Im new Help pls!! - 2008/08/19 23:32Hi everyone, I just took the tour about 30 minutes ago and i had such a good time on the tour. My question is when the seahorses, Most likely mustangs for me, Have babies how do i care for the babies? What do i need to do to ensure there survival??? I hope to be ordering sea horses soon!!!1
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It's good to hear that you enjoyed your tour of the Ocean Rider seahorse farm!
All seahorses are challenging to raise, and Mustang (Hippocampus erectus) babies are no exception. There is a always a steep learning curve when it comes to rearing the newborns, and it's quite common -- perhaps even the rule -- for the home breeder to lose the entire brood during his or her first few attempts at rearing. But as you refine your methods and become more proficient at providing suitable live foods for the newborns and work out the feeding regimen that's most efficient for your particular circumstances, your results will gradually get better. You will have more of the fry surviving for longer periods, until eventually you are able to raise a few of the fry from a few of the broods to maturity. I know many home hobbyists who have accomplished the feat, and a very few of them are so successful that they end up with more seahorses than they can handle and have to adopt some of the youngsters out to surrogate parents.
The following is a gross oversimplification, of course, but basically in order to attempt to raise seahorse fry, you must accomplish the following:
(1) set up one or more suitable nursery tanks to receive the newborns;
(2) maintain optimum water quality in the nursery tanks (usually accomplished by performing daily water changes while siphoning off the bottom of the nurseries);
(3) provide the voracious newborns and juveniles with copious amounts of bite-size live foods (primarily newly hatched brine shrimp for Mustangs) on a daily basis. In order to keep up with the endless appetites, you'll need to set up a battery of hatching containers and feed the young several times every day, which is time consuming and labor intensive, although not that difficult in actual execution with practice and experience.
If you contact me off list (PeteGiwojna@aol.com), I will provide you with detailed instructions explaining how to accomplish all of the above, along with a great deal of additional information on breeding and rearing Hippocampus erectus.
Best wishes with all your fishes!
Happy Trails! Pete Giwojna
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Seahorseformepls
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Re:Im new Help pls!! - 2008/08/20 11:01Thanks for the reply it helps alot! Although, i still have some questions/concerns to ensure im ready to take care of my seahorses. About how many different tanks am i going to need? Also where else can i pick up food for my stangs and the babies? For the food am i going to have to raise my own shrimp also to care for the hatchlings, if so how does that work? IS there certain medicine i need to give stangs and babies and how does the vibrance work? Once they hatch about how many times a day do i feed them? Also where can i look up info about feeding regimens and caring for seahorses because i am bran bran new im very confused about all of this and i dont really understand all these tank terms and such, so a stupidfied version would be nice hehe! Thanks for the reply again hope to hear from u again soon!!! 1 Last question, kinda stupid of me, but how do i get salt water for the tank???1 last last question, where can i find all these tools to take care of my seahorse like the things to clean out pouch and stuff?
Post edited by: Seahorseformepls, at: 2008/08/20 12:00
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Well, most home hobbyists make do with one basic nursery tank that consists of a bare-bottomed 5-10 gallon aquarium with suitable hitching posts for the fry and possibly air operated sponge filters. But nurseries can be as simple or as sophisticated as you like, and there are many more sophisticated nursery tanks designed to increase the survivorship of seahorses with pelagic fry for you to consider, so that's one of the things that we should discuss off list. I'll be happy to go over all of the various nursery tank options for you, and provide you with loads of information on breeding and rearing Mustangs (Hippocampus erectus), if you will e-mail me at the following address:
PeteGiwojna@aol.com
Different brands of the frozen Mysis that is the staple, everyday diet of Mustang seahorses are available at pet stores and fish stores everywhere, so it's not at all hard to come by. The same is true of the brine shrimp eggs or cysts that you hatch out to feed the babies -- all pet stores will carry one or more brands of the brine shrimp cysts. The Vibrance that's used to enrich the frozen Mysis is available from Ocean Rider, and you can order a packet or two of the enrichment powder when you order your seahorses, Brett. It lasts a long, long time.
There are indeed certain basic medications that are useful for every seahorse keeper to keep on hand at all times, such as methylene blue, a good antiparasitic, and a good broad-spectrum antibiotic. I will be happy to make some recommendations for you in that regard when the time comes, but let's hold off on that until you have completed your research into the aquarium care of the seahorses and have selected a suitable aquarium and cycled the biofilter so that your new tank can support fish and invertebrates. If you contact me off list, Brett, I will be happy to provide you with detailed, step-by-step by-step instructions explaining how to accomplish just that.
In the meantime, a good place for you to start is by reading the books I recommended for you in another post, and by going through the wealth of information on the care and keeping of seahorses that is available on the site. Check out the information in the links in the left-hand column (mid page) of this forum under the heading of "Seahorse Life, Eco-Friendly Care." You will find loads of useful information there on the care and feeding of seahorses if you click on the links titled "Getting Started," "FAQs," "Feed EZY," and "FAMA magazine." And if you will click on the link titled "Care Sheets," you will find detailed information about all of the livestock and individual seahorses offered by Ocean Rider.
Best wishes with all your fishes, Brett! I am looking forward to corresponding with you about the specialized requirements of seahorses off list so that we can get you up to speed as soon as possible.
Happy Trails! Pete Giwojna
Post edited by: Pete Giwojna, at: 2008/08/22 00:12
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1 Last question, kinda stupid of me, but how do i get salt water for the tank???
1 last last question, where can i find all these tools to take care of my seahorse like the things to clean out pouch and stuff?
