My New Venture

[sunnykita]

Thumbelina was always a favourite of mine, yes it is love isn't it?

 

[scubasteve]

agree i saw the little guys they were so cool im still amazed as well at the variations of colour they can change to and seems they all have their own personality. i thought taking care of mine was going to be hard but like yvette i developed a decent routine and spend alot more time staring at them then anything lol i would be scared to attempt dwarf sh but with your skills they have an excellent home

 

[yveterinarian]

Thank you so much Steve . They have been doing very well and I haven't had any losses that I know of for quite a while (definitely none of the adults have died). The babies are so little that I can't find them very easily. Today I counted 4 pregnant males so there will be a few new babies soon. The first babies are getting much bigger now and are about half the size of the adults. I can find them much easier now that they have grown a bit. The babies have one plant that they seem to love and I often can count 15 - 20 of them on this plant at one time.

The only problem I have with this tank is that I can't seem to get rid of the suspended brine shrimp eggs when I feed them. I siphon the hatch bottles from the bottom into another bottle to separate out the floating eggshells then pour off the top to get the hatched brine and leave the un-hatched eggs behind but for some reason there are always eggs suspended in the water that either won't float to the top or sink to the bottom. These then are collecting on the sand when I feed the seahorses. (of course they sink then ). I don't like the look of them and obviously I can't clean them all off the sand at once or I may destroy the bacteria. I'm cleaning a bit every few days but always more is deposited. I may have to re-think the sand bottom idea and put the sand in the back/sump area and have bare-bottom for better cleaning. If I do that I'll have to glue each plant to a rock to keep it weighted down. I'm not sure if there are any tank mates that I can use as part of the clean up crew that would eat the brine shrimp eggs and would be safe with the dwarfs.

 

[scubasteve]

i have a couple nassarius snails in my sandbed i guess they are doing alright but definately not as good as id like i want to get some kind of a sand sifter but worried a goby will take a liking to the mysis..... maintaining a sandbed sure isnt easy in a low flow environment

 

[yveterinarian]

i have a couple nassarius snails in my sandbed i guess they are doing alright but definately not as good as id like i want to get some kind of a sand sifter but worried a goby will take a liking to the mysis..... maintaining a sandbed sure isnt easy in a low flow environment

I agree. That's why I ultimately ended up with a bare bottom tank for my seahorses. I got so tired of trying to keep the sand looking clean. I had a terrible time with cyano because of the low flow and couldn't keep on top of it so I ended up getting rid of the sand.

 

[scubasteve]

I agree. That's why I ultimately ended up with a bare bottom tank for my seahorses. I got so tired of trying to keep the sand looking clean. I had a terrible time with cyano because of the low flow and couldn't keep on top of it so I ended up getting rid of the sand.

exactly how im starting to feel.... reef tank is easy buy a goby and add a powerhead lol

 

[yveterinarian]

Keeping the tank clean without the sand is extremely easy and, in my opinion, definitely worth it with seahorses. Their poops are so large that it is easy to siphon them out along with any uneaten food and the tank stays looking very nice. I run several small powerheads at the bottom of the tank which makes the food and poop collect in one area. A quick one minute suction every day has the tank spotless. I have no cyano forming at all in my large tanks. I do get diatoms though but it comes off easily with the magnet algae cleaner. When I finally decided to get rid of the sand in my first system I put the sand into the sump and added the snails and shrimp to the sump to help keep it clean but now I have no sand with my largest setups.
Steve, if you haven't got any in the tank, try some of the small nano powerheads near the bottom of the tank. The seahorses don't have a problem with that amount of flow and often will go and "play" in the current. It may help keep the sand cleaner for you. Unfortunately I can't do that with my dwarfs as any powerhead will be too much for them.

I have been siphoning off the eggshells approximately every 3 days and will keep trying for now because I'm being stubborn and don't want to give up the sand. I like the look of it when it is clean. After a couple of months, if it still looks bad, I'll give up and get rid of the sand. Such a shame because the black sand really show up their colors and I can see them so easily.

Yesterday I sat down in front of the tank and counted about 30 babies before I lost count and couldn't tell if I was counting the same baby twice! My pregnant males aren't as big anymore so they must have had the babies. Some of the new ones were so small they looked as thin as a strand of sewing thread with a little knot on the end which was the head.

They really are amazing to watch and I can lose myself for hours just sitting in front of the tank.

 

[sunnykita]

amazing ! simply amazing, I'm really beginning to think that no substrate is the way to go after seeing Adam's tank on Saturday (Nexusnight)
looks absolutely fabulous ! thanks for the update Yvette, always an interesting read and informative !

 

[yveterinarian]

Thought I would take an updated picture of some of the babies in the Dwarf tank. They all like the one plant with very small grass-like leaves. Yesterday I counted over 30 babies then lost track again! They keep moving on me!

The adults in the picture are only approximately 1/2" long so you can imagine how tiny these babies are. The small white dots you see in the picture are brine shrimp eggs. I am still having difficulty separating them out completely when I feed these guys. I have been slowly adding some asterina stars and some micro brittle stars to the tank to help with the clean up crew. There is one micro brittle star on one of the plant you may see.

 

[MrHermit85]

What an interesting thread!!! It's always great to hear about success with such interesting creatures!!! How long do these little guys live?

 

[yveterinarian]

The general consensus is that they live for about a year and a half but there are a lot of people questioning that belief at the moment. They are prolific breeders so there is a perpetual population if they are looked after properly. The big problem I think is that it is very difficult to tell who is who in the tank. I can't tell them apart very easily so I wouldn't know which one of my adults died when one does, thus I wouldn't know how old it was. I think some of the ones that died in the beginning when I first got them were old because some were quite emaciated looking while the others that survived were nice and fat looking.
One of the articles I have read goes into the need for a varied diet to help them live longer and be healthier but I find it difficult to grow out the other food sources they eat. I tried culturing both Tisbe and Arcata Pods for them but I have lost both cultures. I will be trying again to culture them once I can find them again. (I brought these ones back from the States when I went to Florida this year). I am enriching the Brine that I hatch so I'm hoping that helps to keep the healthy. They are a lot of fun to watch and I hope my population sustains itself for a long time now that everything has stabilized and I am not losing the adults anymore.

 

[MrHermit85]

Sounds like they definitely keep you busy! I don't think I could devote as much time but I would like to try the H.erectus one day when I am a little more experienced.

 

[yveterinarian]

Yes, the dwarf seahorses are definitely time consuming but so much fun. In comparison the H. Erectus are a breeze. They were my first venture into the world of saltwater long before I set up a reef tank. In my opinion the H. Erectus are much easier than keeping corals since I don't have to use any of the fancy dosers, etc to keep them. They are much more forgiving than some of the corals I have tried to keep when the water parameters are a little off.

 

[scubasteve]

agreed my mixed reef takes 10times the amount of work as my seahorses do..... as for my sand bed havnt had any cyano yet thank god but the dang green hair algae keeps taking over some areas have been trying to find a small powerhead but so far nothing to suit my needs. i was debating a rotational spinner on my return but was informed they need about 200gph to spin and my seahorse tank is only 150gph maybe once i get some calurpa growing in the tank the gha will disappear.

they really are a hardy specimin tho still havnt had an issue yet maybe one these days ill brave a dwarf but my erectus will have me mesmerized for a long while yet

 

[yveterinarian]

Steve, they can actually take a fair bit of flow. I use http://www.aquariumsupplies.ca/koralia-nano-reef-pump-p-5669.html these pumps on 60 gallon tank and http://www.aquariumsupplies.ca/koralia-nano-reef-pump-p-5670.html this and http://www.aquariumsupplies.ca/koralia-evolution-1150-p-5672.html this on my 160 gallon tank. I cover them with mesh to stop them getting their tails stuck in them and they love the flow. They often go directly in front of the power head and swim against the current. They will let it push them to the other side of the tank then swim back and do it again. My return pump has quite a bit of flow as well. I can't remember the size off the top of my head though. They need a good turnover of water but also some slow areas that they can hitch and rest. Ideally you want a turnover rate of at least 15-20 times the water volume per hour.

 

[scubasteve]

ya steve at la had a few different ones that would be perfect might just switch to a bigger return and make up a dual line with a blower 1/3the way down and another near the bottom... im also planning on moving all lr to the sump/fuge section to make a more of an ornamental display i want to go the whole atlantis route and should add about four gallons of extra swimming room.

 

[yveterinarian]

ya steve at la had a few different ones that would be perfect might just switch to a bigger return and make up a dual line with a blower 1/3the way down and another near the bottom... im also planning on moving all lr to the sump/fuge section to make a more of an ornamental display i want to go the whole atlantis route and should add about four gallons of extra swimming room.

Sounds good Steve Post some pictures when you have done the redesigning. I'd love to see it.

 

[scubasteve]

will do im in need of an update soon lol

 

[yveterinarian]

Thought I'd post an update today of my progress. I have been experimenting with the brine shrimp eggs and the best time to use the peroxide for my setup. Peroxide helps to sterilize the hatch before I use it with my dwarves and also helps to separate out the hatched shells leftover. I have found that if I use the peroxide 48 hours after starting a new batch of brine shrimp (the hatch is 24 hours old) I get a better separation of eggs and have less floating around in the water when I am finished. I have also bought a better bleach on Ray's suggestion and am getting a better de-capsulation thus less shell leftover to float around. There are still floating eggs that are getting into the dwarf tank but definitely less than before so things are looking better.

The dwarf seahorses are doing very well but I have noticed that the newborn babies have a tendency to get through the mesh covering the overflow and I find them on the other side hitched in the sump area. I am constantly looking to make sure none of them get caught up in the pump but they are so tiny that they could get through the mesh and sucked up before I know it. Therefore, I have decided to start a dwarf nursery. I had a small clear acrylic aquarium (approx. 1 litre) that I have decided to use and a small plant that was perfect for them. I then fished out 36 of the smallest babies and put them into it.

Hard to believe there are 36 little seahorses in here isn't it? I ran a rigid airline into it and am changing 50% of the water daily when I change all of the water in the brine shrimp containers. So far they are doing very well in here and they seem to like the plant. They have a constant supply of brine shrimp that I change out daily when I do the water change. I'm also adding a little bit of "Prime" daily just in case any ammonia tries to show up since it is a bare-bottom, non cycled tank. We'll see how well they grow in here.

The little red dots are 2 day old brine shrimp. They look big next to the babies.

Now that the smallest babies are out of the main tank there are about 10 "teenagers" left in the main tank with the adults. They are too big to get caught in the mesh so I can relax my vigilance a little. I will be checking daily for newborns and I think this way I will have a better idea of how many dwarf seahorses I have.

 

[saltyair]

Just finished reading this whole thread - wow thanks for sharing. Sounds like a fun. But I will have to wait till i retire before jumping into this