I have yet to view a more beautiful creature than the seahorse.
The grace and dignity with which they carry themselves is an endearing
sight. On September 26th, 2000 I was given a very special
gift from a very special friend. That gift being a pair of
Ocean Rider Mustangs. I named them Frisky Miss and Shy Boy.
On November 22nd, 2000 I got another pair, this time OR Sunbursts.
Kermit and Buttercup settled in right away and Frisky Miss and Shy
Boy seem happy with the new couple.
On Thursday, Novemeber 30th 2000, Shy Boy delievered his first
fry. 100+!! I'm going to start the diary from this date
and share with you my fry raising experience. This is my first
time attempting to raise so to those that have experience it may
seem crude. Please feel free to advise as I would be very
very grateful. Any and all feedback is welcome.
I'd been watching my expecting male closely for over a week.
My job as a dog trainer had me picking up a couple dog's this morning.
Immediately upon my return I rushed to the seahorse tank... Shy
Boy was skinny! I looked up towards the water's surface only
to see a lone baby being swept into the overflow. In my panic
I unplugged everything and then grabbed a light. Anxiously,
I opened the doors to the sump and shined the light in... there
were so many!! They somehow managed to survive their white
water rapid's adventure. I was so thrilled to see them, their
little bodies so vigorously swimming about. I gently scooped
them out, sometimes one by one, into a small mearsuring cup, careful
to keep them underwater. Into the nursery tank they went.
I was fortunate the week before to have been given four 2wk old
OR fry from a friend so the nursery was already set up. Oliver,
the only survivor of the four, was suddenly surrounded by 100+ fry.
No longer lonely, Oliver now being 3wks old stood our enormously.
Funny to think the day before he looked so tiny. The fry were
immediately fed freshly hatched bbs. Couldn't have been better
timing in that regard. I only lost 3 today. Considering
their adventure I think this is short of a miracle. I will
continue my ongoing experiences trying to raise the fry weekly as
daily would be too much write and read. I hope this account
will help someone else in future, if only to show examples of what
not to do.
Equipment
- 2.5 gal acylic tank with holes drilled near top for overflow
- 10 gal glass tank
- shelving borders for unfinished shelves
- plastic craft mesh used for needlepoint
- knee high nylons
- Hagen AquaClear 210 powerhead with filter attachment
- 1/2 inch tubing attached to output of 210 powerhead to overflow
2.5gal intermitently into 10gal sump
- clip on adjustable 40watt lamp
- 100watt Ebo Jager submersible heater
- airpump/flow adjuster/airline tubing
The 2.5gal is set inside the 10gal. The 2.5 is filled to
just under the overflow holes that were drilled just under the top
of the tank. The 10 gal is filled to just below the overflow
holes in the 2.5 gal. The AquaClear 210 powerhead with filter
attachment and the heater are in the 10 gal. There is a tube
running from the powerheads output and at intervals is placed in
the 2.5 gal's overflow area. The overflow area is seperated
by shelving finishes to act as a track to hold the plastic canvas
mesh in place. The mesh is cut to the width and height of
the tank. I put nylon over the plastic mesh as the fry are
so tiny. Craft Mesh was siliconed upright and a plastic plant
cut up and stuck in the canvas holes for hitching. The clip
on light is adjusted so that the light is directed towards the bottom
of tank as opposed to overhead. It was explained to me that
the fry are attracted to the light as well as the bbs so to keep
the babies from staying at the surface lighting should not be overhead.
The airline tubing with no airstone is in with the babies.
The airflow is adjusted to make very big, slow bubbles. Temp
is kept at 75 degrees.
Well, I must say it's been a hell of a week. The fry are
doing well. They have doubled in size already. I had a loss
of about 10 this first week. Mostly the smallest ones.
I have been feeding them bbs every few hours and clearing out the
remaining bbs with the use of the overflow and powerhead.
I have been doing 2 mini water changes daily (taking the new water
from parent's tank). Syphoning up their droppings usually
takes about 5-10% of their water out.
As the fry grew I realized the need to modify my setup to accomodate
their needs.
Equipment
- 5.5 gal glass tank
- shelving borders for unfinished shelves
- plastic craft mesh used for needlepoint
- Hagen AquaClear Mini hang-on filter
- CoralLife 8watt UV Sterilizer
- clip on lamp with 40w bulb
- 100watt Ebo Jager submersible heater
- airpump/flow adjuster/airline tubing
Again the shelving borders were used to make a track to fit in the
plastic canvas mesh. Fitration is now done by an AquaClear Mini
hang on. The filter, heater, and UV sterilizer are on one side
of the plastic mesh to protect the babies. Again airhose is
place in the babies area on very low airflow. Hitching is done
on the plastic canvas and the plastic plants stuck in the holes.
Babies have been moved because they were getting crowded in the
2.5gal. They are still eating the bbs. I had a loss
of around 20, 15 all in one day. Again, it was the smallest
fry. Could have been the move?
2 weeks old
Photo courtesy of Keith Clarke
Once again, the equipment changes as the fry develop.
Equipment
- 10 gal glass tank
- tank divider
- Hagen AquaClear Mini hang-on filter
- CoralLife 8-watt UV Sterilizer
- 30-watt actinic & 30-watt Sunglo
- 100-watt Ebo Jager submersible heater
- airpump/flow adjuster/airline tubing
- plastic plants
The babies are getting markings and patterns now. They are hitching
to plastic plants with weights on the bottom. The lighting is
now overhead as they hitch more now and spend less time at the surface.
They are being fed 48 hour old enriched brine shrimp. More to
come as the week is not over yet. :o)
Announcement: Shy Boy had 370 fry on Saturday,
December 16th, 2000! This time I was lucky to be home and
got the birth on video. Amazing! The new fry will be
raised in the same manner as above, unless of course I run into
problems and new solutions are needed.
Equipment
- 20 gal glass tank
- tank divider
- Skilter 250
- CoralLife 8-watt UV Sterilizer
- 30-watt actinic & 30-watt Sunglo
- 100-watt Ebo Jager submersible heater
- Ehiem 2211 canister filter
- corner sponge filter
- air pump/airline tubing
- CaribSea Crushed Coral
- Caulerpa
- plastic plants
Having gotten bigger yet again, the babies were moved the a 20gal.
Here I feel they will have plenty of room to grow for some time.
I added a 1" layer of crushed coral and planted some Caulerpa.
I'm still using plastic plants until the Caulerpa has really taken
hold. I seeded a sponge filter in the main tank and was lucky
to have it covered in copepods in no time. Babies had a feast.
The divider is still, I feel, an essential part of the equipment.
While the fry are bigger, they are still not strong enough to withstand
even the mildest of suction from the filtration. I have put
a flow adjuster on the Ehiem output so that it is a gentle current
and they seem to be handling that fine. They are definitely
enjoying the crushed coral and actively hunt along the bottom in search
of copepods and such.
Feeding is still pretty much the same except for the addition
of fine particles of frozen PE mysis. I crush a small amount
and add to the bbs and copepods at feeding time. I've seen
a few babies pick at it, but really no major interest yet.
After about an hour I syphon out the mysis to prevent it fouling
up the water.
Only 2 losses in the transition from the 10gal to the 20 and none
since.
* A Note on Hatching the Brine: I have
3 - 2 litre pop bottle hatchers going am, mid day, and pm. This
ensures I have fresh bbs on hand. Unfortunately, it doesn't
leave room for error ie: spillage, non hatching, etc. I'm
hatching in 85 degree water (5gal tank with submersible heater),
24hr light, and salinity of 1.010 -1.020. The brand of bs
I'm using is O.S.I. Pro 80. Hatch time is approximately 24hrs.
New
Baby Pics - Courtesy of Jennifer Bowles
Equipment
- Larger plastic mesh divider
NOTE: I'd like to thank a very good friend Kevin Done for donating
much equipment to aid my fry raising endeavour. I wouldn't be
able to do this without his generous gift!
Well the babies are now 5wks old. I've lost a good number.
It wasn't sudden, but a few here and there really add up over 5wks.
I have 50 survivors. Unfortunately, no accurate count on dates
of losses and numbers in the last few weeks as I've been very busy
with subsequent batches of fry from Shy Boy and Kermit now as well.
The remaining fry seem strong and healthy and have become the
ultimate little hunters. I have a couple tanks of phytoplankton
(green water) and I have been adding brine shrimp to it on a daily
basis. Every day I use a normal mess grade net and run it
through the phyto tank. The small BBS pass through and I am
able to catch the larger brine and feed it to the babies.
They are still getting the 48hr enriched brine as well as copepods.
Crushed up bits of frozen mysis has also been added in hopes that
they will start to pick at it. So far no real interest has
been shown. This is going to start getting very tricky getting
them transfered onto this new food. I have made an order for
copepods, mysis, and grammarus cultures to boost the critters I
have started up already in a 20 gal refugium.
The divider, while helpful to keep babies safe from heater and
filtration, was causing a problem with proper circulation.
Now that the gravel is in it's harder to syphon the tank bottom
and the flow through the tank divider was not strong enough.
I'm having a small cyanobacteria outbreak on substrate and plastic
plants. A new larger grid mesh has been put in place, current
raised, and snails are being added as well. I hope it helps.
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