Hot! Hot! Hot!

Just a word of warning to folk to keep a vigilant eye on temperatures at this time of year.

Now that the summer days are finally upon us (hope I've not just jinxed it!), we need to keep an eye on our tank temps to avoid any problems for our seahorses.

Increased temperatures in tanks cause problems for a number of reasons:

• Higher temperatures provide a better breeding ground for bacteria in the tank. For example, the Vibrio sp. increases at just 74* and starts to become more infectious at this temperature.
• The dissolved oxygen within tanks lowers as temps get higher
• Evaporation

So, what can we do about it?

Well, to try and keep the temperature down, if you can't afford a chiller;

• Remove the lid from the tank if possible
• Use a desktop fan aimed at the top of the water (obviously make sure the fan is in a safe position where it can't fall in the water)
• Reduce your photo period

Some people do freeze bottles of RO water and place these in the tank. I personally don't like this method as its hard to control the rate of defrosting and thus constant temperature.

Oxygen can be increased in the tank by adding additional airlines, powerheads (make sure inlets are safely covered to avoid trapped tails) or positioning spray bars to increase surface agitation.

Evaporation needs to be very carefully monitored as you may need to top up your tank every day or more frequently. A top up unit is perfect at this time of year!

Any of the above going unchecked for a day or two can cause severe problems for seahorses and its usually at this time of year when we see more problems with bacteria related issues.

Remember, prevention is better than cure! 

Ich Outbreak!

Computer problems have prevented me updating my blog recently and updates may be fairly infrequent until I get a new computer.


What a nightmare the last couple of days have been after discovering our clownfish covered in what appears to be ich.  This is in the new seahorse tank too, so I'm feeling pretty fed-up and angry with myself about the whole thing.  Although I added some macro to the tank this week, I had FW dipped it and as the same macro is in other tanks that aren't showing signs of infestation, I can only conclude that the cause is actually pajama cardinals that were added to the tank around 2 months ago.  Everyone else in the tank has been with me for years.

At the moment, the seahorses aren't showing any signs although I believe that the first place ich attacks with seahorses is their gills, which would obviously be devastating.  So, the seahorses have been moved to a 25 gallon tank whilst treatment begins.  The clownfish has been moved to a tank of his own where we are treating him fairly aggressively.  He's handling the treatment well so far.  I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with the tank at the moment but my options are to leave it fallow for a three month period or treat the whole tank.  

I'm used to treating seahorses for common issues associated with them but not with clownfish. The most effective treatment for ich is not suitable for seahorses so that adds to the dilemma!

Here is a picture of him when he was moved to QT.  He looks pretty bad, doesn't he!

***And in Other News***

Everyone else is doing great.  We're obviously having to be extra careful not to contaminate any of the other tanks so there's additional sterilizing, etc going on right now.

It looks like my little dwarf that I was hoping was pregnant isn't as we haven't had any babies and he's still looking rather rotund!

Here are some pictures that I took this week of various broods......I hope you like them :)

We did have a huge die off of the youngest brood.  I added live macro to the fry tank and soon after this we started losing between 7 - 10 babies almost every day.  As soon as I removed the macro, the deaths stopped almost instantly.  Of course, thinking about it logically, the macro provides a host to pathogenic bacteria to live and thrive.  Fingers crossed that we have now seen an end of the deaths!

6 weeks old

6 weeks old

8 months old - my favourite.  I think I might keep her.

4 month olds

8 months old

 

4 month olds

Time Flies....

Has it really been almost 3 weeks since I last posted???  Time just seems to be flying by at the moment and the seahorses are keeping me ever busy!

Since my last post, we did have another brood which were born on the 7th April.  Amazingly, some of these are eating frozen already and do seem to be quite big for their age.

Lots of yellow in this brood...

My little dwarf that I mentioned in my last post still looks like he has a pea in his pouch.  I would have expected him to have had fry by now so I'm thinking that he's probably just teasing me!

Taking Stock..

As the last of my adults have gone to their new homes, I suddenly realized how attached I had grown to them.  Its funny, that a little part of my daily routine has changed and I'm once again focusing on little babies.  The time in between each brood that I have been working with is actually just about long enough for the whole routine of newborn fry to feel a little abnormal!

Sadly, the latest brood which is only a couple of weeks old really hasn't done very well but to be honest, I wasn't really expecting them to.  These had initially been housed in a bucket and I never do well when that's how they start off.  Its not my choice but just a space issue.

So, taking stock, at the moment I have 3 broods and another due on Sunday.  These 4 should be manageable but I will have to combine the 2 week olds with the newborns when they come along.  Not something I like doing but they should be ok.

8 Months Old

2.5 Months Old

2 Weeks Old

The other thing that I'm really excited about is that I think one of my male dwarf seahorses might be pregnant.  There is a chance that he is just puffing out his pouch, but I'm cautiously optimistic that we will have H.zosterae fry soon.  

Big Pouch!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

For Victoriaaa

I love the fact that people enjoy reading my blog and seeing my pictures, and I love it when people comment or send me emails.  It means a lot to know that others are getting enjoyment out of my seahorses too.  So, thank you Victoria for your lovely comment, and I do feel very lucky to have such beautiful seahorses!

This video is just for you....I hope you enjoy it!

I love Saturday's!

I love spending the morning cleaning out all of the tanks and just getting everything ship shape for the week ahead.  Although I spend a lot of time working on my tanks during the week, the weekend is when I really have time to kick back, take my time and enjoy the wonders of nature.

The baby erectus have been doing brilliantly and seem to just be pretty much looking after themselves.  I'm not sure if its just that I'm so much more in a routine than I ever have been before, that I've organised myself to make things so much easier or these guys are just getting stronger with each new brood but I think this brood has pretty much been as easy as it gets (*touch wood*).

Busy...busy...busy..

showing colours and patterning already

I've almost stopped feeding them brineshrimp altogether now, although there are a couple of small ones still so I'm giving them heavily enriched  food.

***

I am just so in love with the oldest babies - they are just so beautiful and entertaining. I made the decision, and I'm not sure that it was a wise one, to put both males and females back into one tank together.   Unsurprisingly, activity has increased dramatically!  Every morning I am greeted with much dancing and then they all just entwine and dance.  The dancing never seems to stop during lights on!  The funniest thing is that the girls seem to flirt with the girls, and the boys with the boys!

I have taken some video's of them that I promise to get uploaded onto here.....you'll love them!

HAPPY WEEKEND ALL!

Working together

One of the things that I've learnt over the years is that the marine hobby is a peculiar thing.  Sometimes it seems as if everyone is trying to out do each other and wants to be better than the next person.  I have to say that I have been greatly disappointed by something that I have read recently by someone who is supposed to be respected within this hobby.  We should all be trying to help one another rather than stab each other in the back.

Thankfully, there are also wonderful people who are willing to assist others and try and genuinely help them succeed with captive breeding projects and build on the existing knowledge that is out there.  These people are doing everything within their power to further the existing knowledge and availability of marine fish; making them more accessible and within reach of newcomers and those who have been in the hobby for years.  The future of marine keeping is exciting.  Lets work together to make it possible.

One goal....to build a more sustainable hobby with more and more captive bred species readily available.  To stand hand in hand with the next breeder, same species or different.