Setting up a Nursery tank

[whatnot45]

Ok, so I just got 2 OR sunbursts (H.Erectus) for my 29 gallon tank. Oceanrider said that they gave me a pregnant male, which means I need to prepare for the fry. I have NO expirience with raising fry what so ever, so Im going to need a lot of help.

I have done some research, and found that erectus fry hitch from birth, so i dont need to do a krisle system (i think thats how you spell it).

So right now i need to know what i need in order to raise these guys.

Im going to be setting up the tank tomarrow. Im thinking ten gallons. Will this be sufficient? Would it be ok to put a whisper power filter on the tank with a sponge over the intake, or would this be too much flow for the fry?. Also, for baby brine shrimp im going to try and order some hatching trays from brine shrimp direct.

As for the tank itself, should i put in live rock/ macro algea? Should I treat it with panacur to avoid hydroid problems?

Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

[ReefNutPA]

You will probably get conflicting advice in response to your post as there are numerous ways people are successfully rearing fry.

IMO, for fry....you want to use barebottom tanks, NO live rock or macro-algae, do NOT use powerfilters. You'll be doing daily 50% water changes and a 100% water change/tank sterilization once a week. You'll need LOTS of premixed and aged saltwater. Do not use newly mixed saltwater.

Hatching trays are crap for the quantity of bbs you'll need. You should decap the brine eggs before hatching and either use inverted soda bottles or hatching cones.

There is tons and tons of information on fry rearing on this site and the dedicated seahorse sites. It would be impossible to tell you what you need to know in a post, unfortunately. You'll have to do lots of research on your own and try different techniques until you find something that works for you.

I will tell you raising fry is very time consuming. Vacuuming the bottom twice a day, water changes and feeding upwards of 4 or 5 times a day. Be prepared to lose your social life

Best of luck...

Tom

 

[pledosophy]

Tom is a brilliant man. Tom have I told you that lately.

Personally, I like using using macro and liverock in my nursery tanks. I panacur the lot and am thankful for the bit of filtration. I also do the waterchanges, etc.

Read through several posts, lot and lots to know.

IMO the thing that is often left out that is so important is temp. I like high 60's. Lower temps slow the metabolic rate making more out of what the seahorse eats while also reducing bacteril growth an infection.

Fresh water dips for fry are also a great option not to be overlooked.

I like 2 tanks for fry. Every week move the fry to the otehr tank and clean the crap out of the first tank.

If all you have is 1 10g then I would also really suggest culling the fry. You can't raise the entire brood in that size setup, trying to reduce the chances to the overall herd.

JMO

Good Luck.