Feeding Seahorse Babies HELP!

[reefer2011]

My Hippocampus Erectus seahorse gave birth to about 70 babies this morning. I didn't even know my male was pregnant! His pouch is always "inflated" looking so I thought nothing of it. I have the babies in a nursery tank that I had ready for just such an occasion as I have been trying to breed my ponies for 2 years! My problem is that since I wasn't expecting babies, I didn't start hatching any brine shrimp in advance. Does anyone know what I can feed the babies while I wait for the brine shrimp to hatch? I can't wait 18-24 hours to feed them. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Alexm8856]

If you use rock salt they will hatch quicker so you have rotifers

 

[NYreefNoob]

Honestly feed this batch to a reef if you have one. Once they start mating they do it every 45 days you will have a batch if i remember from mine, it is alot of work trying to raise the fry, i never had success, check out seahorse.org or on reefcentral there if a forum for seahorse. Trust me the cost vs what you may sell them for is a no profit situation

 

[akavner]

I feed mine rotifers. Depending on their age, this could be a regular thing so don't give up! Rotifers and pelagic copepods are the way to go. Brine shrimp are too big until the babies get a little bigger. Make sure they have hitching posts right away also. Depending on where your H.erectus are from, they can hitch right away. If they do, they are not too hard to raise. It's the pelagic fry that are the real hard fry to raise (ie. H. reidi).

 

[George]

+1 to both NYreefNoob and akavner.

I had some success with Southern erectus a couple of years ago, but never with the Northern ones -- same species (proven by DNA tests according to Todd Gardner), but the fry are very different. Southern hitch right away, Northern are pelagic for at least several days to a week, and are smaller. Here is a link to my thread from two years ago:

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/sale-trade/130717-home-bred-seahorses-sale-2.html

The links I cite have much information in them.

And here's a link to a guy who actually does start baby erectus on BBS. There's a ton of information on his pages and links!

http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/index.html

Good luck!

George

 

[reefer2011]

Thanks for all the info. I am not sure if mine are southern or northern. Some hitched right away, but the majority did not. I have lost most of the brood. I have two remaining. They are doing quite well. Eating the bbs like mad! I hope they make it.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Run down to the sound and get a few gallons of nice green seawater, plenty of plankton in there to feed on, I would say if its a 5 gallon tank, change out a gallon a day with the seawater. This is an arbitrary number. Maybe you need complete water changes to supply the food you need.

 

[ladyhealth]

Please be sure the brine shrimp eggs are decapsulated moving forward. The babies can die from ingesting the outer shell. Also, check out seahorse.org. They provide excellent seahorse information and a FREE online course. Please contact the moderator Pete. He is superb! Keep up the great work and post pics if you can. P.S The Kreisel method is helpful for fry that don't hitch right away.