when I was using just 4L glass jars I would use a siphon tube placed in the mesh to remove most of the water and nauplii and then pour the water back into the jar through a 53 micron mesh, capturing the nauplii.
Find a way to remove the food from the fry container after a suitable feeding time period and you stop this problem.
I've not been able to solve the problem in the rotifer stage but then I've never seen rots pass through them like brine nauplii. Maybe just too small to see though.
For brine nauplii I have a mini-filter I place in a larger mesh that allows the brine nauplii to get through but not the fry. It is hooked to a timer so that I turn it off when feeding and about 45 minutes later it comes on and removed most of the nauplii.
In my early years when I was using just 4L glass jars I would use a siphon tube placed in the mesh to remove most of the water and nauplii and then pour the water back into the jar through a 53 micron mesh, capturing the nauplii.
MM WI
New member
Well it did seem to be the larger faster growing ones that i still have. They are hitching already, maybe three weeks. Is that on pace? I have another batch going I am going to leave them on the rots longer, they were born Sunday morning.
rayray, how do you remove uneaten bbs? I have that concern as when I add fresh there are always old depleted ones in the tank. Are you filtering them out? Also I am sure you are right about health of the parents. I believe mine are having large healthy fry. After all of the reading about how hard they are to raise i was expecting much smaller fry at birth.
rayray, how do you remove uneaten bbs? I have that concern as when I add fresh there are always old depleted ones in the tank. Are you filtering them out? Also I am sure you are right about health of the parents. I believe mine are having large healthy fry. After all of the reading about how hard they are to raise i was expecting much smaller fry at birth.
I described my removal method in post #8.
I'm not sure why you are feeding just live food as I would only use enriched live food once or twice a week for adults.
Are you enriching the copepods and ghost shrimp, especially with a high DHA product?
I usually see the fry start hitching in the two week range with some sooner and others much later.
How large are the parents? Even large parents though produce smaller fry than those of most benthic fry like erectus and barbouri.
IME, early batches produced by younger seahorses don't work out as being as viable as those produced by older larger seahorses.
I'm not sure why you are feeding just live food as I would only use enriched live food once or twice a week for adults.
Are you enriching the copepods and ghost shrimp, especially with a high DHA product?
I usually see the fry start hitching in the two week range with some sooner and others much later.
How large are the parents? Even large parents though produce smaller fry than those of most benthic fry like erectus and barbouri.
IME, early batches produced by younger seahorses don't work out as being as viable as those produced by older larger seahorses.
MM WI
New member
The parents are over six inches, wild caught orange with purple saddle markings. They really look great compared to what they looked like when I got them. They looked healthy when they arrived but their colors were not as brght when they arrived. They occassionally take frozen mysis or a small freshly thawed raw shrimp but normally turn it down. I put a few hundred large pods in the tank every week and feed them ghost shrimp nearly everyday. I enrich everything except likely the ghost shrimp. I add various foods to their tank but am not sure what they eat or what they benefit from the most.
MM WI
New member
Just an update. With these adjustments the second batch is doing much better. I put about 200 in a rearing system almost two weeks ago, Sunday will be two weaks, and there are still about 150 in there with only a few dying each day, less than five a day. Since week one I make sure there are a few bbs in there also. I am guessing that this will have their digestive system ready for them when I start to switch over.
- mark
- mark
DanU
New member
120 to 125 micron mesh works well too for catching the artemia and it doesn't clog up as quick as 53 micron mesh.
We use an overflow with 670 micron mesh which is large enough for the artemia to pass through but not the fry. At night we turn up the flow some and it flushes out to the sump where we have a 100 micron sock to catch the artemia.
Adding a small handful of live mysids to the larval tank will also help remove some of the uneaten artemia. You will also notice the bottom much cleaner with them in the tank. Their nauplii provides another food source. Populations usually grow quickly in larval tanks until the fry get large enough to eat the adult mysids at which point it is time to start frozen mysis training.
Dan
We use an overflow with 670 micron mesh which is large enough for the artemia to pass through but not the fry. At night we turn up the flow some and it flushes out to the sump where we have a 100 micron sock to catch the artemia.
Adding a small handful of live mysids to the larval tank will also help remove some of the uneaten artemia. You will also notice the bottom much cleaner with them in the tank. Their nauplii provides another food source. Populations usually grow quickly in larval tanks until the fry get large enough to eat the adult mysids at which point it is time to start frozen mysis training.
Dan
MM WI
New member
Dan you must have a source for different mesh screens? that you can cut to what ever size you need? I found one source with a quick web search but their page is not behaviing well. Do you have a good source with aquaculture supplies that sells the mesh sieve by the sheet?
- Mark
- Mark
DanU
New member
Pentair Aquatic Eco Systems is one source. http://pentairaes.com/nylon-screening.html
Nylon screen is more durable than polyester. Also Florida Aqua Farms use to carry screens as well.
Dan
Nylon screen is more durable than polyester. Also Florida Aqua Farms use to carry screens as well.
Dan
