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You have said that the Zulu-lulus are very easy to keep and that they breed easily. Can you tell me why you think so? How many males and how many females should I put in my tank to ensure that they mate? How long do I have to wait until the male gets pregnant? Should I separate the male once he is pregnant? How long do I need to wait until he gives birth? What do I feed the babies?
The Zulu-lulus are one of the most fun and easy seahorses to keep that I know of. They are as easy and fun as the Mustangs but have the advantage that they can be kept in smaller tanks at higher densities and seem to be less prone to gas bubble problems. They are also as fun and easy to keep as the Pixies but have the advantage of being bigger and therefore not so delicate or as tricky to feed. They also seem to be relatively insensitive to a wider range of temperatures than most seahorses being most comfortable at 75C but able to thrive in lower and higher temperatures as well as long as acclimation is a slow process and not a quick one. I would not say that they are less sensitive to high nitrates or to any reading other than zero of ammonia and nitrite but are definitely less sensitive to lower salinities although I still recommend keeping them at 1.0252 if possible. These Zulu-lulus are also very good shippers with the same famous hardiness of the Mustangs and Pixies with and amazing ability to acclimate well to home aquariums after what sometimes are longer than expected trips often exposed to cooler and warmer conditions than ideal as well as lower ph than ideal and sometimes even slightly higher than zero ammonia levels. This may all seem too good to be true but now consider the best part: The feeding is even easier!! The adults are all trained to eat frozen mysis enhanced with Vibrance. They will feed easily off the bottom of the tank and seem to be always ready to eat. I don’t think they can get too fat!! As your population expands as you add new members to fill out your tank be it in part via your own breeding program or by just adding new mates you will find yourself with different sized individuals which is very pretty to look at but for many hobbyist this means more time to feed the different sized mouths and make sure everyone gets their share. Well, with the Zulu-lulus this is nothing to worry about as all you have to do is chop the mysis a little and they will all feed on it. If you are able to keep your tank full of background critters such as copepods, isopods and seahare eggs the baby capensis will feed on these easily. Even so, it is recommended that you feed some vibrance enriched baby artemia (instar) at least a few times a week just for the babies. What is amazing is that the adults will still eat these instar as well so on these days you can skip the frozen mysis and feed the whole population a good feeding of instar!. As the babies grow you can even feed an occasional feeding of larger adult artemia as long as it is enriched. Remember the potato chip theory. It you do not enrich your artemia it is the same as feeding your precious seahorses potato chips. If you go through the extra effort and expense to enrich you are feeding them what is equivalent to steak with vegetables and salad! We all know that potatoes chips will not meet the nutritional requirements even for the simplest life form! In order to get the most enjoyment out of your tank and herd I would recommend several adults of breeding age. The sex ratio really does not matter much at all as you will see breeding regardless if you have more females or more males or the same number of each. It really is a personal choice. Having said that I would set my tank up with more males as I think they are prettier and more fun to watch as they parade around impressing each other with the best of pouchs and colors! The point here is to have fun and enjoy your pets. If you have a good size herd of say 4 to 7 you should expect to see a male with a swollen pouch within 2 –3 months. The gestation period is about 3 weeks if you keep them at 75F and a bit longer is you have a cooler the tank. You can expect anywhere from a few to as many as 100 babies with the larger older males. These traits are just a few that make the Zulu-lulus an ideal choice not only for the beginner seahorse hobbyists but for the expert as well that wants to try something new and different or the enthusiast that just never has enough salt water tanks at home and finds themselves filling up their office space with tanks too! |
