How would I know if my seahorse is pragnant

[timinnl]

What kind of copepods can you get there? Can you get tonsa? Also can you get live mysis? Maybe Ray can direct you to some of Dan U post in regards to adding live mysis to the fry tank.

The last time I added the mysis to their tank. I think I was getting close to my personal best of 4months. all was going great until I forgot to turn the air back on. I stopped trying after that.

I am lucky that the mysis are easy for me to get here in the Netherlands. I know it is VERY hard & expensive in the other EU countries. I have a very low sucess rate shipping them. So I feel bad for the people I ship to.

But I might have found a solution with Dan's help. I need to ship them in a low/long flat box. Also try to keep them cool & only ship young ones.

Lastly, start keeping a logbook on your attempts. I helps to keep what worked for you & what didn't work for you handy.

Good Luck with them.

 

[Allmost]

What kind of copepods can you get there? Can you get tonsa? Also can you get live mysis? Maybe Ray can direct you to some of Dan U post in regards to adding live mysis to the fry tank.

The last time I added the mysis to their tank. I think I was getting close to my personal best of 4months. all was going great until I forgot to turn the air back on. I stopped trying after that.

I am lucky that the mysis are easy for me to get here in the Netherlands. I know it is VERY hard & expensive in the other EU countries. I have a very low sucess rate shipping them. So I feel bad for the people I ship to.

But I might have found a solution with Dan's help. I need to ship them in a low/long flat box. Also try to keep them cool & only ship young ones.

Lastly, start keeping a logbook on your attempts. I helps to keep what worked for you & what didn't work for you handy.

Good Luck with them.

I was checking my sump last night on my reef tankand see many little mysis shrimps !! I was thinking of catching some of those and starting a culture, but have to keep reading to see if possible lol


thanks for the log book, I forgot to label the jars with brine and rotifers and now all mixed up and dunno who is older than others lol

 

[rayjay]

Sorry, can't help with the copepods as there are few available in Canada, at least that will work with fry.
(and very expensive)(Nitokra lacustris is the most available)
Also it's very hard to get live mysids here in Canada and definitely not the correct size for fry when they do come.
For me at least, it isn't worth the work to separate the young as it's a PITA, especially when there are such easy workable alternatives like enriched rots and grown out enriched artemia nauplii.
You can take mysids from your tank but they will often carry pathogens that are resident in your reef tank and pass them on to the fry.

 

[lucycat]

as rayjay says pods are expensive and fry will soon munch their way though any you have.i wouldnt use the mysis as ray says you could bring something into the tank that could harm them and mysis can attack fry as well.i would feed a mix of rots and artemia nauplii.
over here there is a company that has been experimenting with fry food,which inital results seem quite promising on seahorse fry.some of us on the british forum have tried it with mixed results but it does seem to create a feeding frenzy but i dont know if its just because it smells very strong.if you want i can send you some over to try .no charge as i have loads of the stuff as it last ages.

 

[Allmost]

Sorry, can't help with the copepods as there are few available in Canada, at least that will work with fry.
(and very expensive)(Nitokra lacustris is the most available)
Also it's very hard to get live mysids here in Canada and definitely not the correct size for fry when they do come.
For me at least, it isn't worth the work to separate the young as it's a PITA, especially when there are such easy workable alternatives like enriched rots and grown out enriched artemia nauplii.
You can take mysids from your tank but they will often carry pathogens that are resident in your reef tank and pass them on to the fry.

Ray, so please correct me if Im wrong (I think I maybe) but everyone speaks of high cost for copepods, but I can get DT's copopods or Reef Crew's copepods, 20 bucks each. will need a 10 G tank (have those lol ) air pump and phyto (nanno preferebly which DT makes and I can use the same DT bottle to start my own culture. )

am I missing something ? of not, this seems prety easy to do and not expensive at all ! maybe the cost of phyto over run ?

it seems like the most appropriate food Item, no enrichment needed, and I can feed the bigger ones to my reef tank or parent seahorses, I knw my mandarins will go crazy over them as well.

 

[rayjay]

Well I used to culture Nikotra lacustris from Reef Crew, and tigger pods which aren't suitable for fry, as well as mysids that I got from brineshrimp.com.
However, the problems are foremost that unless you have an awful large, and I do mean large, production set up, you cannot produce enough for fry let alone for dwarf seahorses because the consumption is a way more than you would think.
25 New fry would go through a $20 bag of ReefCrew's pods in maybe two days, and I know a pair of dwarfs would probably finish off the bag in a day.
They just don't reproduce fast enough like rotifers do and that is why enriched rotifers have become the norm for pelagic fry to start with many times, followed by the enriched grown out bbs. Benthic fry can start right off with enriched grown out bbs.
I think everybody has it in mind that it must be such a simple answer, just grow your own copepods, but in reality, it just doesn't work quite that easy.
Once you have tackled cultures of pods and rots, the rots win hands down for ease and function, but if you do both, the results will be probably better for the fry.

 

[Allmost]

okay thanks Ray. I really want to try (at least try ) culturing pods, so will order some of reef crews today.

thanks for the note on tiger pods, will not use those.

how about DT's ?
here is what they are :
Subtropical Harpacticoid sp.

Copepods that thrive in reef aquariums!

These subtropical Harpacticoid copepods are a warm water species that will develop a thriving population in reef aquariums. Copepods are an especially nutritious small prey item for many corals and small fish. This species has an adult size of about 900 microns.

Copepods feed on phytoplankton and are also an excellent scavenger, feeding on detritus of any kind. The best place for these copepods to reproduce and grow is in a refugium or aquarium.

It is our intention to provide a starter culture of copepods that will thrive in reef aquariums. We cultured this species at an average temperature of 82.5°F (28°C), so it is a species that will do very well in a reef tank.

These copepods are also very tolerant of cooler water and will do just fine in the 70's, so they can be kept or cultured at normal room temperature.

Harpacticoid copepods have a life span of approximately 2 months. Some of the adults that are harvested will be near the end of their life span. There will also be eggs hatching and other individuals that will not easily be visible without the aid of magnification. We have test jars that have been kept for months and it is obvious by their population that they are reproducing in the jars.

can fry use those ?


also, what is your view on starting a culture from DT's phytoplankton ? I was thinking of using a 5G water jar. upside down,. with air line in, add DT's phyto (nanno) and top off with saltwater and turn the air on. will this work ? of course with a light over head.

then I can start 2 more cultures of pods, one from reef crew and another form DT hopefully. in 2 different 10 G tanks.

I will continue culturing rotifers, and will have to order in Dan's enrichment before the weekend.

thanks again

 

[rayjay]

Basically you can TRY anything you want.
However, mixes of copepods or phyto as the case is with DT's will usually result in only once species or strain out-competing the the others so you end up with only one.
In the case of phyto, that usually means you end up with nannochloropsis.
Pods are best cultured in trays, more shallow with large area than with deep.
For the phyto, you need strong penetration of light to be able to handle the depth you are talking about.
I use the 5g bottles for rots culture and it works great.
I used to use them for brine shrimp culture.

 

[Allmost]

so I guess DT's will be small enough for fry to consume ?

of course they will be cultured in different 10G tanks.

thanks for all your help Ray

 

[lucycat]

i know that ray will more then likely tell me off but over here we cultivate our own phyto and copepods ,here i dont know about over there they sell phytoplankton reactors on ebay which Joanna on ur uses to produce copious amounts of phyto,she also has a tube that she grows her copepods in .one has a light for the plankton and the other doesnt have a light but she gets large amounts of copepods.but all that said and done during the summer we put the copepods in orange buckets out in the garden feeding them on phyto and keeping them out of the rain ,this too enables us to produce large amounts of copepods,i dont know why it only seems to work with orange buckets but it does work.i dont know which species of copepods they are as it doesnt say on the web site which ones they have but its a mix of 5 species of phytoplankton that they supply as starter cultures.we also cultivate rotifers mainly in large tupperware containers with an airline in a bright room.
ray, i will also try your way of raising copepods as it would be interesting to see how it works out over here with our different weather conditions etc.you must remember that we have alot more rain over here and our summers are pretty hit or miss. i have just looked at the copepod site and its the Harpacticoid strain we have over here.
the other thing ray is i tried to order some of that enrichment from that place but they havent got back to me yet about postage i know brineshrimp direct is $49 us to post over here

 

[rayjay]

Lucycat, I'll not tell you off on how to grow your own as it comes down to a personal choice.
For me, it means I've gone from growing 150g of nannochloropsis down to just 30g now.
As for my method of copepod culturing, I'm not sure which one you are speaking of because I used a few methods in the years I was doing it but also I don't remember writing any of them down anywhere.
I know I'm old now but didn't realize my memory had gotten that bad. I have pages on phyto and brine but that's all I remember. Maybe there are still threads around with old posts of the old ways.
Like any other cultures keep your copepod cultures away from rotifer cultures if you ever cultivate them as they will take over in rapid order.
Personally I wouldn't use outdoor grown pods because of the greater chance of bacterial transference.
Here, the temperature swings are too great and often too high for some cultures.
Obviously I don't know the cost, but Luicopp (the "org") has receive her "DAN's FEED" and she lives in the UK.
For me, BSD is more shipping costs by virtue of the fact what I order from them is a lot heavier.
i.e. I order 5 pounds of spirulina powder at a time, whereas I would only get maybe 50g of Dan's Feed at a time.

 

[lucycat]

i only ordered 60 gm of copepod cysts,in the end i got my sister to order them as she lives in payson utah so free shipping from bs direct and she sent them to me.
this is what i was refering to the post on page 2 of this thread in your reply to almost
(Pods are best cultured in trays, more shallow with large area than with deep).

but seriously the bright orange buckets do seem to work,as to whether it is the colour,the shape or our weather i dont know.i only started cultivating them on mass recently because i have now got dwarves.
i still havnt heard anything from seahorsesource about the cost of shipping for the dans feed i do have an order number so i may email them later

 

[rayjay]

Well good luck with ordering. Dan and Abbie usually are VERY prompt in any replies, especially if you need help of some form, but they possibly might be away for a day or so.
The ONLY downside of using the powder was having to mix it in a blender, but as I was already using the blender for spirulina powder for making feed, it was no big deal to now start using it for enrichment.

As for the tray, I started using that method after seeing pictures of racks of shallow trays stacked one over another from a commercial aquaculture site.
The racks made the most one could out of a given floor space by the stacking, and the trays slid out for servicing as required.
I had read previously that the shallow worked better than deep but just never tried it until the picture triggered it in my memory again.
Who knows, maybe you've hit on something; use orange trays and get the best of both.

 

[Allmost]

so I guess 10 G tanks would work fine with pods. now a couple of Questions


how often could a copepod culture crash ?? should I have a couple going at the same time ?

2. does it stink ? lol If it does then I cant do it in my apartment lol have to do it in a friends basement or something.

3. so they say there will be a waste layer at the bottom, so I dont use that layer ? are pods seable to the eye ? and lastly where do I buy a net to catch copepods ? ! I have a brine shrimp net, but I see brine babies going through it :thumbdown

 

[rayjay]

Answers will depend on who is doing the answering.
IMO, while a 10g tan works, it doesn't work efficiently and there is a lot of water that is non productive.
It would be better to buy trays from Walmart with the same footprint or larger, and use those.
There is no set pattern for a crash, it may happen almost right off the bat or much much later.
It may happen repeatedly or seldom.
Like any culture, more is better.
As for smell, I think it depends on the nose.
What I don't thing smells, my wife is always upset about.
I don't know what you mean about "layer".
When I harvested I would dump the contents of a tray into 2L inverted pop bottles and let settle a awhile with a light at the top. Then I siphon off all but the crap remaining in the bottom and pour through a 250 mesh net I make from mesh bags from Brine Shrimp Direct. I would rinse well under the cold water tap before feeding to the tanks and this also should remove any remaining food particles as well as minimizing bacterial influences.
I NEVER allow any culture water from any live food to enter any of my tanks or nurseries.
I've not found a brine shrimp net available in Ontario that works for brine nauplii. I use a net made from a 150 mesh for those. I do have one net I bought online that worked (from the US) but I forget just which place I got it from.

 

[lucycat]

over here at ta aquaculter they do sieves little squares ones that are for copepodes and rots ,i dont know if they ship over there or there is somewhere over there that does them

 

[rayjay]

Might be the same as ones that Brine Shrimp Direct sells. They were green plastic boxes about 3" square and about 1 3/4" deep. There are also larger round "pipe type", much deeper but again surface area of the mesh made them impractical for my purposes.
I gave mine away as it was too small to use for doing water changes in the cultures.
It worked just fine for taking out to enrich and then to remove again and feed to the fry but with the water volumes I cultured, it wasn't practical when I had the large mesh bags that I could hang over the edge of the inverted two litre pop bottles.
These are the two bags I use now.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/c9/Mesh-Bag-c65.html
This is the square I used to have.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/c9/Sieve-Artemia-Hatching-p181.html
This is the "pipe" type.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c1/c9/Rotifer-Sieve-p220.html
This is the one that ReefCrew in Toronto sells.
http://www.bionomicsolutions.com/cms/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=20&category_id=5&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=30