Breeding Journal, Species: Hippocampus erectus

General
Species:  Hippocampus erectus
Social Structure:  Pairs/groups
Size of Individuals:  Approx. 6inches
Age of Individuals:  Male 2.5 - 3 yrs, Female 2 - 2.5 yrs
Date added to Tank:  2009

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  34 gallon now 75 gallons
Substrate Details:  Live sand
Filtration Details:  4 stage internal filtration system, now sump with live sand, rock rubble, chaeto   
Water Changes:  25 - 30% fortnightly
Water Temperature:  72 - 74
Lighting:  2x T5's, 4x blue LED
Lighting Cycle:  13 hours on
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Premnas epigrammata x1, Premnas epigrammata x 1, Sphaeramia nematoptera x 2

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Frozen mysis, krill, enriched brineshrimp
Feeding Schedule:  twice daily

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn:  13/11/2012    
Spawn Time of Day:  Early morning, between 8am - 10am      
Dates of Consecutive Spawns: several, including 06/05/2011, 12/31/2011, 01/14/2012, 10/27/2012, 12/11/2012, 12/29/2012                 
Courtship Details:  colour flashes, courtship dance consists of rising in the water column.  Female usually points her snout straight upwards when she is ready for the egg transfer.  Male and female perform a "maypole dance", entwining each other, and male opens his pouch ready to take the females eggs.
Egg Size:  2mm
Egg Color:  orange
Egg Count:  unknown

Hatch Details
Hatch Date:  11/10/2012, 01/14/2012, 12/25/2012, 01/12/2013  
Hatch Time of Day:   Early morning, between 8am - 10am.
# Days after Spawn:  14 days (this is pretty consistent with this male)    
Larvae Description:   Perfect replica's of parents.  Independent.  Able to hitch.


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  68 - 70 degrees
Size of Larval Tank:  8 gallons
Substrate Details:  none
Other Tank Decor:  plastic plants for hitching
Filtration Details:  small internal filter
Lighting:  T5 
Lighting Cycle:  14 hours
Water Changes:  small changes done daily as waste is removed, and water replaced.  100% water change every 2 - 3 days.

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types:  live enriched brineshrimp (1 - 3 days old), frozen Cyclopeeze
Feeding Schedule:  4x daily

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start:  19/06/2012, 01/14/2012, 01/12/2013          
Days after Hatch:  0    
Date of Settlement End: 19/06/2012    
Description of Fry:  fry are born perfectly formed. 

Grow-Out Tank Details
Temperature:  72 - 74*F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  21 gallons
Substrate Details:  Caribsea Indo-Pacific black
Other Tank Decor:  Macro algae, dead rock (seeded in tank)
Filtration Details:  live rock, live sand
Lighting:  TBC
Lighting Cycle:  around 12 hours - no set schedule
Water Changes:  40% once per week
Size at Transfer:  2.5 - 3 inches
Age at Transfer:  average 5 month

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types:  frozen mysis (various brands), frozen brine shrimp, frozen krill, live enriched adult brine shrimp
Feeding Schedule:  2 - 3 times per day.  No set schedule.

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 
I am looking to upgrade my grow out tank.......husband permitting!


You will be required to provide photographic or video evidence in this thread of each event submitted for the MBI Program.
If your thread does not contain these photos the MBI Committee will not be able to approve your reports. PHOTOS AND VIDEO S MUST BE PLACED IN ADDITIONAL POSTS, NEVER IN THE FIRST POST IN A JOURNAL.

Newborn seahorses


 
1 Week old


 
3 Weeks old


 
5 Week old

Cool.. Do you have any pictures of the pregnant Male?

Chad Penney - MBI Council
Agis quod Adis

I do (apologies for the quality).  This is my male during the last week of this pregnancy -

This is a picture, which I couldn't resist posting, of him and one of the fry from his first brood.

That is a great picture! Were I you, that would be my avatar right there.

Chad Penney - MBI Council
Agis quod Adis

awesome….
 

Thanks....and great idea

Very Nice.  I hope my ponys get busy.  Any tips to get them active, or did it just happen for you?

Rook

It honestly doesn't take much for seahorses!  As long as they have the right environment and don't have anything in the tank (tankmates/corals) that can cause them stress then they are likely to start breeding.

How many do you have and do you know how old they are?  
 
You do occasionally get pairs that don't breed, and even some of the best breeders experience this from time to time.
 
 

I see there's a broken picture above - assuming that was the picture of the brooding male?  Can you repost?

Its taken a while but I've fixed the link.

These are pictures of the seahorses that were born in January (spawn date 1/14/2012)

This is the most recent brood, born on the 25th December (spawn date - 12/11/2012) - sorry about the picture quality!

They look great!

http://www.fishtalpropagations.com/#!home/mainPage
"Making captive breeding easier."

Thank you

Why no reports by you on this species?  You clearly have all 4 events documented in this Journal.

Hi Jim,
 
I've been struggling with my journal and subsequent hatch reports.  Tal's been helping me with these so hopefully I'll have the two that I've submitted approved soon and then I can adding some more.  
 
I've been struggling with the spawn, hatch and settlement stages and relating each to seahorses but I think I'm getting there now.
 
Louise

As somebody who has my H. erectus MBI icon, Spawn is the egg transfer from the female to the male.  Hatch is when the male releases the fry.  With seahorses, "settlement" is considered when they start to hitch.  Since H. erectus hitch at birth, Hatch and Settlement are essentially the same day.  Hope this helps!

Thanks Jim!  It does help and now I have a record so I can refer back  Just got my first hatch report approved.....now for the others

thats cool man good job im going to atempt them someday but dont have the time with all my clowns untill i work from home id like to get a few from you thoe when there ready are you local to portland or ?

Thank you JC!  As with your clowns they are lots of hard work!  I'm lucky that my husband does the midday feedings for me as he works from home.
 
I'm actually in the UK unfortunately.

Thank you JC!  As with your clowns they are lots of hard work!  I'm lucky that my husband does the midday feedings for me as he works from home.
 
I'm actually in the UK unfortunately, so quite a way from Portland

ohh ok well still id like to but dave said it would be to much for me to deal with on top of the clowns if it wasnt for my soon to be wife feeding in the morning and noon time they wouldnt be fat and happy it sucks because id like to be home to tinker with all of it but i got bills to pay as we all do but im hoping this time next year i will be able to work from home keep up the good work i heard they eat an insane amount of baby brine

When you are able to, do try.....even if you just have the seahorses as a hobby without breeding.  They are very entertaining little creatures!
 
You are wise to leave the breeding until you are able to work from home.  I know that I spend at least 15 hours a week on my fry tanks, and my husband also spends a lot of time on them.  IME the fry do need to be fed at least 4/5 times a day. 

I had more babies born on Saturday, but this was an unusually small brood for my male at around 50.  Around 20 of these died within 24 hours too.
 
I can't think of why this brood is so small other than I haven't been feeding PE lately as I can't get hold of it.  This isn't anything new though as we go through phases over here of unavailability......stumped!