Breeding Journal, Species: Hippocampus reidi

General
Species:  Hippocampus reidi
Social Structure:  Male/Female pair
Size of Individuals:  7"
Age of Individuals:  unkown
Date added to Tank: 10/01/2014

Broodstock Tank Details
Size of Tank:  30 gallon
Substrate Details:  crushed coral
Filtration Details: Live Rock, Skimmer                  
Water Changes:  30% weekly
Water Temperature:  78 F
Lighting:  55 watt Power compacts 
Lighting Cycle:   on 12 hours, off 12 hours 
Other Tank Inhabitants:  Maroon clownfish (Removed 2 days before Spawn)

Broodstock Feeding Details
Food Types:  Live grass shrimp, frozen Mysis 
Feeding Schedule: Live Shrimp twice on even days, Frozen Mysis 4 times a day on odd days. I have now changed the feeding schedule to: Frozen Mysis 3 times a day and live Grass Shrimp once a day.      

Spawning Details
Date of First Spawn: 11-13-14 
Spawn Time of Day: Morning                   
Dates of Consecutive Spawns:  11-13-14, 12-22-14      
Courtship Details:  Lock tails and "Dance" in the water column, The Males color changes, and he opens his pouch. Didn't see the actual egg transfer.        
Egg Size:  unknown/not seen  
Egg Color: unknown/not seen                  
Egg Count: unknown/not seen            

Hatch Details
Hatch Date: 11-27-14,                           
Hatch Time of Day: 4 were released at 8 PM, all the rest released early morning before the lights come on.                              
# Days after Spawn:  14
Larvae Description:                   miniatures of parents           
Consecutive Hatch Dates:      11-27-14, 1-4-15, 1-29-15, 2-10-15, 2-23-15         


Larval Tank Details
Temperature:  78 F
Size of Larval Tank:  10 gallon
Substrate Details: none                  
Other Tank Decor:  none
Filtration Details:  hang on back filter
Lighting:  small 8 watt light
Lighting Cycle:  on 24 hours
Water Changes:  50% Daily

Larval Feeding Details
Food Types: Rotifers, Newly hatched Brine Shrimp                  
Feeding Schedule:  3X a day

Metamorphosis/Settlement
Date of Settlement Start: Dec 10,2014                          
Days after Hatch:  14
Date of Settlement End: Dec 16, 2014                          
Description of Fry:  Look like parents, colors range from dark brown to black

Grow-Out Tank Details 
Temperature:  72F
Size of Grow-Out Tank:  10 gallon
Substrate Details:  none
Other Tank Decor:  small Zip-Ties, Plastic mesh "Gutter Guard"
Filtration Details: Small hang on the back filter with sponge over the intake                          
Lighting: 8 watt                          
Lighting Cycle:  10 hours on, 14 off
Water Changes:  50% daily
Size at Transfer: Still in larval tank                                
Age at Transfer: Still in larval tank                          

Grow-Out Feeding Details
Food Types: Newly hatched, and 1 to 14 day old Brine shrimp, shaved Frozen Mysis                               
Feeding Schedule: 4 times a day                          

Additional Information

(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Miscellaneous Information: 



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Pretty colors on that reidi!

 
Babies are 10 days old and a few are doing great

Thanks, he is a bright red! 
 

H. reidi @ day 14 starting to hitch

They are 1/2" long now, and have doubled in size.

I don't know much about seahorses but a friend of mine raises them.  He finds that it is easy to keep the baby seahorses fed on baby brine shrimp, but after a certain point the seahorse babies get too large to get enough nutrition out of such small prey but the hobbyist doesn't have larger prey ready for them.  So they need to learn to eat frozen mysis or brine shrimp as it gets blown around by the powerheads, and at that point there are big losses.
 
Those seahorses that learn to eat frozen food then make it through the critical phase get big enough to eat adult brine and make it to adulthood.  So you might want to think about growing enough greenwater to get artemia up to 5,6 or 7 days of maturity to bridge this gap.
 
I hope that helps.  Not much more I can say because my knowledge is limited.  

Thanks Dave, that helps. 

The female showing off her color
The female showing her color
 

4 weeks old now and a little over 1" long!

 

  I have about 400 right now that are at 10 days old, these are doing much better than my first attempt.  

Amazing! I tried years ago with reidi using kreisels and was completely unsuccessful, as was my friend who owned the parents. Can you tell us more about the 10 gallon tank? What kind of air bubbles, if used, etc. Heater? Are you getting any floaters?

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

The first try I had LOTS of floaters. I used a 10 gal rectangle tank, small hang on the back filter (turned all the way down) , spray bar, and 6 airlines bubbling at about 2 bubbles per second, just to keep them in the water Column. Heater set at 78F. Feed NHBB and rotifers from first day. I figured something was not right with all the frustrating floaters, and a kreisel may help my next Spawn. 
 
The second spawn went to the broodstock filters (I was off a day on hatch time and the filter got them).
 
The Third spawn there were no floaters (broodstock in my care longer and maybe healther?). I split the spawn, half went in to the 10 gallon tank, the other half in to an old 5 gallon glass "milk jug" . The 10 gallon only has 2 airlines, and the milk jug has 1 air line, both tanks @ two bubbles a second. NO heaters temp is at 72F-74F. Only feeding Rotifers for first two weeks ( Parvo culture not doing well or I would use these). 
The 10 gallon tank developed a few floaters, and about half of the total added have died.
The Milk jug has a kreisel type flow and has fared much better. They have out grown the others in the 10 gallon tank, and only 50 have died so far.
It seems that both vessels are growing a little slower this time only feeding rotifers. I siphon the bottom of the tanks every day, and 100% water change every other day

wow, thanks for the info.  What a lot of work to keep these guys going. Congratulations on getting them to live!
 

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

More babies on 2-10-15 that is only 12 days since the hatch.

Where can one find a glass 5 gallon milk jug?

check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website:
http://kathysclowns.com
Captive bred clownfish and more
(Wholesale to the trade.)

Looks like they use them for making beer... http://www.ebay.com/itm/5...mp;hash=item20f663833d

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

I'm not sure, these I have are antique I think. They are shaped just like a quart canning bottle. I'll get a picture.
 

60 DPS

Great job! I would like to try sea horses one day.

Thanks Ray2111, Sea Horses are one of my favorites.