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Cultivated Reef

15g Seahorse Tank


Carinya

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Now today he is being all hidey, which apparently is pretty common when they are preggers.

 

As far as the pic request, it honestly doesn't look any different than the most recent FTS I posted except that I need to trim some of the macro back. Here's that FTS again from mid-March.

 

Mar09FTS.jpg

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Quite an amazing tank. I read though the entire thread and I really admire the patience with which you setup this tank. Keep up the amazing work!

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Thanks!

 

I snapped some pics yesterday. Will try to get them up in the next couple days.

 

I ordered or bought all the stuff I think I need for my seahorse fry setup this weekend. I'm not sure I'll be able to get these guys to adult, but I'd like to try... Will post as I go along.

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I have the bbs, but was going to try it without the rots... fingerscrossed

 

big mistake, you think?

 

I hear of folks raising erectus fry on bbs then cyclopeze...

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Thanks guys. I need to get those new pics up. :)

 

I don't have any good shots of the male seahorse recently but he really looks preggers to me. I just received the last parts for my fry setup, need to put it together. Hopefully I'll have some success.

 

C

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New pics

 

FTS (see, it really isn't all that different)

smfts.jpg

 

goby

I don't think I posted him before. He's the only other fish.

smgoby.jpg

 

male seahorse

not looking too pregnant here but he's gotten a bit bigger since this was taken

smmale.jpg

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Fry setup

 

So, the fry setup has to be able to keep clean water, hold small food suspended in the water for a while (i.e. very low flow), be easy to siphon the bottom to get debris out & it has to be accessible for me to watch the little guys. Folks on seahorse.org have tried a lot of different things and most of them set up a system just for the fry. I'm not planning to raise many broods and I definitely don't have the room to set up a whole new system, so I'm making a small display tank with variable flow rate for the fry and hooking it into my sump. I hope it works for them.

 

Food storage container, bulkhead & ball valve

smparts.jpg

 

Bulkheads installed

smbulkhd.jpg

 

Tubing & valve, leak/flow test

The fake plant is glued to the bottom.

smleaktest.jpg

 

I cut holes in the tubing near the pump so that the flow was a little less & also when I close the valve to stop flow at the fry tank, the water can escape

smnotches.jpg

 

Here it is next to the display tank on my desk

smrunning.jpg

 

 

If I have good success with them & I need a grow-out tank, I suppose I'll upgrade to one of the bigger critter keepers in the same location.

 

I have 2 of these complete setups (including a double set of the tubing & fake plant) so if one gets too dirty inside, I'll just move the fry to the new setup, pull out the tubing from the sump & wash it out.

 

Hope it works. I expect him to deliver in the next couple days to 2 weeks.

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The male's belly has looked kind of different around the opening today, as if something were on the verge of coming out. So I started my decapsulated brine shrimp eggs hatching.

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omgomgomg omgomgomg omgomgomg

 

BABIES!

 

fry15_2.jpg

 

I found one in my sump and one in the display. Perhaps more to come.

 

Wow, they are tiny.

 

Stuff in the water with them are baby brine shrimp and bits of phyto.

 

fingerscrossed

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I just found this thread today and I have SOOOO many questions!

 

But first, just to be current:

 

HOW did you get the fry to the 'nursery'? Did you place the male in there first or are you netting the fry?

 

Also, I had been to seahorse.org, and one of the first threads for noobies is that they do not recommend any kind of nano tank, under 24 gallons. Have you had challenges that I may have missed in reading the thread?

 

I am a LONG WAY from any kind of SH stock, as I have just finished cycling and am only starting a CUC. Softies in a week or two...!

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Thanks everyone. They don't seem to be eating, so we'll see...

 

Fry into the tank via a turkey baster. I think next time I may try moving the male to the nursery prior to him delivering because I only ended up with 2 fry and I think probably I had more but they were victims to the filtration or to the goby or some such.

 

Nanos & SH. Most kinds of horses available to the hobby (outside of dwarfs, which are another thing altogether) are not good for smaller tanks because the horses themselves are just literally too big/long. But the ones I have (h. fuscus) are some of the smallest horses available captive bred. I got mine from Seahorse Source. So, for the horse size, my tank size is OK. The second reason folks say no SH in a small tank is because the horses are messy eaters (require frequent feeding & waste a lot of the food). However, I have a 15g sump and a skimmer and a UV. So I've tried to do my best in my limited space to make a suitable system. I'm sure they'd be better in a bigger tank, but obviously not everyone can swing that.

 

Seahorse.org is the way to go. They are the best.

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One of the two babies has an orange belly from eating the baby brine shrimp.

 

:wub:

 

bubbles5_3.jpg

 

fry15_3.jpg

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