My 2.5-Gallon Soon to be Dwarf Seahorse Tank!

[Fishgirl2393]

I will. I haven't gotten an idea yet about when they will ship, so I don't know when they'll get here. Hopefully before the end of this week.

[Fishgirl2393]

Still haven't heard from shipper and seahorses have not (as far as I know) shipped yet (they are listed as "awaiting fulfillment"). I really hope they ship this week because next week will be much more difficult to acclimate (I'm much busier next week).

[Fishgirl2393]

They are shipping today to get here on Friday (I asked the shipper if they would be OK in FedEx 2-day air and he said yes because of where I live)! I'm really excited! Now I need to hatch some brine out for when they get here!!!

[Nanofreak79]

Yay! I ordered some stuff from him yesterday and got it shipping here tomorrow, as I used the overnight. I've changed my tank and removed the plastic plants. I plan on using some macro I have coming, only this time treating it well to keep out any hydroids or such. Anyway, can't wait to see your new ponies, very exciting.

[Fishgirl2393]

Good luck with the macro. If you use panacur, you should be good (but it would mean no invertebrates). I never had any luck with macro and keeping the dwarfs so I will be (very likely) using just fake stuff.

[Fishgirl2393]

Tank is ready (in terms of having been cycled and "tested" to make sure it can handle the load) and has been decorated somewhat. Still may add a couple of things. I still need a better light. Is there a bulb I could get at Lowes that would work for them? I'm not keeping corals, so no worries in that way. I'm looking at something with a standard socket (preferably an LED) to screw into a gooseneck lamp.

[Nanofreak79]

There's plenty of led bulbs you could use. I would just make sure it has a higher kelvin rating, so it's not yellow in appearance. There's some cheap led flex/clip lights on amazon too.

[Fishgirl2393]

I'm going to run by my LFS tomorrow and see what they have too. If all else fails, I'll get a PC 50/50 screw in bulb.

[vlangel]

Wow, between you and Nanofreak there will be ponies everywhere!

[Fishgirl2393]

I had the ponies shipped FedEx two day (arriving Friday) but it looks like they'll be here today. They are "On truck for delivery" this morning!

[vlangel]

We need pics as soon as is convenient!

[Fishgirl2393]

I'll post pics once they get settled in. Still waiting on the truck.

[Fishgirl2393]

They're here! Being acclimated. It looks like I have at least one pregnant male (maybe both are pregnant)!!!

[Fishgirl2393]

In this picture, you can see 3 of the 4 seahorses (if you look).

In this one, you can see the 2 that were below the top one in the picture above.

This one shows one that I believe is pregnant.

[vlangel]

They are so cute! Are they eating well for you?

[Fishgirl2393]

So far, yes. I need to get a new thing of brine shrimp eggs because the ones I have are not hatching out really well.

[vlangel]

Are they kind of old? I think that can effect how well they hatch. bb is the only thing dwarfs eat isn't it? That makes it tough if a batch crashes. Do you run 2 hatcheries? You probably already said in this thread but I get all the threads that are similar mixed up.

[Fishgirl2393]

Yes, they are from the last time I had dwarfs so they are not new. I got new eggs today. Dwarfs pretty much eat only bbs but can also eat copepod cultures. They will occasionally "snick" a frozen bbs or other food, but not often. I am running two cultures right now but usually only hatch out bbs a couple of times a week since I prefer to enrich them.

[hypostatic]

Man, I know that this is a small tank, but since you're adding bbs to it anyway, I'm sure there's some nice gorgos you could put in there if you wanted.

[Fishgirl2393]

Thanks! Right now I'm going artificial till I "master" the care of these little guys (and by that I mean, get them to survive long term and have babies that survive). One just had 4 babies but at least one more (probably more) are on the way (one tail is "sticking out" )! I'm planning on raising them separately so I don't have to worry about them not getting enough food. They are in a small (less than a gallon) tank with an air hose slowly bubbling just to produce current/air exchange. The tank will get very frequent water changes to keep it clean. I'm hoping this will work to raise them and will have better results than raising them in the main tank.

[vlangel]

Yes, they are from the last time I had dwarfs so they are not new. I got new eggs today. Dwarfs pretty much eat only bbs but can also eat copepod cultures. They will occasionally "snick" a frozen bbs or other food, but not often. I am running two cultures right now but usually only hatch out bbs a couple of times a week since I prefer to enrich them.

I remember reading when I was raising clown fish babies that the first four to eight hours the newly hatched bb is the most nutritious because of the egg sac. Once they use that up their nutrition drops significantly. You probably do feed some immediately after hatching though so your ponies would be getting the benefits from those.

 

Thanks! Right now I'm going artificial till I "master" the care of these little guys (and by that I mean, get them to survive long term and have babies that survive). One just had 4 babies but at least one more (probably more) are on the way (one tail is "sticking out" )! I'm planning on raising them separately so I don't have to worry about them not getting enough food. They are in a small (less than a gallon) tank with an air hose slowly bubbling just to produce current/air exchange. The tank will get very frequent water changes to keep it clean. I'm hoping this will work to raise them and will have better results than raising them in the main tank.

Sounds like a good plan. Hey, good luck with the babies!

[Fishgirl2393]

Thanks. I do feed them right after hatching as well but I also put some in fridge, which slows down their development and therefore, keeps them "young" longer. The babies are still doing fine. So far there are five but I think more are still on the way.

[vlangel]

So you've doubled your herd size already. Do you add a lot more bb to the babies tank or I'm guessing you feed more often?

[Fishgirl2393]

Feed often. Also nothing to remove the bbs (hence the water changes).

[Fishgirl2393]

Hey guys. I haven't updated in a while. My adult seahorses got sick after arriving (I think bacterial from transit based on what I saw) and died, but I still have a baby right now which is getting larger each day. After the adults died, I decided to set up a larger tank for the future adults (I'm getting them soon). At first I was going to go with a 10-gallon but it was too large so I am now cycling a 3.5 gallon tank. It is barebottom (easier to clean though I'm still trying to decide if sand would be helpful or not). I haven't decided about lights yet. The filter is a little Cascade internal filter (45-GPH) that will have something over it to keep seahorses out.