Wednesday 13 March 2013

Brood Comparisons

So, we've had quite a few broods lately which I've already told you about.  Ed, has been a real trooper and seems to have delivered about 10 broods in the last 4 weeks - possibly a little exaggeration but it does seem like our seahorses have chosen the most inconvenient moments to deliver broods lately; usually just as we are running out the door or last thing at night when we're just off to bed!  I normally like to move the male to the nursery but every time they have caught us out.

Following the first brood being born to one of our other males, I thought it would be good to post a couple of pictures which might show the comparison between a first brood born compared to a brood born to an older, more established seahorse.

First of all, I'll tell you a little about both boys (the birth dads).

Ed
Ed is my main brood male; not because that's what I decided but because that's what the seahorses decided.  I have a few males in one tank but Ed is the only one who has chosen to give me a brood, up until now!

I got Ed in July 2009, and he was probably around 6 months old which would now make him around 4 years old.  He's now a strapping lad, measuring around 8 inches.

This is Ed the first week that I got him
And this is him delivering one of his more recent broods.  He looks skinny in this picture as its quite common for him to go off food a day or two before the birth
Midge
Midge is one of my own home grown babies.  I decided to keep him as at a year old as he hadn't grown much and so appeared to be a runt.

Midge at a year old
Midge has grown since, but I don't think he will ever grow to be quite as big as his daddy.  He is now around 4.5 inches at around 2.5 years old so there really is little chance of him getting much bigger.

These are the pictures from the two broods delivered.  The first two pictures show Ed's babies, and the third show's Midges babies.

Ed's Brood - we lost a lot of these to the tank which is why the brood seems quite small

Also Ed's brood

Midge's first brood
You should be able to see from the pictures that Ed's babies are swimming quite normally, whereas Midge's babies are mostly floating on the surface.  Unfortunately, this is quite common in first broods or broods where the male is not conditioned.  

Since they were born, Ed's babies are doing phenomenally with few losses and are dabbling with frozen food already.  Sadly, we have lost most of Midges babies but the remaining ones are doing okay now.

More to follow....



Thursday 7 March 2013

Double trouble

We had another brood born yesterday. The day after my main male delivered. We didn't expected it as the make in question didn't look particularly pregnant. The brood is quite small and the fry don't look particularly strong so I'm not holding out an awful lot of hope for them.

Pictures of the various broods to follow.


Shopping Online