The Mangrove Jungle
- Thread starter CaseyP
- Start date
Day 5: I estimated about 30 babies after scooping up all that I could find. Since then, I've lost 10 so the population is shrinking. I didn't do any culling for underdeveloped or deformed ones since I don't have the expertise to identify them at the time of birth. They breath a lot of air at the surface as babies but some have problems swallowing too much air and can't regulate their buoyancy. Another challenge I'm having is hatching enough baby brine. I'm using the round hatchery dish which I've had great success with before, but realized that was during the summer and now the weather is much colder. Optimum hatching temp is 80-82º so I now have the hatchery sitting in a bucket of water with a heater.
Acclimation box is getting algae growth so pictures aren't super clear
Acclimation box is getting algae growth so pictures aren't super clear
That's awesome!! Congrats.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
That is some OG stuff right there. Congrats.
I got some tisbe pods but they're really fast to scatter compared to baby brine which hover and are easier for the seahorses to eat. I still have plenty more that I'm supplementing with.
Hm didn't realize there's live decapsulated eggs. I always thought those didn't hatch anymore because of the decapsulating process and ready to feed as is. Could be a good option if I could get some before Friday when I leave for 4 days.
gmdcdvm
Supporting Member
Welcome to my world of brine shrimp hatching. Might need two or three hatcheries.
If you end up selling these I would be interested in 2-4 if you have them. Good luck!
Or since I’m already doing it i would offer to pick up a few babies when I’m back in town to try and raise them.
If you end up selling these I would be interested in 2-4 if you have them. Good luck!
Or since I’m already doing it i would offer to pick up a few babies when I’m back in town to try and raise them.
That’s fantastic! I picked up an IM20 long and was considering making it a seahorse tank, if I go that route be prepared for me peppering you with questions!
You can decapsulate yourself, and in fact I think it's pretty hard to buy decapsulated that are still viable. There's a couple vendors, but most aren't.
If you Google you can find the process, but it's basically:
1. Float in aerated RO for awhile to hydrate the eggs
2. Toss the eggs into a bleach water mixture until the shell disappears (they turn orange)
3. Pour through a sieve
4. Rinse thoroughly, float in prime
5. Use or store in a super high salinity batch of water (brine).
Here's what ChatGPT says, which looks pretty accurate to me (https://chatgpt.com/share/6749133a-8304-8012-87e9-74d79c3b5db4). The storage info is wrong though. I don't think you can/should dry them. My understanding was you need to store them in brine water.
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Decapsulating brine shrimp eggs removes the hard outer shell (cyst) while preserving the viability of the nauplii for hatching or direct feeding. Here's how to do it:
Materials Needed:
1. Brine shrimp eggs (cysts)
2. Bleach (unscented, non-gel, sodium hypochlorite 5-6%)
3. Dechlorinator (sodium thiosulfate solution or similar)
4. Fine mesh sieve (e.g., 100–200 microns)
5. A container (glass or plastic, avoid metal)
6. Air pump and air stone (optional but recommended for mixing)
7. Cold freshwater for rinsing
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Step-by-Step Instructions:
1. Hydrate the Eggs
Place the eggs in freshwater and let them hydrate for about 1–2 hours. This helps soften the cysts for more effective decapsulation.
2. Prepare the Bleach Solution
Mix one part bleach with one part water in your container.
3. Add the Eggs to the Bleach
Transfer the hydrated eggs to the bleach solution. Gently aerate the mixture or stir continuously for even exposure.
4. Monitor the Color Change
The cysts will change color from brown to orange, indicating the decapsulation process. This usually takes 2–5 minutes. Do not exceed this time to avoid killing the nauplii.
5. Stop the Decapsulation
Immediately pour the mixture into a fine mesh sieve and rinse thoroughly under cold, running freshwater. This removes the bleach and halts the reaction.
6. Dechlorinate the Eggs
Submerge the rinsed eggs in a solution of dechlorinator mixed with freshwater for 1–2 minutes.
7. Final Rinse
Rinse the eggs again with freshwater to ensure no residual chemicals remain.
8. Store or Hatch
You can either:
Store the decapsulated eggs: Spread them out on a non-stick surface, allow them to dry, and store them in an airtight container.
Hatch immediately: Place them in a brine shrimp hatching setup with saltwater and aeration.
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Notes:
Decapsulated eggs cannot survive for long without water or proper storage. Dry thoroughly if storing.
Decapsulated eggs are non-buoyant and will sink in saltwater. Use aeration to keep them suspended if hatching.
Welp, down to 6 babies after being out of town for four days 
I dumped in a ton of baby brine shrimp in hopes that it would sustain them but didn't help. From reading the guide that I got from the breeder, having too much food available can actually lead to poor nutrition. Their digestion system is very basic and cannot store food. This means if they eat new food while there's still food in their digestive tract, it'll get pushed out before it has a chance to fully absorb the nutrients. There has even been observation of food still living being pooped out. Ideal feeding is every 2-3 hours in amounts they can finish in 20 minutes.
Lessons for next time:
I dumped in a ton of baby brine shrimp in hopes that it would sustain them but didn't help. From reading the guide that I got from the breeder, having too much food available can actually lead to poor nutrition. Their digestion system is very basic and cannot store food. This means if they eat new food while there's still food in their digestive tract, it'll get pushed out before it has a chance to fully absorb the nutrients. There has even been observation of food still living being pooped out. Ideal feeding is every 2-3 hours in amounts they can finish in 20 minutes.Lessons for next time:
- Have two brine shrimp hatcheries with staggered hatching cycles. Cooler weather takes 3-4 days for hatching versus 24 hours during the summer
- Set up a separate holding tank. Just picked up an IM 10 nuvo for this purpose that I might set up now and just raise pods in there until the next pregnancy cycle. I've been keeping the babies in an acclimation box which now I'm thinking does not have enough circulation going through it for water quality.
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Oh man, what a bummerWelp, down to 5 babies after being out of town for four days
Lessons for next time:
- Have two brine shrimp hatcheries and alternate hatching cycles. Cooler weather takes 3-4 days for hatching versus 24 hours during the summer
- Set up a separate holding tank. Just picked up an IM 10 nuvo for this purpose that I might set up now and just raise pods in there until the next pregnancy cycle. I've been keeping the babies in an acclimation box which now I'm thinking does not have enough circulation going through it for water quality.
I suppose if it were that easy everyone would be doing it - there's an art to any kind of captive breeding, that's for sure. Glad you got a few survivors though but sure seems like a challenge if you're going to be away for any extended periods.Stopping the seahorse macroalgae project. Inspired by freshwater planted aquascapes, I wanted to create a lush macroalgae system with seahorses and mangrove trees but eventually ran into too many problems.
Algae
I've had infestations of it all one after another. Massive snotty hair algae covering everything, bubble algae galore, dinos, cyano, you name it. These all wreacked havoc on the macro algae by snuffing them out. When I tried to starve out the nuisance algae, it starved out the macroalgae. I tried clean up crews but guess what, they also prefer eating macroaglae over nuisance algae. Turbo snails love blue hypnea. Pithos crabs love gracilaria. It also didn't help that seahorses like to hitch onto plants and kept pulling them out before they could fully attach or develop roots. Many would do great then suddenly melt away.
Seahorses
This one I f'd up on even after knowing the risks. I was having major a planaria flatworm infestation for months so decided to try Flatworm Exit. I moved the three seahorses to a temporary tank, dosed flatworm exit, sucked out any dead flatworms while doing a 40% water change, then ran carbon. 8 hours later I put the seahorses back in which turned out to be too early because I found two of them dead the next morning. I underestimated how many flatworms were in the tank and the amount of toxins they released. Couple months later the last remaining adult developed gas bubble diseases (GBD) and eventually succumbed to it.
Of all the babies, one survived which I raised into a 1" juvenile. I gave that one to Kenny for his seahorses system since I wouldn't feel right about just keeping one as they're social animals.
So what now...
Tank sat mostly empty for 2 months. Just feeding the four sexy shrimp and hermits some pellet foods while I decided what I wanted to try next. I didn't want to completely shut down the tank because the mangroves are a nice living touch to my office area and they're growing. Nuisance algae began clearing up and any surviving macroalgae was perking up. I think the dove snails were finally hitting critical mass to be able to keep nuisance algae at bay. I started with 5 and now have over a hundred. Options were limited because almost all fish can be jumpers and I really wanted to keep the open top rimless look and have space for mangroves sprouting out. Pipefish was one of the top contenders. Maybe convert to freshwater planted. I eventually decided to take on the challenge of ....
Orange spotted filefish! I've had them just about a week so this journal of challenges and successes to be continued...
Algae
I've had infestations of it all one after another. Massive snotty hair algae covering everything, bubble algae galore, dinos, cyano, you name it. These all wreacked havoc on the macro algae by snuffing them out. When I tried to starve out the nuisance algae, it starved out the macroalgae. I tried clean up crews but guess what, they also prefer eating macroaglae over nuisance algae. Turbo snails love blue hypnea. Pithos crabs love gracilaria. It also didn't help that seahorses like to hitch onto plants and kept pulling them out before they could fully attach or develop roots. Many would do great then suddenly melt away.
Seahorses
This one I f'd up on even after knowing the risks. I was having major a planaria flatworm infestation for months so decided to try Flatworm Exit. I moved the three seahorses to a temporary tank, dosed flatworm exit, sucked out any dead flatworms while doing a 40% water change, then ran carbon. 8 hours later I put the seahorses back in which turned out to be too early because I found two of them dead the next morning. I underestimated how many flatworms were in the tank and the amount of toxins they released. Couple months later the last remaining adult developed gas bubble diseases (GBD) and eventually succumbed to it.
Of all the babies, one survived which I raised into a 1" juvenile. I gave that one to Kenny for his seahorses system since I wouldn't feel right about just keeping one as they're social animals.
So what now...
Tank sat mostly empty for 2 months. Just feeding the four sexy shrimp and hermits some pellet foods while I decided what I wanted to try next. I didn't want to completely shut down the tank because the mangroves are a nice living touch to my office area and they're growing. Nuisance algae began clearing up and any surviving macroalgae was perking up. I think the dove snails were finally hitting critical mass to be able to keep nuisance algae at bay. I started with 5 and now have over a hundred. Options were limited because almost all fish can be jumpers and I really wanted to keep the open top rimless look and have space for mangroves sprouting out. Pipefish was one of the top contenders. Maybe convert to freshwater planted. I eventually decided to take on the challenge of ....
Orange spotted filefish! I've had them just about a week so this journal of challenges and successes to be continued...
Indeed. The sad part is I've read about similar instances on other forums, yet I didn't take further precautions
I've always known that these are extremely difficult fish to keep, and the thinking was always that they ate coral polyps. Now the rumors are that this is untrue and they're actually eating the mucus off acropora. In any case, very specialized feeders that typically wouldn't do well in boisterous community tanks and without an abudance of acros. I stumbled upon this video which gave me hope and the motivation to try these filefish myself
Day 1: Very skittish and didn't do much exploring so I just let them get settled in. Not surprising they are a bit skinny with sunken stomachs. tbh I bought them from the lowest priced supplier I could find since they have such a low success rate anyways. I requested 1 male and 2 females. Upon arrival i thought i got DOAs, but learned that filefish can play dead. Here they are acclimating, floating at the top with a curved body like rigarmotis has set it, perfectly still except i see their eyes balls moving around to check if the coast is clear
Day 2: Tried putting masstick on a dead acro colony skeleton which I placed on the sand bed. They paid no attention to it and it got swarmed by the hermit crabs and sexy shrimp
Day 3: Added a magnetic frag rack that's out of reach to the crabs and shrimp. Placed a live acro frag and they started inspecting and picking at it. Good sign that they were hungry, but still very skittish so I had to take this picture from far away
Day 4: Added a bleached acro frag that I smeared with masstick. They casually pick, swim away, come back to pick some more, and repeat, not super interested. Most of the time I see them suck in some masstick and spit some out.
Day 5 & 6: It finally clicks that this is edible food and I see them retaining it. I take out the frag to smear on new food and they'll rush over when I place it back on the rack, so they're learning that this is their dinner plate. Voracity kicks in and the male gets very territorial at feeding time, chasing the two females away when they try to feed too. Tip from Viking Reefer's youtube video is that competition for food spurs a feeding response which is evident here.
To allow the females to get some food, I added another rack and frag at the other end of the tank. The male will still rush over to chase them away
but at least the females have more opportunities to eat. Having two females helps that when he's chasing one, the other will take the opportunity to grab a bite.The male is distinguished by the white spots on his pelvic fin. Females have them all black
Day 7: Eventually I'd like to get them on dry foods like flakes or pellets. Viking Reefer used Panta Rhei polyp pellets which has real coral polyp in it but I can't find them here. First I'm trying TDO small pellets and will try flakes. They seem uninterested and eat around it or spit it out. See red dots mixed in with the masstick. Overall I'd call it a success so far since they're consistently eating masstick. Priority is to get them to gain weight and flesh back.
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Man, that’s a lot of work!!!!!! I just use cep art eggs from ocean nutrition, they have magnetic cysts. I put them in a container of tank water with an airstone, next day put in a magnet to remove all the shells. Then I feed!