Proud Daddy

[ghoti]

I woke up this morning to find out I was a Daddy! My High-crown seahorse (Hippocampus procerus) had given birth. I thought he was getting big but didn't think he was that close. I put all the little ones in a breeding trap and ran out to get some brine shrimp eggs. I decapsulated them and they should be ready to feed in the morning. Does anybody have any suggestions that would help me raise my little family? I've heard that you can feed baby brine shrimp marine snow to maker them more nutritious. Is this true?

Here's a photo of my brood. I think they have my nose.

[cath]

Congrats, Fish! I don't know anything about seahorses, but I just had to congratulate you on your new family. Homer is a seahorse keeper, and maybe Jenn.

Wooo Hooo!

[FishDaddy]

Originally Posted by ghoti

I think they have my nose.

How cute! I think they look like their mother!!

Congratulations on the brood! As Cath said, Jenn & Homer should be by directly and they know Seahorses.

Dick

[JennM]

Congratulatons - they are beauties!

I'm not familiar with care of that particular species... if you do a search on this forum with my user name and the word "seahorse" you'll find a bunch of posts with my experiences with H. reidi.

I don't know if H. procerus is benthic or pelagic (can they hitch at birth, or are they free-floating?) but you might want to put something in the breeding trap to let them hitch on - a piece of caulerpa or something. I had plastic needlepoint canvas for my babies which worked well too.

I kept my babies in 1 gallon fish bowls set up with a Kriesel system - simply put, a silicone airline fixed to the mid point of the curve in the side of a drum-style fish bowl, and a perky bubble kept the water circulating around and around and kept babies and artemia nauplii in the center. Don't let the babies hit the surface or they will gulp air and if they can't pass it, they will stick to the surface and die.

Again, search my posts here, and you might want to check out www.syngnathid.org and/or www.seahorse.org for more information.

Congrats and good luck!

Jenn

[Allyson]

How cool! Congrats and good luck!

Keept us posted!

[cath]

do I get to pinch Homer to get him to look here? Mwahahahaha!

[Reefdude5]

get him with the ice and pincers Cath! Congrats, i think they have their father's tail's though

[ghoti]

Thanks for the tips Jenn. I assume they are a benthic species because they were able to hitch right away. Some are already floating at the surface. Is there anything I can do to help them pass the gas? They are a bit small for me to burp them.

[JennM]

Nope nothing you can do - just watch and wait. Remember in the wild only about 1 in 1000 make it so don't beat yourself up too badly if none survive the first brood. But be ready - they usually mate again within 24 hours after the male gives birth - watch for the courting behavior. I don't know what gestation is, but plan on a new batch soon... I had Brazillians and they had babies every 14 days without fail... I had brine pots rattling at all hours of the morning - woke all the TRT sleeplyheads up for a long time!

Jenn

[hankstanks]

At the store I use to work at, we would use Cyclopeeze and baby brine. Both seemed to work well. We soaked the brine in ZOE by KENT just to make em a little more healthy I guess.

Good luck. My cleaner shrimp give birth like twice a month. I hardly have to feed the tank during that period, It's great! (for me anyway

[cath]

Originally Posted by ghoti

Thanks for the tips Jenn. I assume they are a benthic species because they were able to hitch right away. Some are already floating at the surface. Is there anything I can do to help them pass the gas? They are a bit small for me to burp them.

garlic, perhaps? j/k