Baby Seahorse Update...

[Teacher Kim]

Hi. This is Teacher Kim. Here's a quick update on my Hippo Er seahorses. Ive been way too busy to set up the tank for babies, but was able to catch 3 when my male gave birth first thing in the morning. You're going to laugh, but right now they're being kept in a gallon plastic freezer bag in the main tank! Todays the 4th day and they're still alive! I'm amazed! Of course I change out water often and replace plants with new ones from tank. I think they're eating off the plants. I have seeded the tank twice with copopods over the last year and there is a very small population of livestock for the siz tank and live rock...etc.. Anyway, We'll see what happens. One parent came in this morning and said they'd actually grown. I cant tell! LoL Wish me luck!

 

[PghFishNerd]

GOod luck! That's so exciting! Have you actually seen them eating yet? That's always the toughest part.

 

[Teacher Kim]

I did have one eating for sure... but as of yesterday the last one died. I think they eventually all got air inside them. They did great for the first 5-6 days.

I have the bug now though so I will be working on an actual tank for them soon. I had kind of given up because I heard they always gave birth at night and there was NO WAY I was staying up to wait for them! LOL Now I just read that they give birth before noon.... that works out much better for me! I will write when I have more news!

 

[cyychan]

I have just had the same experience. My male Reidi gave birth 4 days ago while we were out, so I only managed to catch what I saw after, which came to about 40 babies. I put them in a rearing tank which goes into the parents' tank, with slits to allow communication of the water. I think I saw one or two babies eat, but not consistently, and now that it is the 4th day, more than half have already died, leaving a small handful of them still hanging on to their dear lives, too weak to even think about feeding. They all have air in their throat! I am sure they are going to follow their dead brothers soon. The fun and excitement was good while it lasts. I am now just desperate to see their daddy recover and eat properly again to get back to his good health like before.

 

[malau]

just curious as I know nothing about seahorses at all... how come there is some air can go into their throat?

 

[cyychan]

I am no expert, just been keeping seahorses in the last year after the first year of reef keeping. This is my third pair of seahorses, but is the first pair of H. Reidi. The previous ones were H. kuda, then tiger tails. I think the babies simply gulp air, being unable to control their own movements when they were weak and small, and since the small air bubble in their throat becomes like a buoy, they then could not move around to eat! So they starve to death...

 

[Big Ray]

just curious as I know nothing about seahorses at all... how come there is some air can go into their throat?

All seahorses do that at birth, so they dont have to swim upwards in water, if they let go, they go up ... some with birth defect will take in too much and are unable to move after.

 

[cyychan]

So are you saying that they all had birth defect?

 

[Big Ray]

So are you saying that they all had birth defect?

No I am not cause I was not there

I explained how seahorses work and the parents need to be STRONG and HEALTHY to give birth to strong and healthy babies, as you explained the father was not doing good after, so that shows the babies are not the healthiest of the bunch. a healthy Reidi will get prag. again within 24 hours of giving birth. and 14 days later will pop.


now about H.Reidi, you are actually trying to breed one of the HARDEST type of seahorse. so dont feel bad at all. now reidis as babies will not hitch to anything, and they are too small to accept BBS, they need to be started off with rotifers ! 99% of times. now they are very week, and need to be fed at least 10 times a day, with rotifers which are enriched with Beta Glucan to give them energy, after a couple days, they can be switched over to BBS, and then after first week brine shrimp couple days old and enriched.

now what have you been feeding your fry ?

"Reidi gave birth 4 days ago while we were out, so I only managed to catch what I saw after, which came to about 40 babies. I put them in a rearing tank which goes into the parents' tank, with slits to allow communication of the water."
they give birth to over 200 usually, and the fry are REALLY sensitive to Hydroids and more ... so their sting can be lethal. jus the time elapsed between you getting them out could be enough to paralyze some .
connecting it to your seahorse tank is not recommended.

also a nursery for seahorse should keep the seahorses rotating around the tank for at least 2 weeks ! the fry should not be able to swim where he wants, flow should move it around and around so it wont get stuck to surface nor sink to the bottom. the flow should be provided with a rigid air tube, with BIG bubbles so seahorses wont digest the smaller bubbles....

seahorse.org has ALOT of really good info which you should read.
just sharing info it took me like 7 tries to finally start raising the fry.



and lastly : "I am no expert, just been keeping seahorses in the last year after the first year of reef keeping. This is my third pair of seahorses, but is the first pair of H. Reidi. The previous ones were H. kuda, then tiger tails. I think the babies simply gulp air, being unable to control their own movements when they were weak and small, and since the small air bubble in their throat becomes like a buoy, they then could not move around to eat! So they starve to death..."

what happened to the H.Kuda and tiger tails ? those are strong ponies ! seahorses require alot more care and have specific needs. are they Wild caught or captive bread ? have you de-wormed them ? what do you feed them ?

 

[cyychan]

I believe my kudas and tiger tails are likely to have been wild caught. I bought them from the local aquatic shops, although to their credit, I do believe they are good people. These were my earliest taste of seahorses, and they only lasted a couple of months each time. Even my first reidi was likely to be wild caught. All of these ponies were feeding well, but they became ill quickly and stopped eating. These are all sad memories. The "father" reidi I referred to, after 2 months of declining health after the birth, had finally succumbed to tail rot and gave up the will to live in the last few days. The remaining female reidi is looking forlorn but feeding. She was from Simply Seahorse, captive bred. I was not intending to breed seahorses, so perhaps I should just have a single one, or 2 of the same sex. Thank you for your advice.

 

[Big Ray]

I believe my kudas and tiger tails are likely to have been wild caught. I bought them from the local aquatic shops, although to their credit, I do believe they are good people. These were my earliest taste of seahorses, and they only lasted a couple of months each time. Even my first reidi was likely to be wild caught. All of these ponies were feeding well, but they became ill quickly and stopped eating. These are all sad memories. The "father" reidi I referred to, after 2 months of declining health after the birth, had finally succumbed to tail rot and gave up the will to live in the last few days. The remaining female reidi is looking forlorn but feeding. She was from Simply Seahorse, captive bred. I was not intending to breed seahorses, so perhaps I should just have a single one, or 2 of the same sex. Thank you for your advice.

welcome . but what do you feed them ?

seahorses do not have a stomach ! they dont store food, they need to be fed alot, live food and frozen and PE mysis has the highest nutritinal values. let me know if you need more help trying to figure out what went wrong, as continuing this will just lead to your females death as well.

best of luck

 

[seahorsesam]

I have just had the same experience. My male Reidi gave birth 4 days ago while we were out, so I only managed to catch what I saw after, which came to about 40 babies. I put them in a rearing tank which goes into the parents' tank, with slits to allow communication of the water. I think I saw one or two babies eat, but not consistently, and now that it is the 4th day, more than half have already died, leaving a small handful of them still hanging on to their dear lives, too weak to even think about feeding. They all have air in their throat! I am sure they are going to follow their dead brothers soon. The fun and excitement was good while it lasts. I am now just desperate to see their daddy recover and eat properly again to get back to his good health like before.

Hi, I put my h.reidi babies in a 20 gallon with two air tube on each side to keep them from getting air intake. I feed them at 6:00 am every 4 hours. At 8:00 pm I turn light off. If you over feed
they will stop eating. I had some make it to 2 mo.old after that I start to loose them. I think it is because I do not have enough copepods I call them water fleas to get them to the next satge. My potbellied seahorse fry are larger and after three weeks
they start to eat frozen cyclop-eeze.