Pregnant Seahorse

[zfunk007]

I work at my local LFS and I sold some people a male and female pair of seahorses last week. Now it seems that the male has its brood sack full of eggs. I keep seahorses myself, however I dont know much about raising their young. So i'd like to give these people some good advice. If you all could give me some advice on how to raise the babies and what to feed them I would greatly appreciate it. I'd like to be able to steer these nice people in the right direction. Plus I think their little daughter would be heart broken if all the babies died. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks.
-Zack

[sealover113]

Well, raising babies aint no easy task. If I were them I would adopt them out to someone else, read up, and more than likley the male will become preggo again and they can try their hand on the next batch. It would help if you knew what species they were. Any idea? If they decide to raise them, tell them to bubble up some newly hatched brine shrimp. Everytime you feed it has to be less than a day old for the first couple of weeks so you need quite a few hatcheries. It depends on the species, but you may need greenwater and pods too. It is a huge responsiblity raising these guys, cleaning the tank 1-2 times a day, feeding 3-5 times a day, checking ammonia ect... Are these their first seahorses? It would help greatly if you knew the species, then I can also tell you the gestation period. If he has babies in the tank, tell them to not let them touch air. Either ladel them out or use a turkey baster. They will have to set up a nursery tank. Also depending on the species, they may have to make a tank that discourages them to snick air. If they do, they cannot eat and die. I would adopt them out , and its likely that alot will die on your first try. Also show them seahorse.org, great website.
Take care
Alyssa

[Louis A. Mendez]

Alyssa, -Zack, please click on this site of the "Diaries of a Seahorse Breeder". For some pointers

www.worldofseahorses.com/DiaryMenu.htm

Louis