Nursery tank help

[lulabulla]

i just got back from visiting a friend who has seahorses. he thinks they are kuda and they just had babies 3-4 days ago. he needs help raising them as he doesnt know what to do. he told me he would give me a bunch of them to see if i would have luck with them as he has maybe had a 1% servival rate. he aslo doesnt seperate the babies from the adult tank.
i have 3 empty tanks~ a 1 gal, 2 1/2 gal. and a 10 gal.
1~which tank would be the best to start with for new borns and what do i need
2~ how do i set it up ( i am going to do bare bottom) but as far as it not being cycled?
i have a cycled tank up and running so if there is anything i can use from there, but i dont think its a good idea to put them in there i only have adult pipes in it.
i went to 3 stores and all were out of sponge filters....so i will hunt one down in the morning.
i should be getting them with in 1-2 days.
can anyone please start me in the right direction & let me know what to do.
thanks

 

[rykna]

We need to find Teresa.

I think she has a post in the forum about that. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[teresaq]

I'm no expert, but my research shows that a 10 gal with a couple of foam filters with the airlift tube almost at the surface works well. Until the sponge becomes seeded with nitrifying bacteria, you will need to do daily water changes at least 10 % to 15 %. also use Amquel Plus to help keep water parameters in check in between water changes
Having two tanks so that the fry can be moved for tank cleaning.
you also need to think about food. What are you planning on feeding the fry? Kuda will need live rotifers for a few weeks, then start adding newly hatched bbs, then a few weeks later two day old bbs enriched, then adult enriched bs, then trained to frozen.
You can also google for Kreisel systems, thoug I know nothing aobut them
T

 

[novahobbies]

Ive done a bit of research on Kreisel and pseudo-kreisel setups. your best bet for a pseudokreisel setup includes a pair of medium plastic drum-style fishbowls, a 10 gallon tank to set them in, some plastic netting, an aquaclear HOB filter, and airline tubing.
You take the plastic drum fishbowl and cut a small circle out of both flat sides....near the top of the bowl, maybe an inch or so in diameter. Cover this with mesh, big enough to allow water flow but small enough to keep the planktonic food in the bowl itself. Then you drill a small hole in the rounded side of the bowl, smack in the middle. Insert an airline in this hole and run it out to the air pump. The point here is to let the air bubbles follow the curve of the bowl as they travel up.....thus creating a circular water movement in the bowl. This circular water movement keeps the baby horses nearer to the center of the bowls, and prevents them from hitting the sides of the bowl (which they will try and do) or staying near the surface of the water for too long (which will kill them if they injest too much air.)
Anyway, do this to two bowls. Place them in the 10 gallon aquarium, prefferably on some egg crate or other ledge system so you can raise or lower the bowls, and fill the entire 10 gallon aquarium.....and obviously, the rearing bowls.

You can use a HOB filter for the main tank, and by setting up the breeding system this way, you can use a largish HOB to keep the water quality pristine. Start the air supply and make sure you have a circular motion in the bowls, then introduce your babies.
Seahorse babies are extremely time-intensive, needing to be fed at least 4 times a day, and the food they need is involved. Rotifers need to be bought in bulk (can be expensive) or cultured (easy to do, but again time involved), BBS needs to be cultured when they graduate to that stage, the drum tanks need to be siphoned daily....you get the idea. It's not something I would recommend unless you have had experience keeping adult horses for a while, or if you have had previous experience with clownfish young.
You know what? I may be confusing you with this. Google a guy named Pete Giwojna. I hate to keep bringing his name up, but he is really an expert with seahorse care and rearing. Everything I learned about the different rearing systems came directly from the notes from his upcoming book. He runs a forum, which I can't link to here, but if you google his name I'm sure it'll come up. If you ask him I'm sure he'll email you loads of info regarding this subject. Happy Horsing!