Rearing Hippocampus abdominalis.

[livingart]

  

Rearing Hippocampus abdominalis.

Tank set up.

30 Litre tank.

Air pump

Sponge filter

 

The tanks must always have pristine water, I use natural salt water at 1.026 salinity and 20c  

Any leftover food is siphoned out each day and a water change  done of 10 to 25%.

I use sponge filters on a low flow to allow the fry to feed continuously with a light on 24 hours a day for the first few weeks.

Picture of fry tank with separate compartments to keep numbers down of fry kept together,Brine shrimp hatching bottles overhead and the orange is plastic plants for fry to attach to.

 

Fry are attracted to light and go to the water surface and then swallow air to fill up their swim bladder, which then seals up. the fry can congregate and form intertwined rafts at the surface and expand energy wrestling to get free of each other so i use floating plastic plants or netting for them to cling to instead.

Pic of fry at 6 hrs post hatch, note the air pocket in swim bladder.

Feeding Seahorse fry

.It takes about 20 hrs for the fry to use up their yolk sac and this is when i start feeding out rotifers as brine shrimp Nauplii shells harden which means the fry’s digestive system  can be impacted resulting in mortality. I heavily feed out rotifers or newly hatched brine shrimp to ensure all the fry can feed properly as starvation is easy in the first week. After the first week the fry are able to handle baby brine shrimp.

After about 3 weeks i change the lighting to a 8 hr dark period  and move into a 30 litre tank.   

Picture of fry at 7 days old, they have darkened up and swim bladder is now silver.

Clean water and lots of appropriate live food are the key to success with these fish.

 

Edited November 6, 2015 by livingart