Dwarf Seahorses

[Larry Mc]

Well on the 27th we lost the male that gave birth to the last babys. I thought he was going to make it but I didn't see him do any eating. We also lost a baby on the siphon line during the night. So one in almost a month ain't to bad I guess, but would rather not lose any.As of today everyone is doing good. The first babys are really growing fast and they are 25 days old. Still can't tell if any of them might be a male.

[aquawolf]

Sorry for the loss of the male.

Overall though, I would say that you are having a successful breeding/brooding program. Supposedly one of the hardest things to do is to keep the babies alive, and with the siphon line exceptions you seem to have a handle on that.

If my quick count is anywhere near accurate, you now have around 60 of them in your tank. You only started with 15 and have lost about 6 or so?

[Larry Mc]

I think we have 41 all told. We only have 1 adult male left. So hoping some of the earlier babys are males.

[aquawolf]

Do you have any idea how long it takes for them to mature?

[Larry Mc]

They are suppose to be mature in 3 months.here is a pic of my tanks hooked together. 1is the seahorse tank and the other is a start of a simi-reef tank. The yellow gorgoniun I think is dead or dying because it is flaking...But the polyp that was at the base of the gorgoniun came off and now is in the bank of the tank on the sand.

[Larry Mc]

here is the pic I thought I had uploaded but didn't. this is of the polyp.

[Larry Mc]

Well everyone seems to be doing good today.We was watching the horses last night and I think 2 of the first babys are males.At 26 days old it is hard to tell but it sure looks like it.I started disconnecting the siphon hose to the powerhead different time of the day because since I put a bigger line on the powerhead it has been sucking to much brine into the 10gal and the skimmer gets it.The first 4 babys are almost as big as the adult females all but 1 runt the wife calls Hermy...He has a white face ,black tail, and redish brown torso.He is realll hard to find in all that red plants and the mangrove roots.The adult male hasn't started mating yet so it might be awhile. I read it is usauly 3 to 4 days after giving birth.

[Larry Mc]

We just noticed the male is courting again.so in afew days he will be preg. again.

here is a pic of hermy

Here is some more babys there is 12 babys and 1 adult female

can ya find all 12 babys?

[Larry Mc]

Well I went in and fed the little one and they seem to be doing good this morning. I change the light bulb to a different one to try to get away from the slime algea. We are goint to do a water change today and thinking about taking that moon sand out of it. It can't be healthy if it will turn a live rock black on the bottom... I guess for now we will go bare bottom until we can get some other substrate. We are not going to take it out all at once though because it is still part of the filter. Don't wqant to schock it.

[Siberman]

1) Are you feeding brine shrimp exclusively ?

2) If so, how many batches do you keep going at one time?

[Larry Mc]

Yes I'm feeding BBS only. I have about 2 to 3 quarts going all the time. I decap. for about 6 min. My 4 older babys are 27 days old. At around 22 we lost three. We have 1 that is a runt and he is doing good but small. I think one of the babys is a male at least it looked like a male pouch.

[ittybittyreef]

That is the coolest thing ever. I was originally going to keep dwarf seahorses when I set up my 2.5 gal pico tank. But decided that was an awful lot of work keeping constant supplies of bbs going all the time. Maybe it's not so bad though?
Your babies are cuuuuutttte!

[Larry Mc]

Our last male I think is preg. He looks like he is full. So 12 to 14 days we will be getting another batch of babys. I hope it will be a small birth because it seems to me when they have a big birth we lose our males..... We are losing one of the original females I think. I seen her this morning propt up on a root. I thought she was dead but not so, so I moved her towards the front of the tank. Her breathing is real slow and sometimes she will move alittle. We did a water change yesturday of 2 1\2 gallons, and I siphoned up alot of the gunk and sand off the bottom of the 5 tank. I'm still concerned about that sand,because I found some stuck to the magnet algea scraper yesturday. I'm just wondering if there is metal mineral in it...

[Larry Mc]

Well we lost her. By the time I got back in there she had died.

[Larry Mc]

We lost a older baby this morning. I tested the water and everything was good. He was hanging upside down on some plants so I didn't think anything was wrong, because he does that alot. I don't know if taking some of the sand out stressed him,he was doing ok last night when the lights went out.