Helping with breeding.

[jck16]

So I've had my horses for almost 3 months now. Overall the female is doing great. The male still likes to sit in the dark areas in the back when the lights come on which makes target feeding him difficult at times but he does get enough to eat.

I want to breed them, but I don't feel like the female is interested in the male (he's kinda got a weird deformity where his mouth is sort of tilted, maybe from inbreeding). I've observed them doing the mating dance a couple of times and I've seen the male show off by inflating his pouch around her but no actual transfer of eggs occurs.

Is there something that will help encourage them? Should I try adding in another female or even another pair? Or should I just be patient?

 

[kudagirl]

Help With Breeding

Help With Breeding

HI JCK16,
Just be patient, they will mate when they are ready and not before

 

[mtc1966]

i have the same thing going on 1 male 3 females . seen him puff up and dance and entwine with a female but no babies yet. sounds like we just need to be patient .

 

[jck16]

But I want instant gratification NOW

So I guess the strategy is the classic "put a male and female together in closed environment with nothing else to do until they get so bored that they end up doing it". I'm just wondering if there are things that might act as a catalyst (e.g. environmental factors) that can act as the equivalent of candles and Barry White?

 

[mtc1966]

i have heard a tall tank helps . but no first hand knowledge of that.

 

[timinnl]

What type of seahorse are they? What size tank are they in & the equipment you are using on the tank?

Are you set up for frys yet? Lastly be carefull what you wish for.

Tim

 

[PintoSeahorse]

I've heard it takes months or years sometimes for seahorses to feel finally comfortable enough to mate. Good luck :/

 

[jck16]

They're H. barbouri in a 30gal extra high tank. I have a skimmer, sump, refugium as equipment.

I'll worry about fry when I see that the male is pregnant...seems premature to prepare if they're not ready yet.

 

[timinnl]

They're H. barbouri in a 30gal extra high tank. I have a skimmer, sump, refugium as equipment.

I'll worry about fry when I see that the male is pregnant...seems premature to prepare if they're not ready yet.

Do you have everything in place then or will you be playing catch up to get things ready?

If you would like them to breed, you need to condition them. Also the first few batches might not be viable long term with new pairs.

Kind Regards,

Tim

 

[jck16]

I guess I'll be playing catch up then? I think I'll have enough time to get everything I need until then although I should put a bag of crushed coral in my sump to prepare a biological filter for the rearing tank.

By conditioning the seahorses what do you mean?

 

[Clownfishfan]

Conditioning means to feed them a lot so they can actually produce eggs.

How long have you had them?

 

[Clownfishfan]

Double post

 

[kudagirl]

Hi JCK16
If i were you i would tack note of what Tim tells you, luckerly for me i had a false alarm with one of my sh and was i glad,to make the bbs takes time and is not as simple as you think and without my husband the babies would have died. So if i were you dont playcatch up, i would listen to what you are being advised by people who have been doing this for a while.
Sue

 

[jck16]

I've had my horses for only 3 months, so I should probably keep watching and be patient. If conditioning means increasing the number of feedings then yes, I've been doing that. If it means introducing a more varied diet then no, I've been slacking off on that (pretty much it's alternating between PE mysis and Hikari mysis although I'll probably restart enriched live brine shrimp this week).

To be fair, timinnl only asked me if I'd be playing catch up, not really advising me against that. In fact, if the first few batches aren't usually viable, I may just use the first batch as an indication to be prepared next time (and as a positive sign that breeding is feasible). Regardless though, I agree that it's better to have all the equipment on hand including for bbs culture.

 

[rayjay]

The best enrichment you can use for the live foods you feed the seahorses is Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com

 

[timinnl]

I guess I'll be playing catch up then? I think I'll have enough time to get everything I need until then although I should put a bag of crushed coral in my sump to prepare a biological filter for the rearing tank.

By conditioning the seahorses what do you mean?

Better to raise the frys in a bare bottom tank and use a sponge filter. The gravel in a nursery set up quickly becomes a breeding ground for both the good & bad bacteria.

Also the barbs have a very spotty record of reproducing in a timely manner. They seen to have a certain time of the year where they are most likely to bred. They also have smaller numbers of frys compare to the other seahorses their size.

I would do a search on here with the keyword barbouri and read up on the past thread for more info on them.

By conditioning, I meant to increase the amount of feeding, adding live mysis, enriched adult artemia and ghost shrimp to their diet. Also consider using a probiotic also.

If you haven't hatched or raise artemia yet, now is a good time to practice. Ray has a very good link into how he raises them.

Kind Regards,

Tim

 

[jck16]

I'm actually in the works to start a copepod culture in preparation instead of bbs; it will at least benefit my mandarin too.

I know that barbouri fry are benthic, but I had no idea that they would produce so few fry and would take longer to mature. I guess I'll just have to prepare in the meantime. Maybe my recent temperature spike due to finding out my chiller is underpowered for the hot weather might act as a stimulus?

I'm starting to feed enriched live brine shrimp again (I feed them a freeze dried zooplankton/phytoplankton powder) and ordered some feeder shrimp.