LittleReef
Wed, 23rd Feb 2011, 09:45 PM
Hi there everyone. :) I had fun meeting a lot of you at the meeting this past Saturday at AquaDome! Glad I got to attend that meeting!
Anyways, I figured since there isn't much information on Seahorses here, I could post what I've been doing lately! :lightbulb:
I've got three tanks running at the moment; a 37g, a 29g and a 20g. The 37g is my main display tank that is a dedicated Seahorse/LPS tank. So far, so good. I am on week 3 or 4 with that tank. The Seahorses that I keep in there are H. Erectus, and I've got 4 adults and 2 small 4.5 month olds. It is a bit heavy for a bioload already, however I'm using a TunZe 9210 skimmer that is rated for up to 260 gallons I believe. Needless to say, it is pulling out all of that excess junk that you're always going to have with a Seahorse tank!
The other two are my fry tanks! Thats right! I'm currently raising the fry of my adult Seahorses. I've got 3 broods right now; 5 and 6 week olds that are in the 29g (almost 6 and 7 week olds), and 1 week (almost 2 week) olds in the 20g. My first brood was from my smaller male and it was his first brood. These fry were noticeably smaller than what I was expecting. Many of them didn't make it, however I've still got a solid 75% going with that brood. The other brood was from my larger male who is a bit older, and his fry were considerably larger in size (and quantity) than the previous brood. I've also maintained a high success rate with this brood... somewhere around 85-90%. They are getting big, and currently are eating frozen mysis and cyclopees. However, I still feed 48 hour enriched BBS just in case there are some that aren't eating the frozen. I've gone for almost 2 weeks without losing any from that brood, and that is giving me hope for the future! :applause::applause:
The 1 (almost 2) week olds are doing well, too. This brood was also from my larger male, and the numbers in this brood were well over 150... I stopped counting at 150 when moving them over to their current 20g home. They are also doing very well. I believe I've lost about 8 so far. I hope to keep up the success I've had with them and I REALLY hope they follow in my older brood's footsteps.
For my fry tanks I am using a very simple set up. On the 29g, I have a divider keeping the filtration separate from the fry so they do not get sucked up. I am using a HOB filter; the Emporer 350. It is rated for up to 90g, but with the heavy heavy bioload it is working wonders. Though the filter could get me by on doing 2 water changes every week, I do 2.5-4g every day. The frozen food really fowls the water quickly. On the side where the fry are housed, I keep one air line to keep them from getting stuck in the surface tension. It isn't enough flow to stir them up, just enough to keep them off of the surface. Excessive flow is one possible cause for overinflated swim bladders, which will usually lead to the death of the fry.
I've been very lucky to have such success with my first attempt at raising these fry, and I will do my very best to keep everyone up to date with my progress!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I will do my best to help!
Thanks for reading, and I will post some pictures of my set up and fry very soon. :)
-Brooks-
Anyways, I figured since there isn't much information on Seahorses here, I could post what I've been doing lately! :lightbulb:
I've got three tanks running at the moment; a 37g, a 29g and a 20g. The 37g is my main display tank that is a dedicated Seahorse/LPS tank. So far, so good. I am on week 3 or 4 with that tank. The Seahorses that I keep in there are H. Erectus, and I've got 4 adults and 2 small 4.5 month olds. It is a bit heavy for a bioload already, however I'm using a TunZe 9210 skimmer that is rated for up to 260 gallons I believe. Needless to say, it is pulling out all of that excess junk that you're always going to have with a Seahorse tank!
The other two are my fry tanks! Thats right! I'm currently raising the fry of my adult Seahorses. I've got 3 broods right now; 5 and 6 week olds that are in the 29g (almost 6 and 7 week olds), and 1 week (almost 2 week) olds in the 20g. My first brood was from my smaller male and it was his first brood. These fry were noticeably smaller than what I was expecting. Many of them didn't make it, however I've still got a solid 75% going with that brood. The other brood was from my larger male who is a bit older, and his fry were considerably larger in size (and quantity) than the previous brood. I've also maintained a high success rate with this brood... somewhere around 85-90%. They are getting big, and currently are eating frozen mysis and cyclopees. However, I still feed 48 hour enriched BBS just in case there are some that aren't eating the frozen. I've gone for almost 2 weeks without losing any from that brood, and that is giving me hope for the future! :applause::applause:
The 1 (almost 2) week olds are doing well, too. This brood was also from my larger male, and the numbers in this brood were well over 150... I stopped counting at 150 when moving them over to their current 20g home. They are also doing very well. I believe I've lost about 8 so far. I hope to keep up the success I've had with them and I REALLY hope they follow in my older brood's footsteps.
For my fry tanks I am using a very simple set up. On the 29g, I have a divider keeping the filtration separate from the fry so they do not get sucked up. I am using a HOB filter; the Emporer 350. It is rated for up to 90g, but with the heavy heavy bioload it is working wonders. Though the filter could get me by on doing 2 water changes every week, I do 2.5-4g every day. The frozen food really fowls the water quickly. On the side where the fry are housed, I keep one air line to keep them from getting stuck in the surface tension. It isn't enough flow to stir them up, just enough to keep them off of the surface. Excessive flow is one possible cause for overinflated swim bladders, which will usually lead to the death of the fry.
I've been very lucky to have such success with my first attempt at raising these fry, and I will do my very best to keep everyone up to date with my progress!
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me and I will do my best to help!
Thanks for reading, and I will post some pictures of my set up and fry very soon. :)
-Brooks-