My father has a breeding pair of seahorses (H. erectus). The pair is kept separated so the female isn't stressed by breeding too often. So far he has bred them twice and collected about 75-100 young from each spawning. They fry are kept in a 10g with 3 sides painted as well as the bottom. Inside the tank, there is a small bubble wand at the bottom of a curved divider. The current runs up the divider and across the top. This keeps the young seahorses away from the surface where they could get air bubbles. A small sponge filter is on the other side of the divider. There is also some caulerpa in the tank for the seahorses to hide in and hold onto.
They are fed live rotifers and bbs(newly hatched <24h old). The brine shrimp are hatched from decapsulated eggs, so there are no shells. There is a constant food supply in the tank at all times. Small water changes are done daily.
The problem starts at about 2 weeks. The fry start to die off. Everyday there are more dead in the tank. By about 3 weeks to 1 month, he's down to 1 left. The same thing happened to both batches. Only 1 left out of 75-100. He raised these 2 and now they are breeding size as well. We think the problem is nutrition. That bbs and rotifers are missing something the young seahorses need. I have heard that a form of copepod is good but it is hard to culture. Right now he's trying sexy shrimp(Thor amboinensis) fry because the are about the same size as bbs.
Does anyone know of another live food for baby seahorses? or Can feeding the bbs something like blended shrimp work?
They are fed live rotifers and bbs(newly hatched <24h old). The brine shrimp are hatched from decapsulated eggs, so there are no shells. There is a constant food supply in the tank at all times. Small water changes are done daily.
The problem starts at about 2 weeks. The fry start to die off. Everyday there are more dead in the tank. By about 3 weeks to 1 month, he's down to 1 left. The same thing happened to both batches. Only 1 left out of 75-100. He raised these 2 and now they are breeding size as well. We think the problem is nutrition. That bbs and rotifers are missing something the young seahorses need. I have heard that a form of copepod is good but it is hard to culture. Right now he's trying sexy shrimp(Thor amboinensis) fry because the are about the same size as bbs.
Does anyone know of another live food for baby seahorses? or Can feeding the bbs something like blended shrimp work?
