How would I know if my seahorse is pragnant
- Thread starter Allmost
- Start date
Mr. Walden
New member
The pouch gets stretched pretty tight when they are pregnant.
Allmost
New member
thanks for the pic
here is a pic of mine, this is the emptiest its pouch looks, sometimes it would look bigger sometimes this size. no Idea if something wrong or maybe at early stages of eggs or ...
and you cna see my stupid mistake of adding macro algae to the seahorse tank and now struggling to get rid of it, lol almost there, needs another week or so
here is a pic of mine, this is the emptiest its pouch looks, sometimes it would look bigger sometimes this size. no Idea if something wrong or maybe at early stages of eggs or ...
and you cna see my stupid mistake of adding macro algae to the seahorse tank and now struggling to get rid of it, lol almost there, needs another week or so
PghFishNerd
New member
Yeah, if the pouch varies in size from day to day or hour to hour, it's a good indication of a courtship ritual where the horse inflates his pouch to show potential mates that his pouch is ready and fully capable of carrying babies. If he was actually pregnant, the pouch would only increase in size, never decrease until he actually gave birth. If he is inflating his pouch however, it means that he very well may be trying to get preggers, so keep your eye open for other signs of courtship, such as brightening colors and dancing.
Mr. Walden
New member
But it's worth it.
Allmost
New member
But it's worth it.
Wow, thats nice !
so from ppl with more experience, from the pic I posted, would u say the seahorse is healthy ? might be ready to get pregg ? ..
any links on how I should prepare for it ?
I might turn my 65G FOWLR into a seahorse tank if these guys have babies
lol
The Reef Expert
New member
The male seahorse will be brightly colored when he is ready to mate.
Allmost
New member
well seems like he was
I woke up this morning to ALOT of seahorses lol
hoping I Can raise them, lol, researching and setting up brine shrimp hatcheries now lol
so will they keep doing it like every month ? or is this my only chance to raise them ?
Allmost
New member
this is my pregnant male reidi
and this is 3 month old fry
nice !
post some info on your nursery and ... if you can.
i raise my fry in a 16lt tank,i have the back and sides blacked out .i have a single airline running in the tank and a 25 watt heater,with barbi i put small saltwater safe plants as they hitch from birth,with reidi i keep the tank bare,i also have a sm light which i have at the front of the tank shining on the bottom half.
i keep the tank empty untill the fry are born ,as soon as they arrive i take water from the fathers tank and put about 3 " in.i then scoop the babies out of the main tank either using a small beaker or a turkry baster.for the first 3 days i use water from dads tank to do water changes.after which i use fresh saltwater.on day 1 when using new water i do an 75% water change ,on day 2 i do a 25% water change then day 3 a 50% one ,then start again with a 75% and so on.it is important to get rid of all the pieces on the bottom of the tank and remove any dead fry.it also helps to have a sachet of purigen in the tank.
i feed my fry on baby brine which i hatch myself ,i use sanfransico bay strain as it is smaller then conventional and has a high hatch rate.i put on 3 different hatchings a day ,and start to harvest them after 18 hrs and keep them with an airline for upto 30hrs to achieve max hatch rate.if you take the baby brine and put it in a shallow dish and refridgerate it will keep its nutricional value for 12 hrs,the babies are fed with a pipette 4 to 5 times a day,i try and remove as much of the old brine before adding new i try and keep it so there is never less then 1 brine 3mms far from the fry..i enrich the bb i put in the fridge with hufa to enrich it.
when the fry get to two weeks its best to start introducing frozen food,i add minced up mysis and cyclops in with the bb,i leave it in the tank for approx half an hour then remove.i have another tank into which i place any fry that starts to eat mysis ,once i introduce frozen food i add a sponge filter to the tank but still carry on with the daily water changes also at this age add hitches for pelthic fry.
once the fry are eating frozen food they go into a larger tank which has a sponge filter and normally has about 25 litres of water in .again i do daily water changes of at least 50% aday.once the babies are large enough i introduce an internal filter ,when the babies become 2 months old i start to transfer the larger ones that are actively chasing their food into the adult tank to grow on
i keep the tank empty untill the fry are born ,as soon as they arrive i take water from the fathers tank and put about 3 " in.i then scoop the babies out of the main tank either using a small beaker or a turkry baster.for the first 3 days i use water from dads tank to do water changes.after which i use fresh saltwater.on day 1 when using new water i do an 75% water change ,on day 2 i do a 25% water change then day 3 a 50% one ,then start again with a 75% and so on.it is important to get rid of all the pieces on the bottom of the tank and remove any dead fry.it also helps to have a sachet of purigen in the tank.
i feed my fry on baby brine which i hatch myself ,i use sanfransico bay strain as it is smaller then conventional and has a high hatch rate.i put on 3 different hatchings a day ,and start to harvest them after 18 hrs and keep them with an airline for upto 30hrs to achieve max hatch rate.if you take the baby brine and put it in a shallow dish and refridgerate it will keep its nutricional value for 12 hrs,the babies are fed with a pipette 4 to 5 times a day,i try and remove as much of the old brine before adding new i try and keep it so there is never less then 1 brine 3mms far from the fry..i enrich the bb i put in the fridge with hufa to enrich it.
when the fry get to two weeks its best to start introducing frozen food,i add minced up mysis and cyclops in with the bb,i leave it in the tank for approx half an hour then remove.i have another tank into which i place any fry that starts to eat mysis ,once i introduce frozen food i add a sponge filter to the tank but still carry on with the daily water changes also at this age add hitches for pelthic fry.
once the fry are eating frozen food they go into a larger tank which has a sponge filter and normally has about 25 litres of water in .again i do daily water changes of at least 50% aday.once the babies are large enough i introduce an internal filter ,when the babies become 2 months old i start to transfer the larger ones that are actively chasing their food into the adult tank to grow on
Lucycat, the brine will not enrich in the refrigerator as their metabolism slows right down and they won't feed.
To enrich, you have to put them in a container with the enrichment medium for a minimum of 12 hours, but for proper DHA levels they must be done for two consecutive 12 hour periods with new water and new enrichment for the second 12 hour period.
Enrichment MUST be done AFTER they are grown out to the Instar II stage as newborn brine have no mouth or anus.
The best enrichment available now for seahorses is available from Dan at Seahorse Source.
To enrich, you have to put them in a container with the enrichment medium for a minimum of 12 hours, but for proper DHA levels they must be done for two consecutive 12 hour periods with new water and new enrichment for the second 12 hour period.
Enrichment MUST be done AFTER they are grown out to the Instar II stage as newborn brine have no mouth or anus.
The best enrichment available now for seahorses is available from Dan at Seahorse Source.
with the sanfransico brine it does not need enrichment for up to 8 hrs if you take the brine before it gets to 4 hrs old and put it in a shallow dish and refrigerate it stops it losing its nutricional value because it stops its metabolism from using the all the goodness in the bb,for newborn reidi fry 24 hr bb is too big.i breed seahorses and sell them to shops i also have a friend who breeds reidi with an 85% success rate and this is what he told me to do .you also introduce the fry to frozen food from the word go with the aim to get them eating frozen at 2 weeks which will stop them dying of malnutrition at the 3 months mark.i have raised both reidi fry and barbouri fry with a good success rate on this regime
Unfortunately even though your friend has a high success rate, he is passing on incorrect information and his seahorses could be doing much better with better procedures.
Artemia studies have been my major study occupation for over a decade now and there is a tremendous amount of MYTHINFORMATION being passed on especially since the advent of forums on websites.
If fact, you CANNOT enrich newborn nauplii no matter what the enrichment may be.
POINT OF FACT, nauplii are rich in fatty acids and lower in protein levels, but even immediately after hatching, while EPA levels are quite high, the necessary DHA levels are VERY low.
While the fry are able to make EPA from DHA, they cannot manufacture the needed DHA so they must get it from their food.
While the fry can live in the short term without your adding DHA, the yields are most likely lower than they should be, and your fry definitely are not as healthy as they should be. You may even find you have a higher success rate by proper enrichment.
By the way, I too sell reidi to stores but that doesn't make me any better as a breeder than someone that doesn't sell theirs to stores.
If you are interested in reading a lot about brine shrimp (artemia) the single most comprehensive site for that would be on a United Nations site meant for commercial aquaculturalists with input and editing by the Artemia Reference Centre at the University of Ghent.
CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION 4.0
While at time of writing, Selco's, especially the DHA Selco were the best to gut load with, now, we have better products like the Algamac Producs producing better nutrient profiles like in the DHA, and that product is the base product in the DAN'S FEED enrichment from seahorsesource.com.
Artemia studies have been my major study occupation for over a decade now and there is a tremendous amount of MYTHINFORMATION being passed on especially since the advent of forums on websites.
If fact, you CANNOT enrich newborn nauplii no matter what the enrichment may be.
POINT OF FACT, nauplii are rich in fatty acids and lower in protein levels, but even immediately after hatching, while EPA levels are quite high, the necessary DHA levels are VERY low.
While the fry are able to make EPA from DHA, they cannot manufacture the needed DHA so they must get it from their food.
While the fry can live in the short term without your adding DHA, the yields are most likely lower than they should be, and your fry definitely are not as healthy as they should be. You may even find you have a higher success rate by proper enrichment.
By the way, I too sell reidi to stores but that doesn't make me any better as a breeder than someone that doesn't sell theirs to stores.
If you are interested in reading a lot about brine shrimp (artemia) the single most comprehensive site for that would be on a United Nations site meant for commercial aquaculturalists with input and editing by the Artemia Reference Centre at the University of Ghent.
CLICK HERE AND SCROLL DOWN TO SECTION 4.0
While at time of writing, Selco's, especially the DHA Selco were the best to gut load with, now, we have better products like the Algamac Producs producing better nutrient profiles like in the DHA, and that product is the base product in the DAN'S FEED enrichment from seahorsesource.com.
the breeder who i got the information from has been breeding and supplying the trade for the last 7 years so i will follow his advice.i am now raising 2nd gen seahorses myself.i understand that brine is low in nutrients and that is why they are fed on mysis from 2 weeks.the fry are not fed on any brine that is over 4 hours old so it is at its highest in nutricional value.as you said you cannot enrich it at this stage.i too have studied the values of the various stages of artemia development and enrichment.the sanfransico strain is the smallest type and is the highest in nutricional value.the biggest problem with selco and dha is that it degrades 1 month after opening so you need to buy a constant supply,indeed most of the time by the time it is brought it is already past its best.may i ask you what your success rate is.we too have access to data over here and i have found nothing to counter the advice i have been given.as they say seeing is believing the breeders youngsters are 5 inches at 4 months old and are full bodied and a beautiful golden yellow,i have never seen seahorses of a better caliber before or after i had seen these.so may we agree to disagree as how you do it works for you but the way i raise mine works for my breeder friend and myself and others who have followed the same regime
this is from selco own site
SELCO (self emulsified liquid concentrate) was developed by Artemia Systems in Belgium and has been the benchmark enrichment formula to the aquaculture industry since the mid-1980's. This Artemia or rotifer enrichment formula is rich in HUFA (highly unsaturated fatty acids) and is super concentrated. .3 grams (~10 drops) per liter or quart of water is sufficient for enriching hundreds of thousands of Artemia nauplii and adults as well as rotifers.
Storage and Packaging: SELCO is available in 1-kg bottles, 9-bottles per case. SELCO has a shelf life of 12-months from the date of manufacture. Product should be stored in a cool, dark and dry environment (4-15 degrees Celsius). Once opened, product should be used within a one month and stored in a refrigeration type temperatures. Do not freeze.
please note that on the bottles there is no manufacturing date so how do you know when its out of date
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While we agree to disagree, I'm concerned you are advising people of information and/or methods not scientifically supported, and indeed, not supported by the major breeders in the US.
It's fine for you to do what you want, but please do not push unsupported information on to others.
What I have stated is already stated and proven scientifically with much of that information in the link I gave you.
Can you supply me with documentation to support your claims?
It is interesting that originally you advise enrichening the bbs with huffa in the refrigerator yet in this last post you acknowledge that they cannot be enriched at this stage.
I do not use Selco type products nor do I advocate use of those products unless that is all that is available to someone until they can order in better enrichment. Originally it was because off the deterioration aspect, but now mainly because the AlgaMac products I DO use, produce superior nutrient profiles with much better storage capability.
I do agree that San Fran strain of artemia are smaller and have a bit better nutrient profile, mainly in vitamins. However the higher vitamin C profile degrades quickly on hatching as it changes from a stable form in the cyst to an unstable form once hatched.
The ammino acid part of the profile is basically the same no matter what the strain of artemia.
Fatty acid profiles also are similar and NONE have sufficient DHA for the HEALTHY needs of most fry of any species.
Protein levels are also pretty much the same range with the San Fran and the Great Salt Lakes with nauplii protein levels ranging from 41.6 to 47.2%DW.
As for size, that is not needed for the benthic fry such as your barbouri, and for pelagic fry it is again not needed when starting them out with enriched rotifers.
It's fine for you to do what you want, but please do not push unsupported information on to others.
What I have stated is already stated and proven scientifically with much of that information in the link I gave you.
Can you supply me with documentation to support your claims?
It is interesting that originally you advise enrichening the bbs with huffa in the refrigerator yet in this last post you acknowledge that they cannot be enriched at this stage.
I do not use Selco type products nor do I advocate use of those products unless that is all that is available to someone until they can order in better enrichment. Originally it was because off the deterioration aspect, but now mainly because the AlgaMac products I DO use, produce superior nutrient profiles with much better storage capability.
I do agree that San Fran strain of artemia are smaller and have a bit better nutrient profile, mainly in vitamins. However the higher vitamin C profile degrades quickly on hatching as it changes from a stable form in the cyst to an unstable form once hatched.
The ammino acid part of the profile is basically the same no matter what the strain of artemia.
Fatty acid profiles also are similar and NONE have sufficient DHA for the HEALTHY needs of most fry of any species.
Protein levels are also pretty much the same range with the San Fran and the Great Salt Lakes with nauplii protein levels ranging from 41.6 to 47.2%DW.
As for size, that is not needed for the benthic fry such as your barbouri, and for pelagic fry it is again not needed when starting them out with enriched rotifers.
