They are finally Here!

[yveterinarian]

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures of one of my babies who has discovered that a great supply of food can be found if he stays near the mesh of the standpipe. Smart baby!!

He snicks the food right off the mesh so he doesn't have to go hunt for it. 

 

[RYOUNVS]

Smart fella!

 

[sunnykita]

that is adorable and smart !

 

[yveterinarian]

Five weeks old today! :happybirthday: It is so hard to believe that so many have made it this far! I still have 206 left of the 5 week olds and 130 of the 2.5 week olds.
The older ones are eating more and more of the frozen shaved Mysis now. I have started hatching a different container of brine shrimp eggs as my original eggs ran out and this container doesn't seem to be hatching very well despite it's claims of 85% hatch rate. It makes me wonder if it was stored properly prior to my receiving it. As a result I don't have as many brine as I would like to feed all of these little lovelies so the older ones are being forced to switch to frozen more than I expected so that the younger ones can have more of the brine. Luckily they like the frozen and are taking it quite easily now.
I have been feeding them 4 times a day still and my husband does one of the feeds while I'm at work. I can really see the difference in the size of them now compared to last week and some are beginning to show signs of their adult markings. The change in size this week has really underlined which ones are the runts of the litter. They are no bigger than the 2.5 week old ones and gradually they are dying off.
My male is pregnant again and will deliver early next week I think. Luckily I have Ray on standby to come and take them as I won't be raising them. The last thing I want is to try to raise all the babies that show up because my whole house would quickly be overrun with tanks! I am trying to be realistic about my fry raising and raise one batch (or two ) to maturity before I start with another batch. I haven't had to sacrifice any batches yet and honestly am not sure how I'll feel about flushing them but I console myself with the fact that one well raised batch has better chances of high survival rates that several batches that I don't have adequate room for.
In the meantime, I intend to enjoy the fry I have to the fullest

 

[Poseidon]

ya that would be a tough call, simply NOT raising one... but i guess if you can give the batches you dont raise off to ray then that is alright then.

 

[AdInfinitum]

When I was breeding a lot of fish I always had some predator tanks.  It was easier for me to cull fry to feed to another hungry mouth than to just flush the undesirables...the natural cycle...

What eats Seahorse fry?  Just about any carnivore?

 

[sunnykita]

that's a tough call, but realizing that you can't raise them all and having Ray on standby is good. It seems to me that hatching brine shrimp has always been good batch, bad batch type of thing. I remember complaints about this many moons ago from those who were hatching and it was the same scenario then as now. I think for me the regular size seahorses would be a better bet than the miniatures.

 

[yveterinarian]

When I was breeding a lot of fish I always had some predator tanks.  It was easier for me to cull fry to feed to another hungry mouth than to just flush the undesirables...the natural cycle...

What eats Seahorse fry?  Just about any carnivore?

I'm not sure, I guess Dave's predator tank fish would eat them.  I'll have to look into it and see if his fish would.  It's a good idea to let them be a benefit to something else than just flush them.  If all three of my males stat having babies I'll have lots of fry that I simply can't keep.

 

[yveterinarian]

that's a tough call, but realizing that you can't raise them all and having Ray on standby is good. It seems to me that hatching brine shrimp has always been good batch, bad batch type of thing. I remember complaints about this many moons ago from those who were hatching and it was the same scenario then as now. I think for me the regular size seahorses would be a better bet than the miniatures.

I hear you Sherri, the larger ones trained to eat frozen are definitely easier in the long run, I still want my dwarves though ;D.  I have someone looking into getting me some if I can't find enough people to go in with me on a group order.  Maybe when I retire I'll do a group order for the full amount and start breeding them. Who knows what the future will bring?

 

[sunnykita]

I think it's a good thing that we don't know what the future will bring LOL That's great that you have someone looking into the dwarfs for you. I can see you doing a group order of them in the future. Happy Birthday to the babies !

 

[yveterinarian]

Oh my! 20 more warning fry yesterday!  This little guy is amazing being able to have this many babies.  This is now his third batch and the other two males haven't even managed to have one!  Ray is on standby for this batch and I'm really hoping he has them today instead of tomorrow because today I have time whereas tomorrow it's back to work I go.    Of course he'll have the rest tomorrow...

Brine shrimp hatching going much better now and I have some really nice batches going at the moment.  The older babies are now getting 4 feedings of shaved frozen Mysis followed 1/2 hour later by brine shrimp only every other feeding. Yesterday I have the pleasure of watching 2 of the fry try to eat a Mysis that didn't get shaved and was full size.  The first one got it in it's mouth and tried very hard to eat the whole thing when the second one came along and decided to help.  For a whole minute they each had an end in their mouth and neither was going to give up.  The shrimp eventually broke and they each got half.  It was great watching them go after larger food and bodes well for the future feeds when I stop shaving the shrimp.  I'll be starting the younger ones on a bit of shaved Mysis this week and see how it goes.

 

[yveterinarian]

Measured one of the 5 week old fry today and found out it was 3 cm long now.  They have tripled in size since they were born.

 

[sunnykita]

oh my Yvette, I hope he had the others for you today, but as you said probably not, he's a real birthing machine right now isn't he? Which leads me to wonder just how many of the fry would survive in the wild? curiosity, it sounds like the other two groups are doing amazingly well, I can just imagine the two of them both trying to eat one mysis ! Great news again !

 

[yveterinarian]

6 weeks old today! This past week I have had a few losses, more than in the week before. The older ones are now eating shaved Mysis almost exclusively and I noticed they eat the brine when it is put in but they aren't as interested as they once were. The brine are too small for them now I think. They are now starting to target larger pieces of Mysis that didn't get shaved well enough and they are working at it until they get the piece down. I now have 161 left of the 6 week old babies. I am seeing more of them with their adult markings coming in but I'm having a terrible time getting a clear picture these days. All of the pictures I took this past week were blurry once I got them up on my computer screen. They look great on the camera screen to me. I think my eyes are going wonky as I can't see the picture well until it's up on the computer. 

The second batch of babies is now 3 weeks old. I have started offering some shaved Mysis to them and some are being bold enough to try. There are 120 of them left now.

The third batch of babies numbers only 21. After the warning fry he never had any more and is now looking small again. I'm hoping he takes a bit of time off from having babies to build up his strength again. I don't know if there were less eggs or if he couldn't nourish all of them but either way, 21 is all that were born. I think it's time he gave the other two males a chance to have some babies while he recuperates. I don't have room for more at present but Ray does so the others could take a turn having babies with no worries. 

 

[sunnykita]

Hi Yvette
Sorry for the losses, but glad to hear that the older ones are readily taking the shaved mysis. Here's hoping that daddy takes a well needed break and recovers well. 161 of the older ones I think is a great number considering how tough it is to get them switched over to the frozen food.
Thanks for the update and continued good luck with the babes !

 

[yveterinarian]

Batch One is seven weeks old today! I still have approximately 115 out of the original 472 of them left now and they are eating whole Hikari Mysis for the most part with a little bit of shaved thrown in for the smaller ones. At first I hadn't thought any of them would be big enough to try to eat the whole Mysis but when watching them eat I noticed that they would deliberately target any that missed the shaving process first before they went for the little pieces. They had to work at getting the piece down but seemed to enjoy the challenge so I gave them what they wanted!  :laugh: They are so adorable when they go into a feeding frenzy trying to be the first to get the largest piece.  ;D  Even though I can't seem to get a good, clear picture of them I thought I'd post a few to show them as they are today.

Batch 2 are 4 weeks old today! There are about 100 left of the original 201 and they are eating a combination of shaved Mysis and 3-4 day old brine shrimp. I'm hoping to have them fully converted to frozen in the next two weeks as we are going on holiday in 4 weeks and I don't want to have to expect my pet sitters to hatch brine shrimp. I'm slowly getting small cubes cut up into the right size for them to feed the babies and am hoping that they won't need any shaved ones anymore. They will be 7 weeks old when I leave so they should be eating whole Mysis by then. My fingers are crossed.

 

[sunnykita]

Hi Yvette
I was wondering today how the little ones were doing, looking great, you're doing a great job. They must be absolutely mesmerizing to watch with their antics !

 

[yveterinarian]

They are! I find I'm spending more and more time down there watching them and not getting my other work done!! Great entertainment though  ;D

First thing in the morning I start by shaving the Mysis and feeding all four tanks.  Then I start looking after the brine shrimp (which should realistically only take 15 minutes but seems to have stretched to an hour while I keep going back to watch the babies!) Then I have to watch to make sure they are eating of course!  I go down there around 7:30 each morning and don't begin feeding any of my other critters until around 9:00 (it used to be 8:00).  At 11:30 I start feeding them all over again before I leave for work.  This leaves me about 2 - 2.5 hours to cook supper, print off my daily schedule for work, call all my patients and eat my supper before I leave.  I don't know where all the time goes but, boy does it go quickly!

Oh well, it's great and I love it. Very relaxing watching them so I don't mind.  Now I have to figure out how to get a good, clear picture of them on a consistent basis.  Somehow, I can't seem to do that.  I have tried every setting on the camera from low light to sports shot.  Just have to keep trying.

 

[sunnykita]

I can see how must time could fly watching the little characters ! Enjoy ! looking forward to seeing you soon !

 

[reefdiver]

HI There
It's Ian from Sealife Central. I have set up a tank in the store as I am planning to carry seahorses. I had found a fellow in toronto that breeds, but I'd rather deal with a local member
Shoot me an email, I'd love to come learn about their care and work out an arrangement with you. i have a system almost ready to keep them
Thanks, looking forward to hearing from you
Ian