Seahorses born!!!

[MCSInc]

Wow

Wow, that is great. Thanks for the updates. I am in awe of your success. Keep us updated please.

 

[Wink]

We set up a webcam on the seahorse fry. It's not high quality or anything.. but we think it's kinda cool. Wally has it set up on this website:

Streaming Fry Cam

We have lost a few the past couple of days.. still have about 90% of them though (compared to last time we only had 30-40% at this stage).

 

[Mauisreef]

The worst is expensive frozen Hikari rotifers. Nearly every critter body is burst open with the contents spilled out, just empty husks and water pollution. Perhaps they are good products but were mishandled, freeze/thaw/freeze etc????

Gratz on your successes!
I can't wait to get some ponies of my own.
As far as the Hikari and other foods it would be good to know.
Thanks for the update.


Maui

 

[MCSInc]

Awsome!

I love the live cam. I never thought about them being so active. I have a question since my monitor does not show the picture very clear. Are we looking at your newest babies with bubbles or food in the background or are we seeing the previous batch as the bigger babies and a large number of the new babies swimming around them. They are georgeous.

 

[Wink]

It's the new fry that are a week old today. The snowstorm is brine shrimp, copepods, rotifers, and a cheap cam. They won't be as active after they can hitch. Right now there are bubbles set up in the back that send the water in a ferris wheel motion... that's needed to keep the fry off the surface (if they injest air they usually die). That current keeps them in motion.

Glad folks are enjoying it.

UPDATE: Wally just changed the lighting.. you should be able to see them much better now. Can't see their yellow color but it's quite an improvement!

 

[MCSInc]

At what age/stage do they learn to hitch?

 

[Wink]

Hitching depends on the species. Some species hitch at birth others don't start until about 6 weeks. Mine are in the middle... last batch they didn't hitch until about 3 weeks but this brood it seems that some are already hitching.

 

[MCSInc]

Oscapus,

How are you comming with the Reidi fry? Any success there.

 

[Oscapus]

At day 27, I only have 3 left but they are very thick and maturing. The newly hatched brine shrimp no longer get their attention, probably too small, but they don't seem to aggressively go after the live pods in the tank (the next food size up). I have seen them snick at them a little bit, but not enough to flourish and grow up. They seem to ignore both the frozen and freeze-dried Cyclopeeze, but they must be eating something to be getting bigger. I just hope I can get them up to the tiny Hikari mysis eating stage soon.

The herd born 12 days ago has thinned considerably, probably about 20 left but heartily eating baby brine. Yesterday, another batch of 40 were born from a new seahorse, these are very small fry only half the size of the other 2 same-father batches described above. They also know what baby brine are for!

I keep doing 10% water changes everyday, mostly to get rid of the old Cyclopeeze floating around. The pods seem to like it though.

 

[MCSInc]

I continue to be in awe. Thanks for the update and good luck.

 

[Oscapus]

The father from yesterday is already chasing a female around with his pouch open. They don't waste any time!

 

[LynusAnn]

Hey, i'm glad there's a fellow reefer at least relatively close to me that's breeding also! Please keep me updated on your progress and what methods you've tried. I've love to see pictures of your setups. I've built my entire seahorse setup from scratch and I had 2 pairs of H. Reidi but since I'm moving my tank is torn down and the LFS is awsome enough to hold them for me until I get into my new house. I've got a great little (errr..rather it's kind of large) setup and I'm going to be breeding as soon as they get settled into their new home so any experience you can pass along is great!

Also, if you know of anyone up there in WA that has horses for sale I am trying to get ahold of a pair of H. Barbouri.

I wish you the best of luck w/ your horses! I hope your babies do well

 

[Angelscrx]

An update on pics would be great please. This thread is so cool for so many reasons.

 

[MCSInc]

Update?

Are all of those babies keeping you guys busy???

 

[Wink]

Busy, Busy, Busy!! Day 17 and we have about 25 still. We seem to be expecting another brood probably on Thursday. Many are hitching regularly now, mostly when lights are off.

The live webcam is at: http://www.seahorsecastle.com/webcam.htm

Here are a couple of pics I took a couple of minutes ago.

 

[fishman]

Hey, Just found this thread. Amazing :shock: ! If you guys need any help let me know. I'm in Tacoma so I'm close to both of you. It sounds like your pretty busy.

 

[MCSInc]

Wink,

Do we get the big "1 Month" celebration pictures tomorrow???

 

[Wink]

Sure... here are their one month pics. We have 11 left. That's less then what we hoped for but still alot better then none. The last few we lost were due to hydroids... we've killed the hydroids now but a couple fry still look like they might not recover.. we shall see.

The brood I was expecting on 12/23 we only got 9 and they were deformed or premmie.. couldn't swim or eat.. none of those are still with us. We seem to be expecting again.. not quite sure when maybe around the 11th. I included a pic of the slightly PG daddy too. The last pic is Mommy's Xmas pic.. even has tree lights reflected.

 

[Oscapus]

Wink: I also lost most of my little guys to hydroids, but I still have 3 that are 6 1/2 weeks old, plus 5 that are 4 weeks old. I think they will all make it. I set up a new nursery last night and expect to move everybody in tomorrow. How did you get rid of the hydroids? P.S. I get 40-50 fry every week now, I even have a mystery father that doesn't show any signs of pregnacy !

 

[Alice]

Thanks for keeping us updated; it's awesome!