Ready to pop!

[FlaJohn]

I posted the above 8 days ago. Overnight, on the fifth day, the first big die-off occurred. The next night another die-off. Sat. and Sun. several more. As of last night I had three left -- but they are active, swimming, and eating.

The million dollar question: WHY? Why on Earth do so many simply drop dead, yet these three are still alive? I know it's not logical because our experts on this forum certainly have great success, but I can't help but wonder if most of them are genetically predisposed to become fish food!

Sigh.

Ok... I will be more ready next time. I have Dan's Feed, I bought a couple of plastic 2gal bowls like Beth uses, I have a 20 long sitting empty, like Beth uses to put the bowls in -- I just need to cut the holes in the sides and replace with mesh (Beth, what exactly do you use for that and how do you attach it?).

In the mean time I will continue to coddle those three live ones and hope for the best for them.

George
--

Geroge what type of fry are they? I'm guessing REDI , wow I'm Jealous !
My very first attempt at raising Erectus only had two make it to adult . There realy is a big learning curve and I think it's great you have 3 left of one of the most difficult fry to raise.

 

[Peka]

bSigh.
b(Beth, what exactly do you use for that and how do you attach it?).

In the mean time I will continue to coddle those three live ones and hope for the best for them.

George
--

I use these for the mesh

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/8-funnel-replacement-strainer.html

and I silicone it it. Silicone it in very good, don't leave any holes or spaces or the fry will find their way out or get stuck in the holes.

Are you seeing pink bellies from the fry eating the brine?

 

[Peka]

I posted the above 8 days ago. Overnight, on the fifth day, the first big die-off occurred. The next night another die-off. Sat. and Sun. several more. As of last night I had three left -- but they are active, swimming, and eating.

The million dollar question: WHY? Why on Earth do so many simply drop dead, yet these three are still alive? I know it's not logical because our experts on this forum certainly have great success, but I can't help but wonder if most of them are genetically predisposed to become fish food!

Sigh.

Ok... I will be more ready next time. I have Dan's Feed, I bought a couple of plastic 2gal bowls like Beth uses, I have a 20 long sitting empty, like Beth uses to put the bowls in -- I just need to cut the holes in the sides and replace with mesh (Beth, what exactly do you use for that and how do you attach it?).

In the mean time I will continue to coddle those three live ones and hope for the best for them.

George
--

 

[kichikoi]

Any new babies George? New batch due here early tomorrow or Sunday. Still perfecting the method.
And Beth, that stuff is way cheaper than the aquarium divider I've been using! Does it have smaller holes too?

 

[Peka]

It depends on which dividers you are using. You can also use needlepoint mesh from michaels craft stores (those come in larger sizes)...There have been times that I have even cut up a brine shrimp net and used that netting....

 

[George_G]

Any new babies George? New batch due here early tomorrow or Sunday. Still perfecting the method.

No new ones yet. It was five weeks between the last two batches, and it has only been three weeks now since the last one. And, by the way, just as with my first batch, I have ONE baby still alive.

Also, thanks to Abbie at Sea Horse Source, I now have a positive identification on my species -- they are H. kuda.

Also, I now have a 5gal tank of beautiful pea green "soup" with which to enrich BBS, cultured from Phyco Pure that I got from SHS. This stuff also has live 'pods in it which are also reproducing. Does anyone see a problem with a soup of many different microalga with several different critters living in it. Every day I add more newly hatched BS, and for feeding my baby SH (as well as my Dragon Faced Pipes) I simply swipe a net through it and feed.

George

 

[kichikoi]

Hmmm...I'll have to check into those different meshes...I've even seen the micro-screen used for rotifers available online but it's expensive too.

 

[George_G]

snip...just as with my first batch, I have ONE baby still alive.

Also, thanks to Abbie at Sea Horse Source, I now have a positive identification on my species -- they are H. kuda.

Update: I had high hopes for this one remaining baby, he was a strong swimmer and a good eater. But... he died, too.

Question for the successful breeders: Now that I know my horses are H. kuda, does anyone have any specific advice for raising the young of this species?

George
--

 

[mtc1966]

bummer .

 

[Bananafish]

Sorry to hear about that, George. I took a look in Matthew Wittenrich's book (Breeder's Guide to Marine Aquarium Fishes) and found a citing on a study done in 2003. Gardner (Todd? some other Gardner?) found the best thing to do was to feed wild plankton for 3 days, then enriched Artemia after that. Wittenrich says enriched rotifers and copepods could be a replacement, but it seems there's something in the wild plankton that they need. He also suggests adding greenwater to the rearing tank for pelagic species, which includes H. kuda. It improves "feeding efficiency" - whatever that means. Hope this helps. The book is ISBN 1-8900-8771-8.

 

[rayjay]

Well being that pelagic seahorses are being raised without any wild food, I'd have to say that it is not necessary.
Many of us use enriched rotifers as a first food with enriched bbs following.
I use greenwater myself but many others have proved it is not necessary for their fry.

 

[Bananafish]

I have no experience at all with Hippocampus. Never kept them, much less bred them, but I thought I'd look in a book I borrowed from the library. Just trying to help

If my experience with others is worth anything, then I agree with you about rotifers and bbs. I have also found that success rates increase if you feed pods. Again, I'm just passing information I read, but in my experience greenwater does not improve any odds of raising fry, and with some it actually decreases survival rates.

 

[kichikoi]

Peka, Will the screen mesh you mentioned (replacement screen at midwest) help to keep the nhbbs within the kreisel also? That has been a problem for me as they go right through the aquarium divider mesh into the aquarium where the fry cannot get to them.
I can't find bs nets here large enough to cut up to use.

 

[rayjay]

Brine Shrimp Direct has very large mesh bags, one is 250 mesh and the other is 150 mesh.
The 150 mesh is suitable and will keep the artemia in with the fry.

 

[kichikoi]

Thanks RayJay! I'll take a look at those! I did find those mesh screens Peka mentioned at a home beer brewer here in town, and am gonna try those. I also took apart a carbon filter bag with a finer mesh and am gonna try that too. Still have one more 3 day out of town trip this month...which makes it impossible to keep these guys alive.

 

[timinnl]

Thanks RayJay! I'll take a look at those! I did find those mesh screens Peka mentioned at a home beer brewer here in town, and am gonna try those. I also took apart a carbon filter bag with a finer mesh and am gonna try that too. Still have one more 3 day out of town trip this month...which makes it impossible to keep these guys alive.

Did you find out what species of seahorse you have?

Tim

 

[Peka]

Peka, Will the screen mesh you mentioned (replacement screen at midwest) help to keep the nhbbs within the kreisel also? That has been a problem for me as they go right through the aquarium divider mesh into the aquarium where the fry cannot get to them.
I can't find bs nets here large enough to cut up to use.

I'm sorry that I didn't answer sooner. I just saw this. The mesh will not keep the nbbs inside. I like it because it helps to clean up the kreisiel that way. If you shine a light near the bottom of the dead spot in the center, more of the brine will stay in there.

 

[kichikoi]

No Problem Beth, Thanks!
The screens I got at the Home beer brewing store here do actually help to keep more of the nhbbs inside the kreisel for longer, giving the fry more of a chance at them!
Also after posting more pics at SH.Org., Comments from people at that site and looking at the albums there, I now think I have the H. Comes or Tiger tail SH! Which the fry are still just as hard (well at least I think they are!), as the H. Reidi!
Gave most of the last batch of fry to a friend and kept about 2 dozen. After a couple of glitches, I have about a dozen that are 10 days old now!

 

[gcsoupman]

Congrats