Reidi Seahorse Babies

[minnemoline]

My seahorse has babies about every two weeks. I've successfully raised several until a certain point (about 2 months of age) and then they die for no apparent reason. I'm not sure how to get them beyond 2 months and hope to get some input from those of you who have been/are successful. I culture rotifers and hatch baby brine shrimp to no avail...........Suggestions?

 

[rayjay]

Are you enriching the live food? Do you use greenwater in the rearing vessels?
H. reidi rearing isn't all that easy and it took me until my tenth try to succeed.
You can view mine HERE
There are many ways people have succeeded with reidi but I failed using those ways until I started with the jars as shown.

 

[TamiW]

How big are they at two months? I had what I thought was success with reidi some years ago, until that 2-3 month range. I've since realized they were very malnurished, and way too small for their age. If you're just feeding brine shrimp without the right enrichment that could be doing them in. Another possibility is not having the right sized foods to give them once they're starting to get too big for newly hatched brine shrimp..

Share your raising protocol and maybe we can figure out what is going on.

 

[minnemoline]

Rayjay and FishGrrl

- Yes I do use Greenwater in my rearing vessels. I've read many of your posts, RayJay and and have went to your link in the past. That's where I learned to use the jars like you do and that has made it easier to get to the 2 month mark.

- They aren't very big. I would say approximately a 1/2 inch at the most. How big should they be at that age? I use a phytoplankton mixture to somewhat enrich the baby brine shrimp. Maybe I should change to a different enrichment for the bbs? Also, what can you feed after the bbs shrimp are too small? Copepods? One last question, how do you train them to eat frozen mysis?

 

[rayjay]

What is your cleaning protocol for the jars? I cleaned totally every two days with 100% water change, thus minimizing the possible bacterial influenced deaths.
For enrichment of the bbs I originally used Algamac Protein Plus or spirulina powder, each mixed with some Algamac 3050. After that I switched to using Dan's Feed plus some Algamac 3050.
Both the Algamac Protein Plus and Dan's Feed already have some Algamac 3050 in them but for the first 2 to 3 months I arbitrarily used the extra just thinking the extra fatty acid profile may help in the youngest stages.
As the fry grow, I also grow out the brine that I enrich before feeding to the fry.
I use spirulina powder and Algamac 3050 in the range of 10 to 12 parts spirulina powder to 1 part 3050 which is about 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of 3050 that I use for enrichment.
I feed this sparingly to the brine 3 times a day as heavier feedings when the artemia are young cause my cultures to crash.
You can use the greenwater to feed them with but I still prefer to add 3050 even to the greenwater so the brine have this right in their nutrient makeup, not just gut loaded.

 

[twitchzoo]

sad seahorse tank at LFS

sad seahorse tank at LFS

LFS got in some seahorses somewhere around the beg. of Sept., I started researching their care and realized I need more knowledge and experience with SW before attempting seahorses. Anyway, I occasionally visit the LFS and try to share what I'm learning, they don't pay any attention to my suggestions. There are no hitching posts in the tank and their environment is going downhill. There are LOTS of bristleworms and lots of bubble algae now. Just don't understand why they wouldn't try to care for every creature in the best possible way!!!!

 

[twitchzoo]

just realized I didn't make that a seperate thread but I meant to.

 

[TamiW]

Rayjay and FishGrrl
- They aren't very big. I would say approximately a 1/2 inch at the most. How big should they be at that age? I use a phytoplankton mixture to somewhat enrich the baby brine shrimp. Maybe I should change to a different enrichment for the bbs? Also, what can you feed after the bbs shrimp are too small? Copepods? One last question, how do you train them to eat frozen mysis?

They should be bigger, that's for sure. They should be 1/2 inch at 2 weeks, not two months. My guess is early/ongoing nutritional deficiency is doing them in. They're able to get enough to JUST barely survive. Don't feel bad, I did the same thing starting out, and it took a long time to realize that was the problem.

You are going to need something more than phytoplankton enriched bbs. Copepods from day one are going to be the best, but you need to make sure they're the right copepod - the fish store "restock your refugium" species won't work very well if at all. You'll need a pelagic species, either a calanoid or my current favorite Euterpina acutifrons which is a suspension feeding, free swimming harpactacoid (and true free swimming, none of this occasional jumping to the water column.)

Raising copepods can be a PITA, so the next best thing is a quality enrichment; something more than phytoplankton can offer. Dan's Feed is very popular, and it's based on algamac 3050, which is another good feed, though you have to buy it in bulk.

You might be able to still turn this brood around if you feed enriched bbs using either algamac - 3050 or Dan's Feed. Something high in hufa's, especially DHA. I've seen some runts turn around and grow into nice sized seahorses (though those were H. erectus, which could be different).

Training to frozen mysis is a pita. You just have to keep throwing chopped mysis in there and cleaning it off the bottom until they get used to it. Hygene is of paramount importance. If you can get frozen cyclopeeze, you can try that at feeding time too. Live mysis helps, especially if you add them at an early stage so they're reproducing in the fry tank and feeding the fry as they have babies.. I also have been growing out brine shrimp to 1/4 size to feed some fussy tigertail seahorse juveniles, which takes 3 buckets side in case of crashes and so I can harvest while the others grow out.

 

[rayjay]

FishGrrl, your copepods must work a LOT better than Dan's Feed or the 3050 as my fry at two weeks are probably only about 1/4" with a few of the faster growing ones maybe pushing 3/8".
I personally would not be bothered with the copepods because the brine shrimp enrichment way DOES work for me and is a lot less hassle not to mention cheaper.

 

[minnemoline]

RayJay and FishGrll

My cleaning protocol is similar to yours RayJay.

It sounds as though my nutrition may not be up to par. I think I may give both of your feeding suggestions a try and don't mind trying to raise the copepods. I'm ordering the Dan's Feed shortly so, hopefully I can keep my current brood alive and all of the future ones!

Thank you both for you help. I really appreciate it!

 

[TamiW]

If you want to try copepods, PM me I have a good freeswimming species that is pretty easy to grow. You do have to grow your own phytoplankton, and it needs to be something other than nannochloropsis - I prefer tetraselmis but isocrysis works too.

 

[minnemoline]

FishGrrl - Sent You a PM

 

[mustard]

I second Dan's Feed.