I service a tank with a pair of wild caught reidi seahorses and they recently spawned and big pappa gave birth to about 150 babies. Unfortunately all of my efforts to keep them alive failed. I want to know if anyone can show me where to find the best info on trying to raise the young. Or should i not even try???
Raising baby reidi. How difficult??
- Thread starter pdpreef
- Start date
pledosophy
Active member
On a scale of 1 to 10 ten being the hardest, I'd give them a 9.5.
It does take alot of work and alot of cultures or a ton of cash to do it right IMO.
It does take alot of work and alot of cultures or a ton of cash to do it right IMO.
water`bug
Premium Member
Re: Raising baby reidi. How difficult??
TJay and I have thus far, crossing fingers and saying prayers... have success in raising our CB Reidi fry.
In 8 weeks, we've had 4 broods. The 1st brood was 17, they are now six weeks old and all still living. 2nd brood, we had 30 and have 10 living in a nano, a month old. 3rd brood we personally kept 30 and 22 are still living and are 2 weeks old. The last brrod of 350 were born on Friday and we have adopted all of them out to locals here in N. Dallas.
Our 10- 1 month old babies are now eating frozen in the am... bbs and cyclopeez and it seems the 2 week olds are attemting it, as well.
We quickly adopted out the first brood of 17 as we were NOT ready to raise them. Directly afterwards, we began culturing Rotifers and set-up for live baby brine in anticipation of the next brood of fry.
The babies are alot of work and take great care and consistency. But are way worth it. We consider each day... a milestone. TJay and I are in no-way experts, but if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to share with you...what has worked for all of us.
donna
TJay and I have thus far, crossing fingers and saying prayers... have success in raising our CB Reidi fry.
In 8 weeks, we've had 4 broods. The 1st brood was 17, they are now six weeks old and all still living. 2nd brood, we had 30 and have 10 living in a nano, a month old. 3rd brood we personally kept 30 and 22 are still living and are 2 weeks old. The last brrod of 350 were born on Friday and we have adopted all of them out to locals here in N. Dallas.
Our 10- 1 month old babies are now eating frozen in the am... bbs and cyclopeez and it seems the 2 week olds are attemting it, as well.
We quickly adopted out the first brood of 17 as we were NOT ready to raise them. Directly afterwards, we began culturing Rotifers and set-up for live baby brine in anticipation of the next brood of fry.
The babies are alot of work and take great care and consistency. But are way worth it. We consider each day... a milestone. TJay and I are in no-way experts, but if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to share with you...what has worked for all of us.
donna
well my wife and I've killed 2 broods of reidi, probably around 75 each. So give some details on your setup, I'd really like to know we think another batch is on it the way in the next week. I've read tons on seahorse.org but so far we haven't found anything that worked for us.
water`bug
Premium Member
Our first brood, we weren't prepared and adopted them out. The same day he gave birth, we witnessed the egg transfer so we knew right away that we only had two weeks to prepare.
We set up a Kreisel Nursery System. (Google Kreisel Seahorse Nursery to get set-up ideas)
""""Kreisel nursery tanks rely on gentle, carefully directed currents to keep pelagic fry -- and their food (rotifers, Artemia nauplii, copepods, etc.) -- suspended evenly in a circular flow until the young seahorses are ready to settle down on the bottom. Centripetal force draws the fry and their food gently towards the center of this vortex and keeps them suspended in midwater. This has several beneficial effects. Most importantly, it keeps the fry off the surface and prevents them from gulping air. Secondly, it keeps the newborns from swimming into the side glass (in the vastness of the ocean, pelagic fry NEVER encounter such obstacles, and the baffled newborns can injure or exhaust themselves trying to swim through these invisible barriers in an aquarium). And it has the added advantage of concentrating the newborns' food supply exactly where the hungry fry are drifting.END Quote""""
We then ordered Rotifers and began culturing them ourselves. In addition, we had live Phyto culturing and lastly... live BBS. (Decapulated eggs from Brine Shrimp Direct)
Fry Feeding::::
Keep them in green water for 1st week.
Feed Rotifers 3 times daily for first 3 days
(We skimmed copepods off the surface of our 54g Seahorse tank
and fed them to the babies in the Kreisel system)
Intro'd them to live BBS on 4th day (am feeding), continued with
rotifers for addtional feedings
Babies start hitching 4th day (Chaeto)
7th day feed BBS only
14th day, intro'd babies to frozen bbs and cyclopeez; soaked in Selco (am feeding)
and continue with Live BBS pm and evening feedings. When
soaking BBS in Selco, I never soak more than 6 hours
Added a small shell for feeding station, use turkey baster to put
am feeding in and around shell
Water Changes
Daily 50% water changes for first 2 weeks
In addition, I'd take 3-4 cups of water out of 10g Aquarium (The
Kreisel system) and flush out bowls... 3-4 times a day
After adding 10 - 1month old babies to a 5g nano, I change 50% water every other day and 25-30% on the alternating days and detritus cleaning with a turkey baster twice daily. (replacing water taken out) Also added 22 2-week olds upon the delivery of the 4th brood of 350 fry! :eek1: lol
Misc...
I add 1 drop of Adult Liquid Vitamin B into their bowls daily until they are moved over to their nano.
Be careful when placing macro algae for hitching. I find it best to add thin strands. If you get it in there too thick, it will be a task and a half to get them loose when performing your daily water changes.
Salinity - 1.025. Most of what we read suggested taking it down to hypo-range (1.016) We forgot and kept them at 1.025 and thus far, have a great survival rate. So since it was working for us, we continued with it.
PLEASE be cautioned, this is not a *get out of jail free" pass. However, it has worked for us!
We have a thread, very detailed, on our local board. If you want the link, please pm me. In the interim, I have taken all of my pictures... from courting, to the egg transfer, to birth and sequence of events as they grow... and am putting an article together. Wish I had it completed to point you to it.
All I can say is this... we have a handful of people, presently, with the offspring of my 2 reidi's, all of whom are following the outline above pretty close and it seems to be working.
I know as soon as I post this, I'll think of something else! lol OR, the experts will say we're doing it wrong... hoping that if we are, they'll give us suggestions for an even better outcome... So far, it's working... and our babies are still alive, fat and healthy!
Hope this helps you!
donna in N. Dallas
We set up a Kreisel Nursery System. (Google Kreisel Seahorse Nursery to get set-up ideas)
""""Kreisel nursery tanks rely on gentle, carefully directed currents to keep pelagic fry -- and their food (rotifers, Artemia nauplii, copepods, etc.) -- suspended evenly in a circular flow until the young seahorses are ready to settle down on the bottom. Centripetal force draws the fry and their food gently towards the center of this vortex and keeps them suspended in midwater. This has several beneficial effects. Most importantly, it keeps the fry off the surface and prevents them from gulping air. Secondly, it keeps the newborns from swimming into the side glass (in the vastness of the ocean, pelagic fry NEVER encounter such obstacles, and the baffled newborns can injure or exhaust themselves trying to swim through these invisible barriers in an aquarium). And it has the added advantage of concentrating the newborns' food supply exactly where the hungry fry are drifting.END Quote""""
We then ordered Rotifers and began culturing them ourselves. In addition, we had live Phyto culturing and lastly... live BBS. (Decapulated eggs from Brine Shrimp Direct)
Fry Feeding::::
Keep them in green water for 1st week.
Feed Rotifers 3 times daily for first 3 days
(We skimmed copepods off the surface of our 54g Seahorse tank
and fed them to the babies in the Kreisel system)
Intro'd them to live BBS on 4th day (am feeding), continued with
rotifers for addtional feedings
Babies start hitching 4th day (Chaeto)
7th day feed BBS only
14th day, intro'd babies to frozen bbs and cyclopeez; soaked in Selco (am feeding)
and continue with Live BBS pm and evening feedings. When
soaking BBS in Selco, I never soak more than 6 hours
Added a small shell for feeding station, use turkey baster to put
am feeding in and around shell
Water Changes
Daily 50% water changes for first 2 weeks
In addition, I'd take 3-4 cups of water out of 10g Aquarium (The
Kreisel system) and flush out bowls... 3-4 times a day
After adding 10 - 1month old babies to a 5g nano, I change 50% water every other day and 25-30% on the alternating days and detritus cleaning with a turkey baster twice daily. (replacing water taken out) Also added 22 2-week olds upon the delivery of the 4th brood of 350 fry! :eek1: lol
Misc...
I add 1 drop of Adult Liquid Vitamin B into their bowls daily until they are moved over to their nano.
Be careful when placing macro algae for hitching. I find it best to add thin strands. If you get it in there too thick, it will be a task and a half to get them loose when performing your daily water changes.
Salinity - 1.025. Most of what we read suggested taking it down to hypo-range (1.016) We forgot and kept them at 1.025 and thus far, have a great survival rate. So since it was working for us, we continued with it.
PLEASE be cautioned, this is not a *get out of jail free" pass. However, it has worked for us!
We have a thread, very detailed, on our local board. If you want the link, please pm me. In the interim, I have taken all of my pictures... from courting, to the egg transfer, to birth and sequence of events as they grow... and am putting an article together. Wish I had it completed to point you to it.
All I can say is this... we have a handful of people, presently, with the offspring of my 2 reidi's, all of whom are following the outline above pretty close and it seems to be working.
I know as soon as I post this, I'll think of something else! lol OR, the experts will say we're doing it wrong... hoping that if we are, they'll give us suggestions for an even better outcome... So far, it's working... and our babies are still alive, fat and healthy!
Hope this helps you!
donna in N. Dallas
Last edited:
c-horseman
New member
donna - are you sure these were Reidi's that started hitching on the 4th day? i didn't know it was that soon.
water`bug
Premium Member
Well, they are not "all" hitching the 4th day... but that's when we see the first of the "early beginners" beginning to hitch.
And are we sure they're Reidi?? That's what we were told upon purchase and from pictures we have posted.
At this point, I'm not 100% sure of anything... nor do I claim to be an expert.
donna
Similar threads
