Dawn's seahorse garden. Farewell 36g bowfront!

[aquariumlover10]

Yay, umm one question, what are you going to do with them once grown?

[vlangel]

Glad to see they are still alive! I could never do the amount of work you've done to raise these guys.

Thanks Mark, I am emotionally invested in these guys but I definitely won't be keeping any more for quite some time as this is exhausting. I love em and it's very cool but my hats off to any hobbyist that does this on a regular basis. It's too much commitment for me!

[vlangel]

Yay, umm one question, what are you going to do with them once grown?

That's a good question. I think I will keep one female. However if I manage to raise some others up to maturity, (and I am a long ways off from that), I will post them on my local forum for sale and see if I get takers. Also I worked in a lfs named, (of all things) the Seahorse and I will see if my employer is interested in me setting up a dedicated seahorse tank? I would even maintain it and we could work out a deal that they could have a percentage of sales.

[NanoFever]

Today was more positive. I didn't lose any babies since yesterday. They are looking pretty good too. I asked about feeding and transitioning foods on a seahorse forum...All I can say is it is a miracle that I having babies still alive. As diligent as I am being I was missing entire steps just because I didn' t know. I hope I can implement my new knowledge correctly. It's a steep learning curve, that's for sure.

Just out of curiosity what steps were you missing? You seem to be doing a pretty diligent job in my eyes. LOL!

[aquariumlover10]

Oh ok.

What if you lined a aquarium plant pot with a "CLEAN" pantyhose and hatch bb in their so they will swim aroun more because its hatched in the sae water as it will be eaten in

[vlangel]

Just out of curiosity what steps were you missing? You seem to be doing a pretty diligent job in my eyes. LOL!

Well the biggest thing I was doing wrong was enriching the whole batch of bb every day. I learned that the bb should be fed phytofeast but I should only enrich with Dan's feed and Selcon 2-6 hours prior to feeding the fry. These enrichment foods grow bacteria so one should not enrich more than will be fed in that 6 hour time period. Fortunately I was changing and making fresh salt water every day so that probably helped the food. Also I was bleaching the hatcheries and hitches often enough, but not the containers with the bb in them.

 

Oh ok.What if you lined a aquarium plant pot with a "CLEAN" pantyhose and hatch bb in their so they will swim aroun more because its hatched in the sae water as it will be eaten in

Well perhaps, but I am more comfortable sticking to what other seahorse keepers have had success doing when they raise their fry. Even those folks who raise them commercially experience losses so I am not ready to throw in towel.

[vlangel]

This morning I tackled the dreaded remove algae from the U tube of my overflow box! It's dreaded because of needing to get a syphon going again in this nano overflow box. Everything is so small so getting my airline tubing back out once the syphon is started is a challenge without breaking the syphon again. The good thing is that the smaller U tube never gets a bubble build up thus the overflow box is never in danger of losing a syphon when the power is off. It has performed flawlessly since I got it in May. I moved the T5 light toward the front of the tank to slow algae growth in the U tube in the future. Of course now it will be growing on the front glass, LOL. Well "algae happens".

[vlangel]

I learned a lot more today about baby seahorse raising and some possible reason some of mine are wasting away. It could be from bacteria in the gut, which comes from the food. I have been using selcon as part of the enriching process but I guess selcon is especially bad about breeding bacteria. I'm kind of glad to discontinue it as it is the most expensive product I use in the enrichment.

[vlangel]

http://s36.photobucket.com/user/vlangelbike/media/20141121_165641_zps2219d496.jpg.html'>Here is a pic of my bowfront, (yes I do still have the bowfront tank).

 

http://s36.photobucket.com/user/vlangelbike/media/20141121_165413_zps3200e81b.jpg.html'>...and here is the other side. I think the coral like having baby seahorses in their sump, ( or at least the bb that is flushed into the system after the babies are done eating!)

[vlangel]

The baby seahorses are eating adult brine shrimp now and actually prefer it. I still put bb in the nursery too in case some of the smaller fry are intimidated by the adult brine shrimp. They have all experienced a growth spurt since I began offering adult brine shrimp. Most of the babies are about an inch long now.

[markalot]

Nice to see some tank pics.

 

Great news that the babies are eating and growing. For doing this the very first time and learning on the fly I think it's obvious you've done an excellent job.

[vlangel]

Thanks Mark. I admit that I am quite frankly surprised to still be in the game! I have some big decisions to make...do I begin offering finely chopped frozen mysis with the adult brine shrimp? If I do that should I move the nursery to the 20L that I set up in the basement so as to not over do the bioload on my bowfront seahorse tanks? It's all scary stuff and now I really want to succeed with these little guys.

Nice to see some tank pics.

 

Great news that the babies are eating and growing. For doing this the very first time and learning on the fly I think it's obvious you've done an excellent job.

[vlangel]

Ok, I have made some decisions regarding the baby seahorses. With the Thanksgiving festivities and weekend coming up, I decided this is not the time to move the fry to the 20 long. I won't be starting any frozen food yet either and will just continue with the live adult enriched brine shrimp. The only change is I did move them into a new slightly bigger nursery tank that is still in the sump of my main system.

[vlangel]

I did however make a somewhat major change in the seahorse DT fuge. When I was in the midst of the build I was worried about so much height, (the tank is 24"high), which is a lot of vertical space to use. I remedied that by building an acrylic box that would house 2 Rio pumps. It seemed like a great idea and it solved the height problem but as I read more and more about seahorses I am thinking it is not a good idea for them. Seahorses I am discovering are sturdy little creatures EXCEPT REGARDING BACTERIA! Without scales they can't ward off bacteria the way fish can. Even HOB or canister filters can harbor these dangerous bacterias if not diligently maintenanced. I had no way of regularly scrubbing the inside of the acrylic box and I finally decided that it was not worth the risk, so I removed it. The 2 Rios I surrounded with rock work so that the flow is almost identical to how it was. Everything has a similar look but is less 3 dimensional in that it's pretty much one height through out. Adam and Eve still seem comfortable as their home hasn't been completely disrupted, and I feel better about it being safer for my pretty ponies!

[NanoFever]

I did however make a somewhat major change in the seahorse DT fuge. When I was in the midst of the build I was worried about so much height, (the tank is 24"high), which is a lot of vertical space to use. I remedied that by building an acrylic box that would house 2 Rio pumps. It seemed like a great idea and it solved the height problem but as I read more and more about seahorses I am thinking it is not a good idea for them. Seahorses I am discovering are sturdy little creatures EXCEPT REGARDING BACTERIA! Without scales they can't ward off bacteria the way fish can. Even HOB or canister filters can harbor these dangerous bacterias if not diligently maintenanced. I had no way of regularly scrubbing the inside of the acrylic box and I finally decided that it was not worth the risk, so I removed it. The 2 Rios I surrounded with rock work so that the flow is almost identical to how it was. Everything has a similar look but is less 3 dimensional in that it's pretty much one height through out. Adam and Eve still seem comfortable as their home hasn't been completely disrupted, and I feel better about it being safer for my pretty ponies!

So awesome they are taking adult brine already! Got any updated videos feeding them?

[vlangel]

So awesome they are taking adult brine already! Got any updated videos feeding them?

Tomorrow I will try to take one as they will be 4 weeks old. I don't know if I can get brine shrimp tonight though and what I have is pretty old.

[vlangel]

So awesome they are taking adult brine already! Got any updated videos feeding them?

Here's a video although I only saw them eat bb in this. You can see how they have grown now at 4 weeks old.

[NanoFever]

They are getting big fast! I love the ones that drag others around by their tails! HAHA!

 

Dont forget to give them some turkey and stuffing tomorrow!

[vlangel]

They are getting big fast! I love the ones that drag others around by their tails! HAHA!

 

Dont forget to give them some turkey and stuffing tomorrow!

Ha ha, I guess even seahorses can enjoy Thanksgiving! How about if I stuff their brine shrimp with Dan's feed and maybe a little vibrance?

[vlangel]

Here's a pic of the newly decorated seahorse tank, minus the acrylic box.http://s36.photobucket.com/user/vlangelbike/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20141126_140552_zpsf735024e.jpg.html'>

 

Adam has been cosying up to Eve so I don' t think he minds. Eve on the other hand was happy as soon as she located the food dish!

[vlangel]

What is it about this hobby that even against your will we find ourselves expanding and adding more???? I keep thinking about when I move the baby seahorse and it scares me. What if the heater malfunctions, what if this or that... Anyway that started me thinking about adding a 10g to the existing system, (attaching it to the sump the same as the seahorse tank). Then they would be in my living room where I could monitor them closely, the temperature would be right, the water parameters would be right. I have decided it could work. Of course it means spending money but then doesn't everything in this hobby?

[vlangel]

I realized that since the 10g will be lower than the bowfront but higher than the sump that with just an overflow box I can set this tank in the system! All I need to do is run the overflow from the bowfront into the 10g and run a nano overflow box on the 10g into the sump. It's super simple, no pumps, no electricity, just gravity. I like it. I will need to put a partition in the 10g to make a chamber for the drain from the overflow of the bowfront but that's easy.

[vlangel]

It's official, Santa (my hubby) is getting me a smart ATO for christmas! That will be a very nice upgrade for my system.

[markalot]

So you use overflow boxes instead of drilling? See, I have this empty un-drilled 40 gallon still sitting next to my 150 and I would like some kind of a fuge. What overflows do you use, or would this be a first?

[vlangel]

So you use overflow boxes instead of drilling? See, I have this empty un-drilled 40 gallon still sitting next to my 150 and I would like some kind of a fuge. What overflows do you use, or would this be a first?

Both my tanks have overflow boxes and they work great. I don't remember what is on the bowfront, (I moved it over from my 90g when I had it) but the seahorse tank has an eshopps nano on it. I have the U tube drilled with airline tubing connected to an aqua lifter pump on the old overflow box because it did accumulate some bubbles. The aqua lifter sucks them right out though. The eshopps is perfectly matched with the flow so I don't have it drilled. They work flawlessly for me and I have been using overflow boxes snice 2007.