One of my horses just had babies!

old_salt

old_salt

Member
Came home from work to find about 50 baby seahorses swimming around in my seahorse tank. I've tried to round up as many as possible and put them in one of those plastic containers used for freshwater fish having babies (sorry don't know what the technical name for this is but it floats on the top of the water and has slits in both ends to allow water to circulate). I placed screen over both ends as they were still escaping. I've read that you can feed them baby brine and rotifers. Going out to see if the LFS has anything along these lines. I had no idea that my seahorse was even pregnant. He's been acting a little strange for the past few weeks but he I didn't realize he was carrying this many babies. I know it's a long shot that any will survive but I've got to try. Any suggestions appreciated.
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Originally Posted by Old_Salt
Came home from work to find about 50 baby seahorses swimming around in my seahorse tank. I've tried to round up as many as possible and put them in one of those plastic containers used for freshwater fish having babies (sorry don't know what the technical name for this is but it floats on the top of the water and has slits in both ends to allow water to circulate). I placed screen over both ends as they were still escaping. I've read that you can feed them baby brine and rotifers. Going out to see if the LFS has anything along these lines. I had no idea that my seahorse was even pregnant. He's been acting a little strange for the past few weeks but he I didn't realize he was carrying this many babies. I know it's a long shot that any will survive but I've got to try. Any suggestions appreciated.
OMG!!! I wish I could advise you, but all I've got is a HUGE congratulations and very best wishes on your new little brood. Please keep us posted on how things go!!
WOW!!
Lisa
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
what kind are they. are they hitching. Try and not let them snick air. if they are hitching make sure you have something in bottom of the net to hitch to.
I sent you a pm
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
ok your gonan need nice filtration in your fry tnak. feed them new born brine shrimp an real small mysis. GOOGLE is your friend. look up seahorse rearing and you will find all yo need to know. get as many ut of the main tank as possible. and prepare oyurself for a fun joiurney.
now go to google!!
 
old_salt

old_salt

Member
Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Sooo...how are things going?
Lisa
So far there have been no losses from the ones I managed to catch yesterday. I picked up some rotifers and brine shrimp eggs last night and have offered them the rotifers twice. I but couldn't tell if they were eating any or not but they do start swimming around like they are looking for food. The instructions on the brine shrimp package indicate that it could take up to 4 days for them to hatch so I will continue offering the rotifers until the first batch hatch. I just hope these rotifers will keep them nourished until the brine shrimp hatch. I will keep you posted.
 
old_salt

old_salt

Member
Originally Posted by TeresaQ
what kind are they. are they hitching. Try and not let them snick air. if they are hitching make sure you have something in bottom of the net to hitch to.
I sent you a pm
I placed a single strand of bubble algae and a couple pieces of monofilament line across the container they are in and most seem to be hitching already. There are a few sitting on the bottom but most are hanging on the monofilament towards the top of the container. I may have one that snicked some air as it seems to be having problems getting down from the surface. Thanks again for your help.
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
you must have got bad eggs, should only take 24 hours or so. and did oyu google? your gonnan need to read alot of rearing guides...it's kinda importent
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
Originally Posted by Old_Salt
I placed a single strand of bubble algae and a couple pieces of monofilament line across the container they are in and most seem to be hitching already. There are a few sitting on the bottom but most are hanging on the monofilament towards the top of the container. I may have one that snicked some air as it seems to be having problems getting down from the surface. Thanks again for your help.
thats a really good sign. what type of horses? i may be interested in some =)
 
old_salt

old_salt

Member
Originally Posted by zeke92
thats a really good sign. what type of horses? i may be interested in some =)
The male is definitely a H. Erectus. The female may be also, but I cannot find any photos that look exactly like her on the internet or any of the books I have. May be a mix as the male has a short snout and the female has a much longer one. They came from different LFS's and neither were positive about the ID of the ones they were selling. Sorry I can't be more specific.
 
zeke92

zeke92

Active Member
the female is probably an erectus with some different charecteristics. keep us updated. they may just not eat forthe first day or two not too sure when they start eating, they may be livingoff small sacks or something.
 
old_salt

old_salt

Member
Just a quick update. All babies appear to be doing fine with no losses today. I fed them some rotifers and newly hatched brine shrimp. Still can't tell if they are eating but they appear to be chasing something around the container. I spent most of today preparing a 2 tank system (a 15g with 10 sump) that I hope to move the fry to by early next week if they are still doing okay. I plan to get most of the water from the 29 gallon tank they are in now so I only want to take out 5 to 10 gallons daily. Any idea how long it takes for good bacteria to attach to new bio balls or a bio sponge? I have several live rocks in my 29 gallon seahorse tank, should I put one of these in the sump? The main seahorse tank has a bare bottom due to vacuuming just about every other day. It does have plenty of bio balls and a bio sponge that I could use in this new system. I would hate to put these babies in the larger tank and then have a spike wipe them out.
 
old_salt

old_salt

Member
Originally Posted by zeke92
the female is probably an erectus with some different charecteristics. keep us updated. they may just not eat forthe first day or two not too sure when they start eating, they may be livingoff small sacks or something.
I posted photos of them in an earlier post but not sure if this link will take you to them:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/280513/ids-please
If it works, the father is in the first photo and the mother is in the 3rd one. Hope this works.
 
old_salt

old_salt

Member
I transferred them over to a 15G with a 10G sump today. All survived the move but now they are in 4 gallons of water with an air hose and heater. I need to get another 12 gallons of water but very hesitant of doing that big of a water change in the parents 29G tank. I took 4 gallons this morning and plan to take another 8 gallons tonight. This will leave me shy about 4 gallons needed to start running their new home. Do you think if I took some of the bio balls and rock from the 29G it would be okay to add 4 gallons of new salt water? This water has been mixing for about a week now. Or would it be better to pull 4 gallons out of my 210 (FOWLR)? Other option would be to take 8 gallons tonight and get the rest on Thursday. Just don't want to take a chance of having a spike in the parents tank by removing too much water too fast. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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