Erectus Success!!!

[Aquazoa]

Hey Everybody!
Boy am I excited! I have successfully tank raised the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus. I have eleven specimens at 3 months now and they are actively eating frozen food! I've been working on this project since Nov. and it has really been a learning challenge and I felt very frustrated many times along the way but it has all been worth it. I plan to detail my work in an article soon.
Thanks to Ray O'Connor and Margi Shindell for valuable words of advice along the way.
Like they say at Ocean Rider, "This is the Golden Age of the Seahorse".
How great is this hobby?! Looking forward to sharing my results with folks at SWU2.

Porter

[Loverotties]

Congrads!Thats really great!How many you have!

[piberoptikz]

Wow!

[smeese]

Please do post more info. I am so intrested in doing the same project.

[Aquazoa]

There are eleven and I haven't lost any in the past month although I experienced mass mortalities over approx. 4 series of hatches since Nov. What's really cool is the way they mimic their surroundings. These guys have the coolest coronets and cirri (extensions) to mimic the algae for camouflage.
Hints:
You have to become adept at artemia cyst decapsulation.
There needs to be a laminar crossflow of water across the top of
the rearing tank so no new hatchlings get stuck in stagnant
areas.
No substrate on bottom for easier siphoning.
Copepods should be present in the rearing tank.
Don't use Caulerpa (grows too fast), use gutter guard for hitching.
Lysmata zoeae are critical for survival approaching the 1st month
unless you have them on frozen early or live mysids or Halocari-
dina larvae.
Adult brine should be considered to keep them full and enriched but
only offer towards the end of the photoperiod while keeping frozen
brine/mysid swirling around in front of them throughout the first few
hours.
A feeding station is key to success.

[SShindell]

Great job Porter....Now raise some cowfish and you can start the PorterRanch (how do you brand those little guys?)


Steve

[Flipturn88]

Congratulations on your success! It's a very rewarding process to see the fry grow - especially when they develop cirri and different colors.

[Sprayin70]

Congrats!!! They look so happy...

[GLXTRIX]

congrats porter, glad to see things are working out finally, I remember when you told me about this way back when, and you had the lil fry in the store

Lee

[Aquazoa]

Thanks! Not too sure about branding cattle, but it is good to be "back in the saddle!" When I load up my upwelling feeding stations (there are 2 stations so there is more feed for the herd as they seem to get aggressive with each other at feeding time) it's a little rodeo!
Another point I've discovered with my herd is that San Francisco Bay's
Marine Cuisine turned out to be a perfect transitional food from live adult artemia as it is a blend of frozen adult artemia and smaller sized mysids (plus other seafoods). The Piscine Energetics Mysids I had to shave down on a cheese grater and the various particles did not seem to elicit much response. The P.E. mysids will likely be ideal in another month or so. And of course, always soak in vitamins, HUFAs, and garlic!

Porter

[MsReeReee]

That is so cool luv seahorses.........

[Lifestudent]

That's great news Porter! Congratulations!

I'm glad that you persevered and were patient enough to get this hatch to grow.

Please keep us posted about your progress.

Bob