How long does it take for the male to "show" that he has babies in the brood sack?

[RedAnt78]

How long does it take for the male to "show" that he has babies in the brood sack?

My male started having a bulge like there's a pea in the top area of the brood sack a few days ago, now that's still there and the brood sack looks like it might be filling out some, but it's hard to tell. It's a lined seahorse if that helps. Just wondering if I should be expecting any babies. If so I need to hurry up and start culturing some rotifers and brine! Where would you suggest getting rotifers from?
Thanks for any info!

 

[vlangel]

Hi RedAnt, my lined seahorse just had babies 3 days ago. He carried the babies for 19 days if that is any help. I hear that can vary according to temperature and other factors. My tank runs 71-74 degrees. I began my culture for bb the evening of day 17 of his pregnancy. If the bb is enriched I heard that you don't need rotifer. I have gotten rotifer from Mariculture Reed in the past but they always crashed eventually so I am going to try without roti.

 

[RedAnt78]

Cool, are you having any issues with feeding baby brine that are like a day old? I read that their shell becomes hard and can cause impaction to the baby seahorses. I don't know if that would include lined seahorses though

 

[rayjay]

For your fry, just hatch out the brine shrimp nauplii from decapped cysts, grow them out for a day until they reach the second Instar stage where they can begin feeding, and then enrich them for two 12 hour sessions with new water and new enrichment for each 12 hour stage.
Treat for 5 minutes with peroxide and then feed them to the fry.
They fry initially will have no problems eating 3 to 4 day old nauplii, and as the fry grow, older nauplii work even better.

 

[vlangel]

For your fry, just hatch out the brine shrimp nauplii from decapped cysts, grow them out for a day until they reach the second Instar stage where they can begin feeding, and then enrich them for two 12 hour sessions with new water and new enrichment for each 12 hour stage.
Treat for 5 minutes with peroxide and then feed them to the fry.
They fry initially will have no problems eating 3 to 4 day old nauplii, and as the fry grow, older nauplii work even better.

Thank you for the advise. How do you treat with peroxide?

 

[redhorse]

Redant78---can you post a pic? Were your pair dancing and did you see the egg transfer? Usually the eggs just fill up the pouch and later the pouch get bigger before birth.

 

[rayjay]

Thank you for the advise. How do you treat with peroxide?

I know it is posted on seahorse.org but the search feature wasn't working just now.
It is also posted on MOFIB at http://www.marinebreeder.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=144&t=6664
I think Dan uses it only after hatchout, but I use it for every time I feed brine of any age to the seahorses of any age.

 

[vlangel]

I know it is posted on seahorse.org but the search feature wasn't working just now.
It is also posted on MOFIB at http://www.marinebreeder.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=144&t=6664
I think Dan uses it only after hatchout, but I use it for every time I feed brine of any age to the seahorses of any age.

Thank you very much! That was extremely informative. Makes me a little leary of utilizing an 'in tank' nursery where I could introduce bacteria to my adults, although I do have a UV on the adult tank. Maybe I will move the nursery to my QT.

 

[rayjay]

It is VERY important to take care of nasty bacteria in any fry tank. That means even cleaning the glass surfaces and any hitching/decor/equipment in the tank to remove the bacterial slime that develops.
I scrub all surfaces every 48 hours, letting any particulate matter that will settle for an hour so I can siphon it out and do a water change.
Even then it sometimes isn't enough to save a batch.
I envy those with high success rearing skills.

 

[vlangel]

It is VERY important to take care of nasty bacteria in any fry tank. That means even cleaning the glass surfaces and any hitching/decor/equipment in the tank to remove the bacterial slime that develops.
I scrub all surfaces every 48 hours, letting any particulate matter that will settle for an hour so I can siphon it out and do a water change.
Even then it sometimes isn't enough to save a batch.
I envy those with high success rearing skills.

Yes, I had read a post that you wrote awhile back about that, so I have been diligently siphoning the bottom of the nursery multiple times a day, wiping the the sides at least once a day and taking the plastic plant out and replacing it with a bleached one every several days to try and ward off bacteria. I also use sanoIife mic-F in the system water. I know that there are no sure methods though and batches are lost, and that is even more likely with me being a novice. All I can do is my best and learn through experience as much as I can, right? I definitely appreciate the advise, thank you.

 

[RedAnt78]

Wow thanks guys! I'll try to get a pic, but I've been having trouble getting a good one. I might be putting them in a bigger tank in the next few days depending on how quickly I can get it drilled. Maybe I can get better pics in that tank

 

[Gandolfe]

My orange male and yellow female were doing the mating dance today! he kept attacking her and I could see his pouch visually opening and then closing as they separated. I tried to get some video but it's hard. I took a couple 90 second videos and I will try to post them later. they are both wild-caught but I've had her since july and him since aug, they are both eating frozen spirulina brine and whatever pods they catch in my 40 gallon macro tank. I mix 3 cubes of frozen spirulina brine, with a 3/4 thick cube of mini-mysis and a cube of Cyclops and feed them twice a day from this and also twice a day with live brine

 

[Gandolfe]

I'm thinking of donating the fry to a local breeder who raises tank raised sea horses about 45 minutes from me in lieu that they'll be able to save most of the fry and rear them to adults. Hopefully they'll let me have a male and female in return for the profit they'll make if the fry mature to adults or at least adolescents. I figure they'll have a better chance of keeping the fry alive then I will...providing my male is pregnant of course

 

[RedAnt78]

Very cool! That's like how mine were doin the other week, he'd open his brood sack enough to where even I could see inside it for a sec!

 

[RedAnt78]

Ok so his brood sack does look a little more full today. I'm guessing g I'm around day 10. So at day 14 I'll start looking out for babies, my question is, will he expel them in the morning or after lights off? Just trying to figure out if I should turn the tank pump off before I leave for work.
Thanks!

 

[redhorse]

That is an excellent question.
I have had them give birth before daylight and morning time.
In other forums I have read where they gave birth in the afternoon and evening.
Many will put the preg daddy in a birthing tank so babies don't get sucked down filters.
Any pics yet?

 

[vlangel]

Ok so his brood sack does look a little more full today. I'm guessing g I'm around day 10. So at day 14 I'll start looking out for babies, my question is, will he expel them in the morning or after lights off? Just trying to figure out if I should turn the tank pump off before I leave for work.
Thanks!

Mine were born at 8:30am.

 

[RedAnt78]

Ok cool, I should be moving them on Mon if everything goes well. Maybe I'll put him in the hatchery tank at that time and I should be able to get some good pics in there. Should I do any type of dip to him before I put him in?
Thanks again for the help guys!

 

[RedAnt78]

Here is my new setup for the seahorses. It's a 30 high and plumbed to the clownfish breeding setup. I put the male in the nursery tank for now so he's not in the 30 at this time. I'll put him in it once the babies are born.
One problem is that I noticed that he seems more buoyant than usual so I'm worried he might have some gas in his pouch. I'm gonna monitor for another week and if he doesn't put out any babies then I'll try to expel the gas. He's still eating great so that's good.

 

[RedAnt78]

Well it ended up being internal gas bubble disease. I "burped" him last night and he seems to be doing well so far. Eating a bunch and active. Hopefully he'll continue to do well, now that I have them in their new setup I'll be able to keep the water quality a lot better!