Hitching Upside down

[Cyclura]

is that sargassum?

[Seahorsedreams]

That's grape.... caulerpa.

Sargassum is brownish/golden "leaves" with little bubbles groups here and there.

[Cyclura]

really? wow so one day my caulerpa will grow up to be big and strong like your caulerpa?

[Seahorsedreams]

Pic I snapped of sargassum

[Cyclura]

do you have any whole tank shots?

and how do you keep algae at bay with such low flow? I have a bad problem.

[Seahorsedreams]

I actually don't have any saved full tank shots. I was hoping to have the caulpera take hold before then.

As far as having no algae?..... the tank is new.

But also keep the nutrient export going. Take care of your lights. Have a good and varied clean up crew. Have your flow as high as your horses will tolerate. Keep your alkalinity at the high end of normal.

[gordongee]

I have a pregnant seahorse. He seems to be upside down a lot due to the bulging stomach where the babies are. Is this normal. What do the babies eat once they arrive?

[CarmieJo]

Hi Gordon and to TR!

What psecies are you keeping? I am not a pony keeper but I think a lot of people feed the fry newly hatched baby brine. Of course that may depend upon on the species you are keeping. Perhaps the smaller species need smaller foods.

[gordongee]

I just have a couple of tank raised seahorses (black with a bit of white). They are about 2.5 inches long.

[rayme07]

Hi Gordon Welcome to TR.

Are you sure hes pregnant because I have heard of many sea horses that get gas or air in their pockets and need help taking it out and they normally float upside down. Just a suggestion.

[saxman]

are you sure the SH is pregnant? is it having trouble staying upright (e.g., is it having buoyancy problems) when not hitched? IME, 2.5" seems a bit young for SH to be breeding.

assuming your SH is having problems, as mentioned, the chances are that there is air/gas in the SH brood pouch, known as pouch embolism. hopefully, the cause isn't a pouch infection, but you need to take it one step at a time. the gas in the pouch needs to be evacuated by you since the SH seems unable to do so. the following is a link to an article on how to perform a pouch evac:

seahorse.org - Pouch Evacuation

it's kinda scary the first time, but it's really not too bad to do.

if the SH is simply one of those "upside down" kinda SH (they do it a lot when hunting), then no worries. the real key is whether or not the SH in question can swim without upending.

as for fry raising, you kinda really need to know what species you're dealing with as some species give birth to benthic fry while the fry of some species is pelagic. if you can post a nice clear profile shot of the SH (the head is especially important), it can be ID'd.

most SH fry are large enuff to take newly-hatched Artemia, and this should be hatched out each day, twice a day...one culture for the AM and one for the PM. there's no EZ way to get around this unless you can culture copepods on a continual basis.