barderer Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Well, I went down to rockport last weekend to go fishing in the bay and when I was catching bait fish I caught a dwarf sea horse. I had the little guy in a small tank for a few days and thought he looked unusually bloated. Well last night 10 super tiny baby horses came out of his pouch. I netted a daddy! Anyway I am having mixed results hatching baby brine shrimp. I want to keep these guys alive. Any suggestions on how to separate the hatched shrimp from the eggs? I have a fine mesh net but the shrimp seem to go right through it. Also, if anyone has any live cultures of pods, roterfies or the like, hook me up so I can keep these guys alive. I will give you one when they grow up if you want. I am building a small acrylic tank specialized for horses right now but I mainly need emergency live food help!!! Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Hi Nick.... If this is a dwarf seahorse, it will have to eat live rotifers or BBS for the rest of its life. Right now, I am starting to culture rotifers, but it is not set up yet. I will have some decapsulated BBS in the morning and I might be able to spare some as I am feeding my own reidi ponies right now. I know this is not much help at the moment, but some suggest not to feed for the first 24 hours anyway. You could always go to Aquatek and pick up their brine shrimp hatchery kit, but I really feel they will be too big for your babies to eat. I think my own BBS are too big, but that's all you have to work with right now. I ordered live rotifers and got them in yesterday from Seahorse Source, but unfortunately I need them to start my culturing...Please google dwarf seahorse care and I do believe they can not eat anything but BBS as adults, always....and as far as fry, you will definitely need live rotifers....Let me know what you come up with Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted October 3, 2009 Author Share Posted October 3, 2009 hmm well I hope bbs are good enough for now. I am using a coffee filter to strain them and it works well. LMK when you have some spare roties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Hey Nick...How are your babies doing? I have yet to start my roti culturing...I'm on it TODAY....but I do have some decapsulated BBS to spare if you need some? Just let me know...I only have ONE nice size reidi doing well so far...I lost appox 50 in 2 days...these reidi are going to be the death of me yet I see my males are about to pop again, and this time I well be ready and waiting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 well one died last night but I don't know the cause. There are a ton o baby brine shrimp in there so I have that problem solved. I hope the don't need roterfers exclusively otherwise I am screwed. Should I be trying dead roterfers at least? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I really do not think they would eat it because it it not live food and you would just be contaminating the water. You could try a little and see if they go for it. Just make sure you do frequent water changes. I tried it with the reidi and they wanted none of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 well I think you were right. Despite what I read online they do not appear to be eating live baby brine. Starting to drop like flies now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I'm sorry ...but this is the world of trying to raise seahorse fry I have had HUNDREDS of babies die, and I am in a controlled environment for both parents and fry. But I will not give up because now I have the knowledge and supplies to hopefully get this right!! I still have my one pony and he is getting bigger...but I've had this before only to lose him at 6 weeks. We'll see how it goes!! How is the parent horse doing? Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 The parent horse is doing well. I am almost done with my specialty tank I am building for him. I will post picks. So once one gets good at raising the fry what is the expected mortality rate? Are roterfiers the only viable option for food? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Ya'll should go pick Shane's brain @ fishy business. At last month's meeting he was telling a story about a lady who specialized in sea horses and had some that were over 20 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 here is the tank thread http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/8389-new-sea-horse-tank/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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