Dwarf Seahorses (h.Zosterae) Hunting

We have an awesome fish shop that's opened up within driving distance. My H.erectus came from there last Christmas and are doing great!  I was, however, incredibly surprised to see them stocking H.zosterae recently.  Just as I was getting the desire to own them again. Fate? Maybe!  They were kind enough to hold them for me until we came back from holiday.

We had a little surprise when we collected them....in fact it was such a little surprise that if you don't look closely enough you might just miss it in this video! True to nature, they have been doing what they prolifically do and have been having babies!  We have 3 adults, 2 older juveniles, 1 younger juvenile and a teeny, tiny baby. Look very closely and you can see it in the video!

I think it's fair to say, you'll be reading more from me in coming weeks.

I'm Back!

That is, I have seahorses again, or to be more specific H.erectus. I have had a lonesome seahorse of unknown species for a while now but I decided that he needed a friend and so popped into a nearby aquatic store to place an order. As fate would have it, they actually had seahorses in stock for the first time! My husband and I decided to get two and pensively looked at eachother when deciding whether to get males or females. 

The happy couple have been flirting away already, so at the moment I'm hoping the high flow can prevent the inevitable!

This feels a bit like a new beginning, and as the other seahorse is named Popcorn (same name as one of my first seahorses) I have decided to call these Cosmo and Orion, also the names of two of my first (successful) seahorses.

So this happened!

I really wasn't planning, or expecting to get seahorses again quite so soon but I was gifted a pair of "H.kuda" from my wonderful husband, (who thought I was seahorse sulking for a while) and I have to say I was over the moon!

Losing my last seahorse, one that I bred myself 7 years ago, was heartbreaking so I really hadn't planned on diving back in quite so soon. In the back of my mind I had thought that maybe a little tank of dwarf seahorses would be amazing at some point in the future but a lot of planning needs to go into that.

You know, the funny thing is that its been so long that I feel completely new to the whole experience of owning seahorses. One thing is for sure, that is that the World of seahorses, marines, aquatics, just moves so bloody fast that things change on a pretty much daily basis! So, don't be surprised if I start posting questions!

One thing I'm quite uncertain about, and that is the species of these fellows. Although they were sold as H.kuda, my guess is that was the easiest label to get them in on....I don't know, does that even still happen with seahorses being mislabelled deliberately to get them through customers/DEFRA. It has been suggested that they might be H.hippocampus but I can't see it personally. If I look at their eye spikes and crown, they just don't seem to match up. My initial thoughts are that they are a hybrid of some sort but I have a few friends that I consider experts in the seahorse world and know their stuff so I will ask them what they think. Watch this space!

And if you are still following me after all these years, thank you!

Silence of the Seahorses

So, I can't not acknowledge that I have had a prolonged period of absence from my blog.  The truth is that I have been having a bit of a heart to heart with myself and have decided to take a bit of a break from breeding seahorses.

This doesn't mean that I will be without seahorses; au contraire!  I will still have my adults and a couple of the babies from my most recent brood (these are actually now around 11 months old!).

If you have read my page about my other pets you will know that I have a sickly dog, and have done for a while now.  The last few months have been tumultuous with him but we now feel that we are, *fingers crossed*, on the road to recovery.  Work is also being very demanding at the moment and so I feel that I need to have more family time, and have more days out with my dogs and my wonderful husband.  I have also started working with a local animal rescue and I absolutely love this work.  Its time consuming, emotional and demanding, but I get so much personal satisfaction out of it.  I had a conversation with one of my "rescue" colleagues a while back where we discussed the "pet trade", and my eyes were opened somewhat and changed my view on many things to do with the pet trade.

Those of you who own seahorses will know that holidays are really hard unless you have someone on your doorstep who you can trust explicitly to look after them for you.  Baby seahorses are near impossible.  Until they are of decent size and eating frozen food, I find it hard to be away from them for too long.  In fact recently, we had a holiday and booked a cottage just 20 minutes away from home so that I could come back every day and feed the seahorses.  It was bliss!

My facebook group; Seahorse Adventures is still very much in full swing and will continue to do so.  We have a wonderful bunch of helpful people, so if you have FB, stop by and say hello.

I will still post on here from time to time and keep you up to date with anything new - in fact, I'm thinking about re-vamping my big seahorse tank so that may well be my next blog.

For now, thank you for reading and look after those swimmy swims!

A Serious Drug Problem....

In the UK we have a huge lack of access to drugs that can potentially save the life of a seahorse.

By the time most keepers realize that there is a serious problem with their seahorse, the seahorse often requires immediate treatment with antibiotics to give it a good chance of recovery.  Whereas in other countries effective drugs are readily available at most fish stores, over here most are not even available through vets, let alone over the counter at a fish store.  

With this in mind, the best thing we can do for our seahorses is to take preventative measures to try and avoid issues from arising.  Always make sure that your seahorses are in optimum condition at all times.  Here are some things that you can do to help prevent illness.

1. Make sure that you purchase your seahorses from a reputable source.  Do not purchase wild caught, tank raised, or captive bred seahorses that have been kept in a system that has their tanks on a combined system mixing water from tanks that contain either of the aforementioned types of seahorses.
2. Do not overcrowd your tank. Remember, seahorses are messy eaters and require more volume per inch than most other fish.  Check the size of the tank that you keep the seahorses in.  If you are just about meeting the bear minimum requirements you may quickly find that your tank becomes unmanageable.
3. Keep up with Tank Maintenance.  Make sure that you stick to your tank maintenance routine, including regular water changes and checking that there are no dead spots* within the tank.  Check that all tank mates (including corals) are suitable to keep with seahorses (Seahorse.org has a great guide).  Use a probiotic, such as Sanolife to help with the control of pathogenic bacteria.  
4. Keep an Eye on the Temperature.  High temperatures in a seahorse tank can be a real problem and whilst a seahorse might live in a location where the temps reach the high 70's in the wild, in captivity this can be a killer.  Growth rates of bacteria increase greatly in higher temperatures and so its always best to keep temperatures in the low 70's for tropical species.
5. Feed a Varied Diet.  As well as offering different types of shrimps, I always find it a good thing to have a variety of brands too as this seems to help prevent seahorses becoming fussy eaters.  Also, if you are lucky enough to be able find a live food source, this can also be introduced to the seahorses diet and is a great way of introducing vitamins and supplements.
6. Do not mix species.  For the same reason as indicated in point 1, seahorses of different species should not be mixed to avoid introduction of pathogens from one species to another.  This includes any fish from the same family as seahorses, i.e. pipefish.
7. Do not delay treatment.  If you suspect that your seahorse may be ill, or you notice something different about your seahorse, either in appearance or character, seek immediate advice.  Joining a forum like seahorse.org or fusedjaw can be a life saver.  Refrain from getting advice from a single person in private as this can be detrimental to the seahorses welfare if they aren't as experienced as you think they are.  Even if they are extremely knowledgeable, its easy to get distracted, confused or miss a vital piece of information and inadvertently give bad advice.  This can quickly and easily be corrected if the advice has been given in public.

*Areas where detritus is allowed to accumulate.

Questions that I get asked

Through this blog, Facebook and various other forums that I belong to, here are some common questions that arise:

Q: What is a feeding station

A:  A feeding station is a device that is placed inside the tank where the seahorses eat their food from.  A feeding station can be anything from an upturned shell, to a specifically designed seahorse feeding station which attached to the glass of the tank.  Seahorses can be easily trained to eat from a specific location.  The benefits of using a feeding station is that you can check that all seahorses are eating well; if you have other fish in the tank, they will feed separately so you know they aren't being out-competed for food.  Another benefit is that it adds less waste to the tank as you are able to remove any uneaten food from the station.

Q: How can I remove algae from seahorses

A: Its quite normal for seahorses to grow algae on them in tanks that have problem or nuisance algae (this is quite common in new tanks).  Although the algae won't actually harm the seahorse, if you would prefer to remove it, you can do this using a soft baby toothbrush.

Q: How many times a day should I feed my seahorses

A:  Seahorses have a rudimentary digestive system which lacks a true stomach.  This means that there body does not hold onto reserves in the same way that other animals do.  You should ideally feed your seahorses 3 times a day and certainly no less than twice a day.  Each feeding should be placed equally apart so that you are not feeding too close together or too far apart.

Q: What do seahorses eat

A: You should feed your seahorses on a variety of food including; mysis, krill, brineshrimp (brineshrimp should be fed as a treat and not a staple).  If you are lucky enough to have access to live food, you can add live mysis, or river shrimp - be sure to feed your feeder shrimp with a suitable diet.

Q: Why is my seahorse so small

A: Depending on what species of seahorse you have will very much dictate the size that your seahorse will grow, for example H.fuscus are significantly smaller than H.reidi.  However, just like humans you can get smaller seahorses in a brood.  Make sure that you are feeding your seahorse a suitably enriched diet and a suitable aquarium to live in.  As long as your seahorse is healthy, try not to worry too much.  If you have something that is worrying you its always worth asking for advice on a specialised forum such as FusedJaw.com or Seahorse.org

Q:  I have seen a tiny seahorse at my local fish shop and am very tempted.  Should I buy it?

A: Tami Weiss has recently written an article about what to look for when purchasing seahorses.  This is a must read article for all those embarking on their journey with keeping seahorses.  The size and shape of a seahorse is especially important, as Tami demonstrates in this illustration.

With kind permission of Tami Weiss, http://www.fusedjaw.com/

The full article can be read here - FusedJaw

-x-

If there are any other questions that you would like answered, or general advice on keeping seahorses, why do you join my Facebook group: Seahorse Adventures

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....