Got Babies? H. Erectus Fry

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Ok, we have reached the 4th night I have had the babies. So far so good. I have been doing a lot of reading and I have learned that not all H. Erectus have Benthic fry. Erectus collected from southern waters have Benthic fry, but the Erectus from Northern waters tend to have fry that have a Pelagic phase. Since I'm 90% positive these (the parents) are wild caught, they could very well be from Northern waters. (Which means that the 2 sub adult pairs I have, are from the same place since I bought them from the LFS I rescued the babies from)

If the parents are Northern Erectus, that would explain why all of the babies were floaters when I brought them home. The morning after I got them, some were hitching. The second night even more hitched. By last night about 2/3 were hitching. Tonight is the 4th night. I'm hopeing that most will be hitched come tomorrow morning. I'm SO glad I didn't "cull them and get rid of what appeared to be weaker ones". For once being a softie paid off.

As of today I have lost 6 total. I'm not sure what is normal or acceptable for losses with erectus fry in the first 4 days. If anyone knows, please tell me.

For this being my first try I don't think it's too awful bad, is it? Every morning I'm scared to look in the 5.5g tank for fear that they all died. Here is my routine for fry care so far.

9am
start BBS hatching, - siphon off bottom of tank and remove 2-2.5g of water for a 50% water change.- Feed newly hatched bbs. -Put remaining bbs into refrigerator for next feedings. Test water

3pm
feed and check on babies

9pm
start 2nd batch of bbs hatching - siphon off bottom of tank and remove 2-2.5g of water for 2nd 50% water change.- feed bbs from refrigerator

3am (this one stinks, lol)
feed bbs

9am
start all over again

SO... I do 2 - 50% wc daily and feed every 6 hours. I start a new batch of bbs every 12 hrs. so I alway have a new batch ready.

I have AmQuel and AmQuel+ for water quality, but I have not needed it yet. I have it for the "just in case" factor.

I also have formalin for the itchies if it happens and I have salanity at 1.021 Temp varies at 68 low to 70 high. I don't heat it or cool it, just room temp.

I have a 15w NO light on during the day 9-9. It is placed behind the tank on the table top the tank is on. At night I use a regular household night light. 4w I think. It's enough to darken the tank for them to sleep and hitch, but keep it light enough for them to eat at the 3 am feeding if they need it.

I started a green water culture and I added some bbs to it on day 1 for them to grow out. I will have them when I need them.

Is there anything I am doing wrong? Anything I should be doing that I'm not? Any help would be great since I'm a newbie at raising Seahorse fry.

Angie

oh, I will post more pics tomorrow. I'm off to do my 9pm "baby duties"

[jojo22]

What a good little mommy we are!

[JustDavidP]

Having a light higher (in respect to the tank and water column) helps to keep the fry and their food, lower in the column. This helps them to keep from getting stuck in the surface tension of the water.

D

[JustDavidP]

Also, percentage of success really varies from clutch to clutch, person to person as there are far too many variables involved.

Larger fry tend to have a higher success rate as they are stronger, more apt to hitch and accept BBS from day one. Smaller fry are somewhat weaker, tend to go afloat and have bladder issues etc.

The size of the fry can also vary from clutch to clutch for the same male. It really depends on the health and egg count from mama. It also makes a difference in the maturity of the male. I know that you know nada about this daddy, but you may want to keep this in mind when your own boy starts to do the "happy dance". As they grow, and their pouch matures, they are able to grow larger babies. My most active breeding male has between 75 and 200 fry per birthing. The smaller the clutch, the larger the babes are...for the most part.

D

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Today's update isn't as good as the previous ones. I siphones out about 20 dead babies today. I'm not sure what happened, but I think it's the weak ones dieing off. All 20 I siphoned out of the tank were smaller than the live ones and they were a lot skinnier then the live ones. By looking at the remaining ones, I think I can pick out the ones that will probably die. I have some that are very active swimmers and have no problem hunting down the bbs. Those are the bigger ones. So far I have lost about 26 or so. I have read that day 6 is a hurdle to get over. That is tomorrow. I'm almost afraid to look in there in the morning after today's losses. I have said before, I will be happy if I gan even get 1 to adult size. Everyone has to start someplace.

I didn't like the amount of flow that I had to use to keep them off of the surface of the 5.5g rectangle tank. I built a regular kriesel tank for them from a plastic 1g fish bowl with a hole drilled in the side about 1/2 way down for the airline. It takes very little flow to keep them off of the top of that tank. I can actually sit and watch them swim around now. They aren't getting thrown all over the tank anymore. It's cute to see them swim in the direction they "want" to swim in.

I didn't get pics yet today. I will go get the camera and take some new ones.

Angie

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Here are the pics I promised. I just took them. I have black, brown, and yellow babies.

ENJOY !!!!

[Sweetpea]

Angie, it is SO great to see these pics of the babies! You are such an awesome "mommy"... getting up at 3am to feed the little ones shows your dedication, and in the long run success will be yours!

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

lol, I feed them at 3am, but I never said I was awake. I premeasure a feedings worth and I put it in an old pill bottle in the frige at the 9 pm feeding. At 3am I stumble to the frige, get the bottle and dump it in. I barely remember doing it in the morning . I'm only doing the 3am feeding for a week or so. Just to give them extra when they may need it most.

Thanks everyone for following along. I'm happy to share. (both the good and the bad)

I may be dedicated to my critters, but I wish I could say the same thing about my housework. My poor pomeranian is starting to get chased by the dust bunnies.....they are catching up to her in size ~

Angie

[Sweetpea]

I may be dedicated to my critters, but I wish I could say the same thing about my housework. My poor pomeranian is starting to get chased by the dust bunnies.....they are catching up to her in size

Your dust bunnies can come over and play with my dust bunnies!

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Some of the babies are twitching and I know they need formalin. How do I use it? Do I use it as a dip? How do I dip babies? Should I do a 100% waterchange? Do I put the formalin in the kreisel (that doesn't sound right) I'm looseing more of them. I saw a few more dead at the 9am feeding. I'm worried now. Dang!

I need to figure this out since one of my pairs are courting hot and heavy today. I thought he was preggers untill he scrunched up his pouch and there wasn't anything in there. If he has his way, I'll have another batch in 2 weeks or so. The female keeps swimming away, and he chases her. Good girl, lol. Keep him chaseing, and keep "running" 'cause I'm NOT ready for round 2!

Angie