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My 2.5-Gallon Soon to be Dwarf Seahorse Tank!


Fishgirl2393

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I'll try and get an updated FTS up and get some close ups of the horses too. I'm going to raise babies separately from the adults but I've read with zosterae that just a small tank is fine for babies.

 

 

Yes pics please!

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Fishgirl2393

Well, my original plan was to get some H. errectus but I needed a larger tank and just didn't have room for it so I decided to go with these little guys and I'm glad I did! They're fun but a fair amount of work! :)

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Fishgirl2393

Very true. They're cute, small, and fun! I also love them because I love the gulf coast and they're native to there! :)

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Fishgirl2393

OK, so I know I need to post pics but I have a pregnant seahorse (yes, it is for sure pregnant now!) and I want to focus on that right now! I'll post pics as soon as I can (it looks about the same as the first pics so you can get an idea of what it looks like from that) and maybe, when I do, it will be after the seahorse has babies! Anyway, anyone who has kept them before, I'm looking for tips on raising the babies!

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Fishgirl2393

Well, it may be pregnant now but when I thought it was pregnant, it was because it was courting with a female and was puffing his stomach out to impress her! :D Hopefully with the enriched brine, I'll get more breeding going on!

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Fishgirl2393

The seahorse that I thought was pregnant was pregnant and had a baby but then, the stress from being moved to a tank for the male to give birth in stressed both baby and dad out and both died overnight. :( Still have another seahorse (possibly two) that I think may be pregnant.

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altolamprologus
The seahorse that I thought was pregnant was pregnant and had a baby but then, the stress from being moved to a tank for the male to give birth in stressed both baby and dad out and both died overnight. :( Still have another seahorse (possibly two) that I think may be pregnant.

Sorry they died :( It's good you still have a couple pregnant ones though.

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Fishgirl2393

Well, after having quite a few babies (which I raised to about a week) my amphipod population exploded (from feeding the tank for the fry no doubt) and they went predatory (whatever species of amphipod I have is BAD NEWS because they ate corals, then seahorses). :( They ate ALL seahorses over a period of time (a few days). The seahorses just disappeared (the last two in one night) and NEVER had ANY signs of disease, malnutrition or any other issues (but I did find fat amphipods on the seahorse hitching spots in the tank). I set up a new tank (slightly larger tank of between 3-4 gallons) that is more sterile and removed ALL amphipods from things in the previous tank. I freshwater dipped my macro for half an hour and used new stuff (except the filter which was covered by a very fine mesh net that the amphipods couldn't get past which was removed and some sand from a not amphipod infested tank) for the new tank. It is NOT showing any signs of cycling (I doubt there will be a cycle because I used an established filter and established sand) but I will be feeding the tank with BBS to make sure it can handle it before getting any more dwarfs. It upsets me that this happened since they were doing so well and breeding but oh well...

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Fishgirl2393

Apparently, it's NOT unheard of for that to happen (from what I've read, an amphipod can kill a fully gown dwarf and then eat it. Many sources for dwarf seahorse care site amphipods as potential predators for them). I also had 2-3 bristleworms in the tank (quite small ones) which might have taken the horses down I guess but the fact is, it was a predator (not hydroids though because I used panacur and NEVER saw any signs of hydroids). I had them ALL breeding (all males had been/were pregnant and females had all mated with different males) and they were very healthy little dwarfs (ate regularly, hitched well, etc). I fed them enriched baby brine shrimp and they all ate really well. No disease (I look at the tank many times a day for signs of disease/problems) and no tank parameter problems either (salinity, ammonia, pH, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, temp, alk, calcium, etc). I am going to be ordering 6 more dwarfs for the new tank (in the hopes that they'll be healthy and breed like my others were) really soon.

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altolamprologus

Sorry you lost all your little guys :( You should restart the new tank with dry rock and bagged sand to eliminate the risk of adding predators

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Fishgirl2393

Thanks. That's what I've done. I also used a different tank (what I've been wanting to do for a while) and worked harder on getting it looking nice/being functional since I know more about the seahorses now than I did when I got them. I know more about what they seem to like, what they NEED (I did tons of research before I got my first ones but having them teaches you more) and what is practical for a tank. Things are looking good with this tank. I will probably add some more plastic/silk plants (at least one more) but I like the way it looks pretty well now. Will try to add some pics tonight/tomorrow if possible. The lighting sucks right now (an incandescent aquarium bulb) because my old bulb blew (it was a Coralife 50/50 bulb) and I'm trying to decide whether to go with LED or another bulb like I had (if I go with LED, I'll have to mod my hood because I really want to keep it).

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Fishgirl2393

Still no signs of amphipods or bristleworms in the new tank. I'm going to be ordering dwarfs soon (I've been told they will likely ship on Thursday) and will update with pics (if all goes well) when I get them.

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altolamprologus

Just curious why you're buying wild ones? Captive bred dwarfs are just as easy to come by and are just about the same price.

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sillycupid

I have bought captive breed before from seahorse source. There is nothing wrong with them, they are perfectly healthy. I wanted to try wild caught to see if there is any behavioral differences. With my captive breed I usually only had one active hunter. With wild caught I am hoping more of their natural instincts to hunt will kick in. Also more genetic diversity and more incentive to change color since they have come in contact with predators at least once in their life time. They have the fear of god in them 0.o lol

 

Everyone says to buy captive breed, which is fine. I just want wild caught. So I'm going to buy wild caught.

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Fishgirl2393

I'm buying from Ccritters because I had good luck last time and they were really healthy. I'm sure that seahorses from Seahorse Source are great too, it's just that I had a good experience with the other place! :) The seahorses have been ordered and will be shipped on Thursday (supposedly)! I ordered six. I hope these guys do really well in my new setup (with no predators) and breed! I'll be enriching my brine shrimp from the start to make sure they get enough nutrition.

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sillycupid

YAY! I love anticipating a package. I am always checking the tracking number, even though it is rarely updated. I like seeing what cities my packages go through =)

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I'm buying from Ccritters because I had good luck last time and they were really healthy. I'm sure that seahorses from Seahorse Source are great too, it's just that I had a good experience with the other place! :) The seahorses have been ordered and will be shipped on Thursday (supposedly)! I ordered six. I hope these guys do really well in my new setup (with no predators) and breed! I'll be enriching my brine shrimp from the start to make sure they get enough nutrition.

 

I believe it is wiser to not enrich your brine shrimp. In order to enrich them you have to wait two days untill they use up their natural yolk sack that they are born with, and then all you are doing it is substituting it with a shelf product. Only adult brine need to be enriched and you cant enrich baby brine as they dont have the abilty to eat yet.

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Fishgirl2393

I always check the tracking code too! Unfortunately, I can't check it yet! :D I'm getting excited!!!!

 

I feed both enriched and newly hatched bbs as I agree that the brine have nutrients when born that probably can't be replicated very easily. I figure I'm getting the best of both worlds by enriching and feeding newly hatched (unenriched) brine to the little guys!

 

I'm probably going to add at least one more fake plant for them to hitch to along with the macroalgae (caulerpa) in the tank and fake corals/birdsnest skeleton.

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