Hundreds of Baby Seahorses Please Advise - Page 2

DragonRage · 03/02/2008, 06:34 PM

I hope everything turns out in your favor!

ReidiLoverLinds · 03/02/2008, 08:12 PM

Can you show me a pic of the papa so i can take a guess at what species these are? The best thing would be to find his mate but if that is not possible he may mate with another female but that is not for certain. I believe females are more likley to stray and breed around in seahorse land at least haha. Be sure to watch the ammonia in the tanks if they are not cycled. You may have to do daily water changes. Air driven sponge filters are the best choice for filtration in a fry setup.

tanyashankles · 03/02/2008, 10:21 PM

AWWW they are so darn CUTE! Congrats on the new parenthood, and Im completely uneducated about the care of seahorses, but hitching, eating, and moving around regularly seem to me to be good signs. Thank you for sharing this experience, I am thrilled for you!! Good luck and keep "corral" pics coming!

ManotheSea · 03/02/2008, 11:21 PM

I found out that the restaurant got 2 or 3 other seahorses along with my pregnant one. Maybe its a long shot but its at least possible that his mate was one of the others captured in the same crab trap. If I took the seahorse to the restaurant and put him in their tank what would I look for as far as behaviour? Is there a certain way the pair will behave to help me identify her if she is there?

BTW how do you ID their sex?

erik1202 · 03/03/2008, 10:06 AM

Males have a pouch on their underside below the chest and females do not.

If they are mates they should engage in the courting ritual every day, usually in the morning and evening. This means they will seek each other out and wind their tails together and put on a little dance for you around the tank. Good luck with the hookup.

kidney514 · 03/03/2008, 11:18 PM

any more pics......

camlov2 · 03/25/2008, 11:05 PM

survival? I would guess no but wanted to check anyway.

ManotheSea · 03/26/2008, 05:20 AM

I have more pics I can post later. Thanks for the interest.

This batch lasted into the 6th day then they all perished. I was not prepared well so I was only hoping to have one or two survive. I can see three mistakes in my methods. Because of my lack of rotifer culture I used cyclopeze and frozen baby brine. I dont think this was adequate. Now that I have a thriving rotifer culture I can see the size of a rotifer is much smaller than the size of a baby brine. Secondly I tried to introduce rotifers by using fresh sea water. I later saw hydroids in the nursery tanks which another member warned against. The hydroids probably did their share of damage to the babies. There might have been a nitrite spkie as well since I was using newly set up bare tanks. I had hoped the daily water changes would be enough to keep the water parameters in check.

Now I have three liters of dense rotifer population. No more fresh sea water in the nursery tanks. If anyone has more tips for me I would like to be as ready as possible for the next batch.

I have pics of the daddy seahorse for ID. I think they are Erectus but will leave the confirmation to those of you with more experience.

ReidiLoverLinds · 03/26/2008, 07:15 PM

there is a good chance that one of those is his mate because they usually stay within near proximity of each other. the only way to figure it out would be to put them all in the same tank and see if he dances with any of them.

ReidiLoverLinds · 03/26/2008, 07:16 PM

they are southern erectus if they were caught in florida and are benethic.

03/02/2008, 10:21 PM	#28
tanyashankles Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Southern California Posts: 165	AWWW they are so darn CUTE! Congrats on the new parenthood, and Im completely uneducated about the care of seahorses, but hitching, eating, and moving around regularly seem to me to be good signs. Thank you for sharing this experience, I am thrilled for you!! Good luck and keep "corral" pics coming! __________________ ReefCentral.. The gathering place for broke people... Current Tank Info: 55g reef 2x250 DE 15k 30g sump TOSSED THE seaclone 150 2 maxijets 100lb LR Kent TE skimmer

03/25/2008, 11:05 PM	#32
camlov2 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Northern California Posts: 551	survival? I would guess no but wanted to check anyway. __________________ "can I pet him?" Brian Current Tank Info: none

03/02/2008, 06:34 PM	#26
DragonRage Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Cleveland, Ohio Posts: 209	I hope everything turns out in your favor!

03/02/2008, 08:12 PM	#27
ReidiLoverLinds Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: South Carolina Posts: 116	Can you show me a pic of the papa so i can take a guess at what species these are? The best thing would be to find his mate but if that is not possible he may mate with another female but that is not for certain. I believe females are more likley to stray and breed around in seahorse land at least haha. Be sure to watch the ammonia in the tanks if they are not cycled. You may have to do daily water changes. Air driven sponge filters are the best choice for filtration in a fry setup.

03/02/2008, 11:21 PM	#29
ManotheSea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: FL Posts: 414	I found out that the restaurant got 2 or 3 other seahorses along with my pregnant one. Maybe its a long shot but its at least possible that his mate was one of the others captured in the same crab trap. If I took the seahorse to the restaurant and put him in their tank what would I look for as far as behaviour? Is there a certain way the pair will behave to help me identify her if she is there? BTW how do you ID their sex?

03/03/2008, 10:06 AM	#30
erik1202 Premium Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: MI Posts: 286	Males have a pouch on their underside below the chest and females do not. If they are mates they should engage in the courting ritual every day, usually in the morning and evening. This means they will seek each other out and wind their tails together and put on a little dance for you around the tank. Good luck with the hookup.

03/03/2008, 11:18 PM	#31
kidney514 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Brossard, Quebec Posts: 687	any more pics......

03/26/2008, 05:20 AM	#33
ManotheSea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: FL Posts: 414	I have more pics I can post later. Thanks for the interest. This batch lasted into the 6th day then they all perished. I was not prepared well so I was only hoping to have one or two survive. I can see three mistakes in my methods. Because of my lack of rotifer culture I used cyclopeze and frozen baby brine. I dont think this was adequate. Now that I have a thriving rotifer culture I can see the size of a rotifer is much smaller than the size of a baby brine. Secondly I tried to introduce rotifers by using fresh sea water. I later saw hydroids in the nursery tanks which another member warned against. The hydroids probably did their share of damage to the babies. There might have been a nitrite spkie as well since I was using newly set up bare tanks. I had hoped the daily water changes would be enough to keep the water parameters in check. Now I have three liters of dense rotifer population. No more fresh sea water in the nursery tanks. If anyone has more tips for me I would like to be as ready as possible for the next batch. I have pics of the daddy seahorse for ID. I think they are Erectus but will leave the confirmation to those of you with more experience.

03/26/2008, 07:15 PM	#34
ReidiLoverLinds Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: South Carolina Posts: 116	there is a good chance that one of those is his mate because they usually stay within near proximity of each other. the only way to figure it out would be to put them all in the same tank and see if he dances with any of them.

03/26/2008, 07:16 PM	#35
ReidiLoverLinds Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: South Carolina Posts: 116	they are southern erectus if they were caught in florida and are benethic.