Look what I found when I got up today

[yveterinarian]

This morning I went downstairs to feed my seahorses and found these in my tank !

I had to use a 60 cc syringe to pull each one out into another container.  Here is one inside the tip of the syringe

By the time I was done, I counted 185 beautiful babies.  Many were lost into the pump before I realized that he was even having the babies today.  They are approximately 1/4" long and are born with the ability to hitch at birth.  I am not setup to raise babies so, after Jack had all of his babies, I took them all to London for a fellow seahorse keeper to raise.  He says he is setup for lots and I'm very glad because as soon as Jack finished having these babies, he took another batch of eggs from one of the females so will most likely give birth again in 2 weeks.  It was very exciting and I can't wait for the next batch.  They are very hard to raise so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  If I see later pictures of them I'll post some here.

 

[davesolo29]

thats awesome.  i hope your friend keeps you updated with pics.  i would love to see them.

 

[Darryl_V]

super cool  8)

 

[ricklalonde]

WOW Incredible.

 

[unibob]

Definitely sweet. Would love to see updates.

 

[yveterinarian]

Thanks everyone 

 

[TORX]

That is amazing. I want a sea horse set up at some point. But too much on the go currently, maybe in the new year. Definitely know who to talk to about advice now

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[phatpaco]

That is AMAZING!!!!!!!     ;D

 

[Salty Cracker]

Awesome

 

[spyd]

Very cool!!!! Congrats! You obviously have the setup working out well for you.

 

[yveterinarian]

Thanks all

I feel the reading and preparation I did using the info on Seahorse.org has been invaluable.  It is so exciting that they reproduced.  I am still on cloud 9 and showing everyone who will listen (and even those who don't) the pictures!  I have ordered a larger tank (60 gal cube) for them from IA and it will arrive in a couple of weeks.  I hope they like their new home with lots of space to explore. 

Here is an update I just received from my friend in London:

As of noon today, most are still alive. There are at a guess, about 20 to 30 dead or twitching on the bottom.
There are about the same number that never seem to hitch or attempt to go where they want to go, with the majority hitching well and are easily seen feeding on newly hatched bbs.
Today they will get more bbs but these ones will be enriched 24 hours with Dan's Feed.
They sure are big compared to the H. reidi fry that I have been raising in the past.

If I have to go down there again in a couple of weeks with a new batch, I will take pictures of these ones to show you the progress.

 

[mark0933]

Hi, congratz on the babies, I remember those days, I actually saw my male give birth one morning.  I'll assume you took the babies to Ray, if so they are in good hands.  What species are your horses?  I have a couple pot bellies in my basement but they have yet to breed.

Mark

 

[yveterinarian]

Hi Mark:

Yes, I took them to Ray. It was very comforting seeing his setup and all the brine shrimp he has on the go.
These are Erectus babies.  I saw him birthing some but was so busy getting them out of the tank that I didn't get much chance to enjoy watching. It took him approximately 5 hours to finish I think.  I still found a couple when I got back home but that can't be helped.  Hopefully, I'll be more relaxed the next time and see the whole process.  Do your pots breed very often?  I think Jack is pregnant again!!  The rascal  ;D

 

[mark0933]

Unfortunately my pots have never bred.  I had reidi many years ago and struggled with them.  I did get some unknown species of horses before them which I managed to get babies to about 6 weeks on, but could never get over that hurdle. 

My Reidi used to breed every 13 days like clockwork.  I'd love to see my pots go because the babies are supposed to be 2x the size of reidi and hitch from births.

Mark

 

[yveterinarian]

Hi Mark

Sorry, I didn't read the previous post properly or I wouldn't have asked about the pots breeding.  How long have you had them?  I think it would be very interesting to see the fry from those.  I hope they breed for you soon.  Ray now only has 1 reidi left so won't be able to have any baby Reidis anymore.  He is on the lookout for more seahorses.
Do you post on Seahorse.org?  I think we should all post there under a heading "Canada"  or "Ontario" so we can locate each other and help get some diversity going in Canada for captive bred.

 

[yveterinarian]

New update from Ray:

Just an update here. I still have probably in the neighbourhood of 120-125 left.
Two days ago I took ten of the bottom twitchers that appeared to be on their last legs, and gave them a fresh water dip for about 3 minutes until they stopped thrashing.
Last night I moved 8 of them to the main bottle with the others as all 8 were hitched. The other two were dead on the bottom.

Ray says if they are still alive by Sunday, he will post pictures for me.  As soon as he does, I'll post some here.  I can't wait to see them!

 

[Bill@IA]

Congrats!!

.......AND Good Luck.

 

[Kleko]

Thats awesome! Well done.

 

[yveterinarian]

Good morning all:

Ray posted a picture of some of Jack's fry swimming so I thought I'd share it with you.

Unfortunately, many have died but that is life when raising such delicate creatures.  Jack is due to deliver again next weekend so maybe the second batch will do better than the first.  Ray tells me the first batch are often not as viable as subsequent batches.

 

[blaked]

Tooo cool. A planted slow-flow refuge would make a great seahorse tank i always thought.