Rearing Fry?

[CuttleKid]

Hi, I'm new to keeping seahorses and wanted to learn how to raise fry in case my future erectus ponies breed. First of all, what is the ideal temp for hippocampus erectus? I'm looking for replies from people who have reared them successfully or people who know the theory. Do you need a kreisel tank to rear them? I know they arent benthic when first hatched so what do you house them in during there pelagic stage? What do you feed the fry in different stages in there life? How hard is it to raise them?

Any basic information on raising erectus fry would be extremely helpful

 

[pledosophy]

You don't need a kreisel. I use 10g tanks, or plastic buckets to keep them in, the plastic bucket thing is my new favorite. I have a bulkhead on the bottom that is screened off and drains to a sump and a Mag2 for a return, turned way down, that comes out of two bulkheads in the bucket to provide a circular flow.

First food is freshly hatched bbs, within 4 hours of hatching, then bbs a bit older, then gut loaded bbs, then gut loaded brine, then gut loaded brine with shaved mysis, then just shaved mysis, then whole mysis

Lower temps 68ish work best for me.

Raising seahorse fry is very hard, and not for the faint of heart. Many have tried few have succeeded. There is a lot of reading you can find on this site that will help you, but you'll have to do the reading.

HTH

 

[DanU]

For aquaria, the ideal temperature is probably around 72 to 74 F. During the winter months we allow it to drop to 68 to 69, the peak of the summer we don't allow it past 77 F. Spring and Fall we hit the target temps of 72 to 74.

H. erectus from the southern waters of Florida are benthic. During the daytime they in the water column feeding and at night will hitch. Erectus from northern waters are pelagic. It appears the further north the erectus are from the long the pelagic phase and the smaller the fry. Interestingly enough, the northern variety reach sexual maturity faster than the southern variety. Probably due to the shorter season of warm weather.

Southern erectus can be reared in any type of vessel provided there is good circulation and the water quality is kept up. Northern do best in a round tank. We use round aquaculture tanks for them.

We start southern erectus off with 48 hour old enriched artemia. Northern fry we start with rotifers for 3 to 5 days and overlap this with newly hatched artemia. Frozen Cyclopeeze is added in within the first week. Around 3 weeks we begin with shaved frozen mysis. As soon as they can take it, we begin offering enriched adult artemia. We continue with the enriched adult artemia until 2 1/2 to 3 months even though they can take frozen mysis at that point.

Dan

 

[pledosophy]

Dan is the Man.

 

[KGJ]

If you happen to be located close to the coast, the best way to first feed seahorse fry is by using a plankton net to collect calanoid copepods. We had survival rates jump to ~90% during the critical 3-7 dph period. It's much more work, but the increased concentrations of fatty acids in the copepods seem to make huge difference. In addition, the copepods swim throughout the water column, unlike rotifers which tend to accumulate at the surface of the water... We saw a marked decrease in air bubbles in fry as well.

Just my 2 cents, good luck!

 

[pledosophy]

Thanks for the tips KGJ.

For those not lucky enough to live by the coast, you can always culture the pods as well but it takes some effort IME