My seahorse is about to have his Fry in the next day or two...I have everything setup and ready to go, except the live food!!!!!!!!!!!!! If anyone in town has or knows where I can get some rotifers that i could "borrow" (or pay you for) and artemia, I would greatly appreciate any help you can give. Thanks.
Please Help...if you can
- Thread starter vipjd39
- Start date
Fishboy42
Premium Member
Very funny Mel, even if it is true 
While adults are relatively easy to keep and breed, H. kuda is generally a difficult seahorse to raise, even for the commercial hatcheies and public aquariums. I tried to raise a batch of ~300, and the last one died at 2 weeks old despite their feeding on small live foods...of course that's not many data points, but...
It isn't so much the food problem (they are commonly raised on enriched rotifers, copepods, and newly-hatched brine and then transitioning onto larger brine and small mysids), but the environment: They require a planktonic environment to thrive, so a kreisel would be best. It isn't impossible, but I'd suggest constructing some kind of circular-flow larval tank for the larvae.
If you'd like to give it a shot, I can provide the larval foods you'll need (or at least starter cultures of them). Artemia is a main one, and fortunately that's an easy one to hatch and have available.
Feel free to ask questions here or start a log of this; it is very interesting! I apologize if you already know all this and simply wanted some food, in that case, let me know and we'll get you some!
Matt
While adults are relatively easy to keep and breed, H. kuda is generally a difficult seahorse to raise, even for the commercial hatcheies and public aquariums. I tried to raise a batch of ~300, and the last one died at 2 weeks old despite their feeding on small live foods...of course that's not many data points, but...
It isn't so much the food problem (they are commonly raised on enriched rotifers, copepods, and newly-hatched brine and then transitioning onto larger brine and small mysids), but the environment: They require a planktonic environment to thrive, so a kreisel would be best. It isn't impossible, but I'd suggest constructing some kind of circular-flow larval tank for the larvae.
If you'd like to give it a shot, I can provide the larval foods you'll need (or at least starter cultures of them). Artemia is a main one, and fortunately that's an easy one to hatch and have available.
Feel free to ask questions here or start a log of this; it is very interesting! I apologize if you already know all this and simply wanted some food, in that case, let me know and we'll get you some!
Matt
Matt,
Thank you very much for any help and information. We currently setup a Kriesel tank using a 10 gallon aquarium, eggcrate, a 1 gallon fishbowl that is drilled exacltly midpoint down one of the sides where a valve and airline is connected to produce the top to bottom circular flow. We have a HOB wheel filter to add in filtration along with another piece of airline tubing coming from the filter that is suction-cupped on the inside of the fish bowl. We have a heater and an additional airstone in the main tank for aeration.
Me and my fiance have pretty much researched seahorses for the past 2 years before getting into it ( i think that is why my reef tank knowledge is so poor
) and know this is going to be a great task, but I always welcome opinions, comments, and knowledge. As with anything done in this hobby, its hard to do alone.
Ill post some pics of the kriesel once my camera fully recharges and please let me know if you have any input or would do something different. Luckily my little guy didn't have the fry today as I was only able to run to the Aquarium and pick up the BBS hatchery and have to wait for them to "float to the top"
Matt, I am interested in talking with you outside this thread to get a little bit of your data through the two weeks. To see what worked for you and didn't. Did you setup a kriesel? If so, how long did you keep them in there? What was your feeding schedule? plus many more questions. If you have the time I would love to pick your brain.
In the meantime, if I could possibly by some food off of you (and maybe starter cultures) that would help out tremendously. Thanks again in advance for any help you are able to give.
Thank you very much for any help and information. We currently setup a Kriesel tank using a 10 gallon aquarium, eggcrate, a 1 gallon fishbowl that is drilled exacltly midpoint down one of the sides where a valve and airline is connected to produce the top to bottom circular flow. We have a HOB wheel filter to add in filtration along with another piece of airline tubing coming from the filter that is suction-cupped on the inside of the fish bowl. We have a heater and an additional airstone in the main tank for aeration.
Me and my fiance have pretty much researched seahorses for the past 2 years before getting into it ( i think that is why my reef tank knowledge is so poor
) and know this is going to be a great task, but I always welcome opinions, comments, and knowledge. As with anything done in this hobby, its hard to do alone.Ill post some pics of the kriesel once my camera fully recharges and please let me know if you have any input or would do something different. Luckily my little guy didn't have the fry today as I was only able to run to the Aquarium and pick up the BBS hatchery and have to wait for them to "float to the top"
Matt, I am interested in talking with you outside this thread to get a little bit of your data through the two weeks. To see what worked for you and didn't. Did you setup a kriesel? If so, how long did you keep them in there? What was your feeding schedule? plus many more questions. If you have the time I would love to pick your brain.
In the meantime, if I could possibly by some food off of you (and maybe starter cultures) that would help out tremendously. Thanks again in advance for any help you are able to give.
Fishboy42
Premium Member
I'd love to see pictures of your setup if you can get some.
I used a standard rectangular aquarium setup (with heater and airstones) as for larval clownfish, so it definitely wasn't ideal. Feeding started with a mixture of rotifers, copepods (unidentified species), and brine shrimp. At the time I was culturing Nanno. greenwater, so I used that as "tint" and to keep the live foods enriched (again, as for clowns), and I fed live foods 2x/day (only because it was the same as the clown schedule at the time...). The seahorses definitely ate brine shrimp, but I'm not sure they ate enough. Of course there are many variables to consider...
I've read that they can be raised on brine alone, but that survival is higher when enriched rotifers are used along with newly-hatched or enriched II+ instar brine.
There are several knowledgeable people in the fish-breeding forum here on RC, as well as the seahorse forum, so you may be able to find some breeders that are more "specialized" in seahorses. Of course I have the advantage for you of being local, even if I can't be as helpful
You have a PM
Matt
I used a standard rectangular aquarium setup (with heater and airstones) as for larval clownfish, so it definitely wasn't ideal. Feeding started with a mixture of rotifers, copepods (unidentified species), and brine shrimp. At the time I was culturing Nanno. greenwater, so I used that as "tint" and to keep the live foods enriched (again, as for clowns), and I fed live foods 2x/day (only because it was the same as the clown schedule at the time...). The seahorses definitely ate brine shrimp, but I'm not sure they ate enough. Of course there are many variables to consider...
I've read that they can be raised on brine alone, but that survival is higher when enriched rotifers are used along with newly-hatched or enriched II+ instar brine.
There are several knowledgeable people in the fish-breeding forum here on RC, as well as the seahorse forum, so you may be able to find some breeders that are more "specialized" in seahorses. Of course I have the advantage for you of being local, even if I can't be as helpful
You have a PM
Matt
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