# I have babies!



## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

Just wanted to let everyone know that i am now in possesion of 16 newborn hippocampus erectus seahorses. The parents, (two beautiful starburst reds), belong to a good friend of mine. I have known the male was pregnant for about 20 days now and have been preparing for arrival over the last week or so. I went to his house after work for dinner and to my amazement, showed up right after the male had gone into labor. I watched the birth and collected the babys for 5 hours straight, and managed to successfully extract 16 little "colts" that all seem to be in apparent good health. I was very surprised when the male only gave birth to less than 30 young, including a few still births and some runts which i knew would not survive competition in the rearing tank and just left with the parents. Past experiences with hippocampus kuda and hippocampus kellogi had led me to expect close to 50 babys. The young mustangs are currently in a 2 gallon vase with a few small dead seafans for hitching posts and a small airstone inside a plastic tube to prevent the baby's from getting stuck in the current from the bubbles, as well as possibly ingesting air. Unfortunately, I do not own a camera, but i will try my best to find somebody who does. The baby's average about one centimeter from snout to tail, and most have no visible yoke sak. I'm very excited and will do my best to keep you guys updated, as well as get some pictures when I can : )


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

Oh wow - that's amazing gymnothorax! Please do try to get hold of a camera... pictures would be absolutely amazing to see! 

And the very best of luck with them!


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

wow ! that is really fantastic news 
i wish you every sucess with the young ones,
please let us know how you get on.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

thanks guys, i was actually just woken up to my buddy's wife calling me and saying that she woke up this morning and found atleast 20 more babies hitched together at the top of the tank this morning! I guess the male was just taking a breather when I left. I am releaved to know that he gave birth to a normal size litter. I'll keep you guy's posted : )


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

awsome,i guess you guys need a break huh.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

well, I have succesfully extracted 18 more babys, all in apparent good health, and now have them in the rearing tank with their brothers and sisters. I now have a total of 44! I'm starting to hatch nauplii to feed them and plan on setting up a larger rearing tank later tonight because my buddy has another pair of erectus with a pregnant male. I'm expecting him to give birth in the next 2-3 weeks : )


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

ok, i got pictures now, just can't figure out how to get them on here........
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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)




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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

that's me with the skull beany, proud daddy : )


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

wooohoooooo 
great pics well done,they are so small,how on earth did you know
it was birthing time ?
there should be no stopping you now,
have you got any pictures of the parents ?
we shall be expecting regular updates. cool hat,and i hope you are going to share the oreos


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## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

Congratulations!

Great shots by the way too.

You know, when they mature a bit, I have an empty tank that I can change into something...


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

Absolutely incredible! They're so tiny! How long will you have to keep them in that container for, and what sort of care do they require while they're that size?


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

That's exciting!:welldone: Well done, Gym!


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

They should technically stay in there for the next 6 weeks, but I plan on moving them to a little more elaborate set-up this weekend. As far as general maintenance, they require multiple feedings of freshly hatched artemia and daily as well as daily 50% water changes because the little guys us the bathroom roughly once every 25-30 minutes. I hope to have them eating frozen cyclopeeze within the next 3 weeks or so. i will do my best to keep you guys posted as well as try to borrow another camera in the next few days for some new pictures, thanks for all the support : )


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

i wish you every sucess.


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

just wanted to give everyone an update, so far out of 44 original babies i have lost 3 leaving me with a total count of 41. They are doing great feeding on freshly hatched baby brine 2x a day and I am now doing 50% water changes atleast once a day, (that baby brine is messy). I have tommorrow off so i plan on setting up a more elaborate system in preparation for the next batch of babies to come. Will post more pics when I get the chance. Thanks again for the support!


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## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

I want some. :redyay:


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

I'm looking forward to seeing updated pics gymnothorax and also the new setup. I really hope you have a good success rate with them


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

i'm looking forward to the pictures,sorry you lost
a few,do you think there will be more ?


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## gymnothorax (Sep 20, 2007)

ya, a decent mortality rate, (usually close to 30%), can be expected when raising seahorses. It's a shame, but they're so delicate it's almost unavoidable.


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## willow (Sep 9, 2006)

well,fingers crossed for you that there won't be
many losses.


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

Just wondering if you have any updates on the babies Gymno?


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