My Seahorses

[Reef_Angel]

I'm finally taking the time to upload some picture I took of my sweet Seahorse's. :seahorse: All is well on the "Angel's Quiet Captivating Lagoon. I hope you enjoy these photo's. I have a whole bunch more to share since I rescaped the tank this past week. I'll get around to getting those picture up as soon as I can! Seems like I don't keep up, but I'll give myself a break this time since since I'm putting a lot of work into the Mugshot Photo Album!! If I keep typing I'll forget to upload the pics, so I'll stop and get them u p for everyone to enjoy! I h ope you like them all! .......Angel :angel06:

PS. More to come!

[Reef_Angel]

As promised, I'm adding the rest of the pics I have optimized for uploading. They are so much fun, and they like to show off for the camera too. I had just cleaned the tank, so it was cloudy, but I couldn't resist taking these shots. They were all being playful and dancing around for me! I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoy my ponies!! :angel2:

[Whoyah]

Thanks for sharing. Your tank looks great. I really love seeing different type set-ups.

[mutts]

wow nice looking tank and sea horses angel

[JustDavidP]

How big are the ponies again? Have they changed any colors at all?

D

[Reef_Angel]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments about my seababies! My biggest one from head to extended tail is approx. 6" long. I've been reading and reading about these guys, and the closest match would be the H.Reidi that get to be 12" long. I have one that is still a little snicker, but he was from the 2nd purchase and they were much smaller. As far as coloring up goes, they only give me a treat now and then and get spotted and yellow....during the night! Otherwise it seems like they enjoy being black which kind of diappoints me. I love them though, and I wouldn't trade them. I'm curious to what you think about my 6 pony's. I read that the H.Reidi are the hardest to raise. I've had no trouble at all so far....*knock on wood*. I'm off to bed now! I'd appreciate your advice!! :seahorse: Talk to you soon! ...Angel

[JustDavidP]

Although H. Reidi CAN get large in the wild, most captive ponies stay in and around 6-7". Some of them obviously skew the "average" being smaller and/or larger.

H. Reidi are a harder seahorse to "raise", but are not as hard to "keep". By "raising", most authors are referring to their captive reproduction. They are by no means shy, and will, once mature, mate often in captivity. The problem comes with actually bringing the fry from birth, to adulthood.

Unlike H. Erectus, a larger seahorse from birth, Reidi are born in a "pelagic" state which means that they are pretty much part of the 'planktonic' environment of the oceans/lagoons. Erectus are acutally able to hitch from day one and will wrap their tails around something to keep from being tossed about. Reidi, once released from the pouch, float upward, towards the light and meet up with the many plankton pockets on the ocean's surface. There, amongst the floating algae and greenwater soup, surrounded by OTHER pelagic life, they feed and grow until they are strong enough and large enough to find their way to a hitching site and begin stage two of their lives.

This poses many problems in aquaria. First and foremost, in our tanks, we do not have floating mats of vegetation, mixed with baby pods, mysid, algae etc. Also, our tanks tend to have a film on top of the water that can sometimes trap fry. They also stand a greater chance of taking too much air into their swim bladders and in most cases, this is fatal. Finally, they are subjected to power heads, pumps, filters and other mechanical deamons that can quickly end their life.

Erectus can often be simply placed in a smallish tank, and fed live baby brine shrimp from day one. Reidi need to be kept in a system that keeps them "swirling" in flow, keeping them from the top of the water column and surrounding them with rotifers and other smaller foods until they pass that pelagic stage. Most often, folks use kreisels to do this.



The water flow in the bowls keeps the fish and their food in constant motion. In my program, they stay in the kreisel for a month or more. The true test is when they finally begin to hitch and eat baby brine shrimp. At that point, I put them in my growout tanks.



From day one, until day 60, things are touch and go. I tend to keep approximately 20% of my fry. In some cases, the sucesses are 10% or less. It all depends on the health of the fry at birth. Other conditions, like bacterial infections, hydroid blooms and such factor in here.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the picture. Once the lil' buggers are hitching, eating baby brine, you are responsible for training them over to frozen foods. Only when they are proven on frozen are you "out of the woods". It is a lot of work, but worth it in the end.

It is amazing to watch them grow and develop. It is more amazing to see the ENTIRE life cycle of specimens in your care.



Dave

[Reef_Angel]

Well, the fry information is definitly something that I'm going to need at some point, but I haven't seen anything quite yet. I'm more curious if you think these H.Reidi's or some other type. I say H.Reidi because they seem to be the closest match. I do wish they would show off more of their color for me, not only when I go to the bathroom in the night. :p How did your conferece go that you were going to speak at. You're becoming a Seahorse expert! Thanks for your help David! ...Angel :angel1:

[JustDavidP]

I didn't end up speaking at a conference I then attended a DoD Security Conference for 5 days in Atlanta. I was invited to the Atlanta Reef Club meeting, but received an award at the Security Conference and couldn't attend the meeting. To make matters worse, I didn't even get to see the Atlanta Aquarium. Though... peers of mine did and said it was not worth it. They say that the New England Aquarium is 10X better, though Atlanta has that 6 million gallon tank with Whale Sharks.

Looking at a picture of your ponies now Angel. I'll get back to you on my thoughts in re: ID... but.. I'm about 90% sure you have Reidi there. In any case, I can tell that they are still very young and you will not see fry for a while yet...

Dave

[JustDavidP]

Angel...

I'm about 99% certain that you have H. Reidi there. I took the picture that Dave sent me and counted away on rays and rings. Here's the image...



Here's a link to a great ID guide found in the CITES appendices:

http://www.worldwildlife.org/trade/p...rse_guide2.pdf

According to this guide, it is pretty certain that you've got H. Reidi there.

Dave