Babies!! I wasnt ready yet.

[Gopi]

My male erectus is giving birth right now!! I woke up and checked the tank first thing and they were everywhere! I turned off everything and starting removing them from the tank and back chamber. But now what? My pod cultures aren't ready, I hadn't set the fry tank up yet and the wee ones are still coming. LFS opens in 2 hrs so I'll try to get down for some pods or rotifers if I can... So excited!

 

[143MPCo]

Always wanted sea horse tank, maybe my next setup... best of luck with them and keep the pictures and updates coming!

 

[Gopi]

Thanks! I think I got all the fry out. Even saw my male having contractions! I added a clump of algae to the little dish for hitches and hopefully some copepods while I get the rearing tank up.
The bad news is that I'm parked in. Hubby went out of town with friends early this morning and my car is blocked. I'm stuck. (I knew I should've moved my car to the street last night before people came over this morning.) They won't be back before the store closes tonight. Hmmmmm.

 

[143MPCo]

Do you have a build thread for the Sea Horse Tank, would like to see and read up on the setup you have?

 

[Gopi]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/gopis-jbj-45-rimless-for-seahorses.190417/

 

[Gopi]

Hitching already. Hooked up an air pump while I get the fry tank ready.

 

[Gopi]

Sterilized 1/2 gal vase, filled with new sw and moved them over. I would guess around 100 and only 1 loss so far.
Too bad I don't live with walking distance of the LFS to get pods or bs cysts. (Also probably a good thing)

 

[Gopi]

Both males are now displaying their empty pouches for the female... Right now its looking like she is favoring the non-father.

 

[TamiW]

I actually wrote something for this exact situation! http://fusedjaw.com/breeding/help-my-seahorse-just-had-babies/

You can feed newborn H. erectus newly hatched brine shrimp. You've got 24-48 hours to get them their first foods (sooner is better, of course!) Copepods are nice but not necessary to start them out. You will want to gutload the brine shrimp with an enrichment that contains DHA. Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com is really the best there is right now. If you don't have anything, then feed the newly hatched brine shrimp; but get an enrichment asap. Seahorses can't survive off the nutrition available in bbs only.

Good luck!

 

[Gopi]

Thanks, Tami! I've read a lot of your articles over at FusedJaw before I got my ponies.

I picked up some roti-feast and have fed that to the fry. They looked like they were eating at least? I'm just not sure how much to feed at once. I put in 4 drops...for starters.
I hope to get by bs cultures up in the next couple days...I'll set up in the guest room and maybe I won't get in trouble with hubby... (They are his horsies anyhow!)

 

[megisawesome06]

Awesome! I'm excited to see your updates and pics! [emoji38]

 

[Gopi]

We had only a couple over night casualties. I've upgraded from the vase to a partially filled 2.5 gallon tank, mostly for the increased surface area for gas exchange. I've got a BS hatchery going in the guest bedroom along with green water and my pod culture... Abby at Seahorse Source gave me some tips while we were finalizing my order for Dan's Feed and artemia cysts (were quite hard to find locally!)- I've also ordered some formalin off Amazon per her suggestion but it won't get here until next week. I have quite a few floating, yet living fry and she said that is likely due to ciliates or protozoa attack and they dose formalin from day 1 to take care of that.

The LFS manager said he'd be interested in purchasing if I am successful. We shall see...

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Good luck!!

 

[Gopi]

Culled about 30 fry who couldn't swim right today. Was finally able to feed some bbs this evening and it was so cool to see the tiniest little snicks! Id seen them making the motion with the roti but couldnt actually tell if they were successful. Some of them are not good eaters (snickig too far away) but about 5 were very successful hunters. Dan's Feed should arrive Thursday so I can enrich the bbs.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Fingers crossed! This reminds me that I should probably get some Dan's Feed on hand so I am ready.

 

[Gopi]

I think I have about 25-30 survivors right now. At day 5, I feel like that's pretty good? (Poor quality cellphone pic attached.).

I did lose an entire bottle of hatched bbs overnight, I'm having issues with the air pumps I have producing enough flow. The hatched bottle wasn't bubbling anymore and the water was cloudy. The other bottle sharing that pump was still bubbling away and should be mostly hatched this evening. While disappointing, the fry still have plenty of bbs swimming around in their tank and I've got more rotifers if needed. I rinsed the deceased and few surviving bbs really well and fed to the reef. Corals and anthias are pretty happy with their treat. I'll be picking up some new airpumps today...

 

[vlangel]

Best wishes with your babies!

 

[Gopi]

Major losses overnight and my fault too. I went to check on the ponies and discovered the air pump was unplugged...probably for a good 12hrs. I found unplugging for about 20 minutes at feeding time helped them hunt successfully. I can't believe I forgot them!
No one was actively swimming this morning and I could see several on the bottom. I pulled the survivors into a small container and put the airline in there to oxygenate while I did a full tank cleaning and got new water from the garage. I had 15 deaths but still have 20-25 survivors (guess I had more yesterday than I thought.) I gave them some fresh bbs and 5 started hunting. I hope a few pull through. I just feel terrible about not checking them before going to bed last night.

I'm going to start enriching the bbs with Dan's Feed today since I know have some old enough to enrich.

 

[Gopi]

Update! After 2 hours all but 1 surviving fry are actively swimming and eating. The other fry is being lazy...floating at the top but near the light so its in the largest group of bbs and is just eating away. there havent been any other losses yet today and it's nice to see full bellies.

 

[Gopi]

Standard airline for size reference Taken by my dearest hubby.