Help with H. Kuda babies.

[despot101]

Anyone have an experience raising these? I got a pair of H. Kuda back in early december and the male just released babies friday. I am not really interested in trying anything with this batch as it caught me off guard, but for future batches I would like to try and raise the fry.

Also as I didnt notice any mating behavior out of the pair I am not sure if the male was carrying or not when I purchased them. How long does the male generally carry the eggs before they hatch?

Thanks!

 

[rayjay]

As they were sold as kudas, they could be several different seahorses that get shipped under the kuda name.
Most would have a gestation period of 14 to 17 days so it was not pregnant when you bought it in early December.
They produce pelagic fry that don't hitch for about 2 weeks and are more difficult to raise than benthic fry that do hitch at birth.
Most likely you will have to start with enriched rotifers followed by enriched rotifers and enriched ongrown brine shrimp nauplii and then to just enriched brine shrimp as they grow larger.
H. reidi are similar and my page on that can be viewed at:
Raising Reidi Fry
There are many ways to succeed but it takes some experimenting to find out what way works best for you.

 

[despot101]

Thanks for the info. I got them through ORA so I would assume they are correctly labeled kuda??

Here's a couple pics I took after collecting the fry.

 

[lowscooby76]

how many little one you have? they look just as cool as the big ones.

 

[despot101]

First batch had about 80 babies. Lost them all by day 5.

However my male released another batch today. Very small batch only around 20 or so. Seems strange as it is only 15 days after the first batch. Is this normal to be so close together?

Pulled them out again, and have bbs setup to hatch. First attempt I think the eggs were bad as I couldnt get any to hatch. Hopefully I'll have better luck this time. Plan on at least trying with bbs first as I have ready that it CAN be sucessful with Kuda's. If that doesnt work I know a few people with rotifer cultures.

 

[mtc1966]

seems like you received a good breeding pair, good luck with the future fry.

 

[rayjay]

BBS as a first food only works when you have kuda fry that are on the larger side.

 

[despot101]

Guess I won't know if mine are on the larger side until I feed them tomorrow morning.

If not I'll start culturing rots. I know a couple people in the area that have cultures going now.

 

[Peka]

Seems strange as it is only 15 days after the first batch. Is this normal to be so close together?

Nah, that's not strange at all.... seahorses, once they start breeding, can have babies that often. A lot of times, the male is preggo hours after he gives birth. The gestation period is 14-18 days depending on the seahorse.

 

[despot101]

Got my rotifer cultures up and running, got everything setup to better hatch bbs as well. I'd also like to get a culture running of tigger pods here pretty soon. My male released babies again on saturday, I've been feeding rotifers. Rotifers seem to be doing the trick as you suggested rayjay. Have probably about half the batch left now.

 

[TS85]

Those babies are the cutest things I've ever seen! I hope you become successful with this.

 

[charleneatkins]

wish best of luck

 

[despot101]

Just wanted to share an update.
I have 2 babies that are currently about 7 weeks old and a new batch from tuesday this week of around 70 or so that I am feeding rots.

The older pair are still just feeding on newly hatched bbs.

 

[mtc1966]

nice not bad at all for first try. just speaking from what i have read on these posts.