They had their first babies!

[tracymace1229]

Hi all,
We are both thrilled and saddened.
We bought 4 horses back in October. The LFS did not know what type they were. 2 were Redi we think, and the other 2 I think were Kudo?? The latter 2 survived 6 weeks and then suddenly perished within 36 hours of each other.
The system is several large tanks hooked up together and the 2 survivors had to manage a complete tank relocation to the other side of the system before Christmas. Shortly after that is when we noticed the one had the look of a male.
Calamity struck the system and the past week or so has been the focus of making the entire system go 'fallow' to rid out some ick!!!

The entire system has been in disarray, but all the fish except 2 small green chomis are doing well in the trio of hospital tanks. {55, 40, 20} Knowing that the Horses and the mandarin would not survive the hospital tanks...they were moved to the refugium.
The only water that goes into the fuge passes through the UV Sterilizer. Between that, the Sea Horses hard skin and the Mandarin's slime coating, we are hoping that this will still permit the 'fallow' period of the system to work.
The horses seemed to adjust well. The male looked bloated. They cleaned up the copepods and amphipods in short order!! They even stopped eating the frozen mysis for a couple days!!
As I was adjusting the lighting I noticed the babies!! About a dozen or more.
I was not prepared with the my focus on the hospital tanks! Heck we were surprised last night to find that some hundred+ BBS hatched out in the main system.
I separated the mandarin in his own section of the refuge and the parents tend to stay on their side...most of the babies have gone to the middle.
The parents seemed to not be interested in eating the babies, yet!
I read that the Dwarfs are the hardest to keep. That even if they make it past the first few weeks they usally have a hard time around week 5.
I have no rotifers, no hatched BBS{which are almost as large as the babies} they were all gone by this morning, What I do have is Phytoplankton, zooplankton, frozen dafnia, and frozen cyclops. Would any of that be of any use to the babies. We are aware that they will most likely all starve! It is sad.
please help...thanks!

 

[shrimpy brains]

Wow!!
Well, I am certainly no expert, as I have only had horses for about 2 weeks.
I don't even know where to start answering your questions, but I will give you a little info. that might help.
Is there any chance you have a spare 10g tank? If so, you can move the babies in there, bare bottom with a sponge filter is good. You will need to make some hitches. Plastic ties, fake plants(no wire), are good.
They need newly hatched baby brine. You could get these frozen at some pet stores, but aiso if you could get some to hatch out that would be good. You will need to decap the brine eggs to prevent hydroids.
Since the situation is what it is, you could try the frozen cyclops, etc. I really don't expect they will survive though, but it is worth a try.
Also, I recommend you read the stickies at the top of this forum for info on seahorse care. They really should be in a species specific tank of their own. I don't know how long you've had them, and certainly there is more than one way to do things, but there ar some excellent recommendations in there, compiled by many experienced seahorse keepers.
Also, good luck with the ich situation. Does your Mandarin eat frozen mysis? If it does, you should be able to hypo him. Also, I am pretty sure you can hypo the horses(but don't take my word for it)
I would also ask how long you have had the horses and if they are wild caught.(you may need to deworm them, if they are)
Maybe this is enough for starters. I hope I have said something helpful, and wish you the best. Maybe some of the experts will chime in here and be more helpful!!

 

[teresaq]

If the fry are indeed Reidi, they are one of the harder fry to raise. You need rotifers for a few weeks and bbs. I would say this batch is unsavable, but I would suggest researching and reading on seahorse keeping.
What temp are these horses kept. Could you post pictures for a proper ID

 

[tracymace1229]

Ssorry cannot get a good picture...they are too small!
they are only 1 and a half times the size of the BBs that hatched out again last night!
This morning I counted no less than 60+. There seems to be even more this afternoon.
The temp is on the higher end, 77.6.
they are swimming all over the acrylic walls, but mostly near the surface.
I used chaeto as a make shift barricade to keep them trapped on their side of the refugium! Every now and then one will sneak over to the other side.
Oh, The 2 juvi seahorses that did not make it in early December were Erectus by my researching, not Kudo. The 2 surviving juvi/adult parents are definately Redi from what I have seen. The babies are exactly like other dwarf babies that have been posted on other threads.
thanks for all the assistance!!

 

[teresaq]

I'm a little confused. I wanted pictures of the adults, How big are those.
Also, what do you mean -- like other dwarf babies. These arent dwarf seahorses are they???
Reidi babies are small. They are usually raised in a kestral type rearing tanks. Fed rotifers for a week or so then bbs.
I have had Erectus babies make it to 6 weeks. Feeding proper foods and enrichments (I did not have them at the time) are a must if you hope to have any survive. I would set up at least a 5 gal with an air line. Get some bbs hatched and give it a go.
T