Feeding New born H.Kuda?

Dear AC:

It’s difficult to give a simple, straightforward answer to your question about raising Hippocampus kuda because the designation H. kuda currently applies to a whole complex of seahorses, rather than a single species. I can tell you that the true H. kuda produces small, pelagic seahorse fry. The newborns would do best on rotifers or larval copepods for the first several days of life until they had grown enough to accept newly-hatched brine shrimp, and because they are pelagic, they would do best in a crease so or pseudokreisel-type of nursery tank. However, genuine H. kuda are rarely seen in the aquarium hobby.

I can also tell you that Tracey and David Warland cultivated a line of Australian H. kuda that produced large, benthic fry that were relatively easy to raise (known as the "Travid strain" of H. kuda). Their newborns could accept newly-hatched brine shrimp (Artemia nauplii) as their first food and could be reared in your standard, basic nursery tank. Since your H. kuda are also from Australia, it’s possible they may likewise produce benthic babies that are comparatively easy to rear, but there’s no way for me to say for sure which members of the kuda complex you have and therefore what the best method is for rearing them.

Here is some additional information on Hippocampus kuda from my new book (Complete Guide to Greater Seahorses in the Aquarium, TFH Publications, unpublished) that you may find helpful, AC. It discusses both the difficult to raise true H. kuda and the relatively easy to raise Travid strain of kuda, which may be the ones you actually have, and explains husbandry techniques for raising both types of seahorses:

Hippocampus kuda (Tropical, Pelagic)
Common name: Oceanic Seahorse, Common Seahorse, Spotted Seahorse, Golden Seahorse, Yellow Seahorse, Kona Golds (US), Topknot Seahorse, and Crowned Seahorse.
Scientific name: Hippocampus kuda Bleeker, 1852.
Synonyms: Hippocampus aterrimus, Hippocampus chinensis, Hippocampus hilonis, Hippocampus horai, Hippocampus kuda multiannularis, Hippocampus melanospilos, Hippocampus moluccensis, Hippocampus novaehebudorum, Hippocampus polytaenia, Hippocampus rhynchomacer, Hippocampus taeniops, Hippocampus taeniopterus, and Hippocampus tristis.

Maximum size: 12 inches (30.0 cm) total length for true kuda (male/unsexed; Ref. 1602). The Travid strain of Australian kuda tops out at a little less than 5 inches (12 cm).

Climate: tropical (35°N – 25°S).

Distribution:
Indo-Pacific: East Africa, Southeast Asia from Pakistan and India to Indonesia, southern Japan, Hawaii, and the Society Islands (Ref. 30915).
Australia: North Queensland, North Western Australia, Northern Territory.
The designation "kuda" is currently used for perhaps 10 distinct species in the Indo-Pacific (Ref. 12238, 30915).

Meristic Counts:.
Rings: 11 trunk rings + 36 tail rings (tail rings vary from 34-38).
Dorsal fin rays: 17-18 soft rays spanning 2 trunk rings + 1 tail ring.
Pectoral fin rays: 16 soft rays (rays vary from 15-18).
Morphometrics:
Snout length: 2.3 (2.0-2.6) in head length.
Other distinctive characters:
Coronet: low-medium, rounded, overhanging at the back, often with a cup-like depression in the top; sometimes with broad flanges; not spiny.
Spines: low, rounded bumps only; this is a smooth-bodied seahorse with conspicuous trunk rings.
Key Features: deep head; deep body; thick snout.
Adult height: 3-12 inches (7-30cm).

Color and Pattern:
The true Oceanic seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) has two main color phases: black and yellow. Specimens are often totally black with a grainy texture; otherwise they are pale yellow or cream with fairly large, dark spots (especially in the females) and a black line running from their chest to their abdomen. It is the latter color phase that is responsible for their common names of Golden or Yellow Seahorse and the Spotted Seahorse. The golden yellow specimens darken in response to stress and thus often appear very dark or olive green when first received, only brightening up and resuming their true coloration once they are at home in the aquarium.

True kuda tend to be sexually dimorphic in coloration. Adult females are typically yellow with large dark spots about 2-4 mm in diameter (Mai 2004a). Wolfgang Mai maintains a breeding colony of H. kuda and never observes yellow males with black spots (Mai 2004a). Males often exhibit a grayish-black background coloration with numerous pale lines, overlaid with a pattern of black dots.

Other variable color forms are less common, but some individuals may be cryptically colored or sandy to blending in with their surroundings and some specimens show a mixture of black and yellow.

The Australian form of kuda raised by Tracy Warland is often more colorful, ranging from the usual black/brown to yellow, orange, and red or cream-colored with dark red-brown spots.

Breeding Habits:
Breeding Season: the true kuda breeds year round, multiple times; while there is no distinct breeding season, in Vietnam there are peak periods of reproduction in April, May, September, and December (Truong and Doan, 1994). In Indonesia, it breeds during the wet season.

The Australian form of kuda breeds primarily between October and January.

Gestation Period: 9-10 days at 82°F-86°F (28°C-30°C); gestation is temperature dependent, and rises to 20-28 days for true kuda at more moderate temperatures. (Gestation for Travid strain of captive-bred kuda from Australian is 15-18 days.)

Brood Size: 250-1400 for true kuda (200 for the Travid strain of kuda).

Size at Birth: about 1/4" or 5-8mm (height 2.5 mm) for true kuda. (8-12mm for the Travid strain of Australian kuda)

Onset of sexual maturity: may be as early as 4 months or as late as 9-12 months, but typically occurs at 6-8 months for true kuda. (7-8 months for Travid kuda.)

Pelagic/Demersal (benthic): true kuda fry undergo a pelagic phase that lasts up to 3 weeks. (The Travid strain of kuda from Australia produces benthic fry.)

Ease of Rearing:
True kuda fry are difficult to rear. Large broods of small 6-8mm fry that undergo an extended pelagic phase make this a challenging species to culture. They have been raised commercially for Traditional Chinese Medicine at large seahorse farms in South East Asia, but success rates appear to be very low at public aquaria (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p47) and the home hobbyist would struggle to raise true kuda.

However, Tracy and David Warland produce a line of Australian H. kuda that are suitable for the easy rearing method. Commonly known as Travids (Tracy + David = Travid) by hobbyists, this strain of captive-bred kuda produces relative small broods of large benthic fry, which are able to eat newly hatched brine shrimp (Artemia nauplii) from birth.

Natural Habitat: Typically inhabits mangroves, seagrass beds and marine algae areas of estuaries and seaward reefs. Also occurs on steep mud slopes and is often found in open water or rafting amid mats of floating vegetation.

Natural History:
The true Hippocampus kuda is commonly found in coastal waters among beds of seagrass, often in estuaries or seaward reef flats. However, it is also often found drifting in the open sea a few feet below the surface, or attached to drifting Sargassum as far as 12 miles (20 km) from shore, and for this reason it is commonly called the Oceanic Seahorse. It has been observed at depths up to 223 feet (68 m)

True kuda are large, robust animals that may reach up to 12 inches (30 cm) in length. They are diurnal seahorses that are active by day. This is a very nonmonogamous species (Mi 1993), which breeds year round both in the aquarium and in the wild. Courtship is marked by rapid and dramatic color changes accompanied by pouch displays in the males (R. Scott Page, pers. comm.). In the Vietnam population, peaks in reproduction occur in April, May, September, and December (Truong and Doan, 1994).

The gestation period of H. kuda is strongly influenced by temperature. Gestation for true kuda is a mere 9-10 days at water temperatures of 82°F-86°F (28°C-30°C) (Truong and Doan 1994), but increases to 20-28 days (Mi 1993) at cooler temperatures.

Broods are normally around 250-1000 (Mi 1993), but exceptionally large broods of over 1400 fry have been recorded (Truong and Doan 1994). As with other tropical seahorses that produce such enormous broods, the fry of true kuda are quite small at birth. Newborn H. kuda are about 5 – 8 mm in height and weigh roughly 2.5 mg (Mi 1993; Mi, Kornienko and Drozdov 1998). The fry of true kuda are pelagic and remain at the surface of the water for the first few weeks of life, only descending to the bottom after 19-22 days (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). During the first week of their lives, only 20% of fry are capable of attachment to holdfasts (Mi, Kornienko, and Drozdov 1998).

True kuda fry grow rapidly, quadrupling in size within the first 2 weeks (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). They reach sexual maturity between 6-12 months (Mi, Kornienko, and Drozdov 1998; Jiaxin 1990), and typically reproduce successfully for the first time when they reach a length of 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) (Truong and Doan 1994). The average height of the adults is about 5 inches (11-13 cm) (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p47).

Preferred Parameters:
The following aquarium parameters are for the Travid kudas from Australia, which are the most commonly available captive-bred kuda species, but should work equally well for other representatives of the kuda complex.

Temperature = range 75°F-78°F (24°C-25°C), optimum 75°F (24°C).
Specific Gravity = range 1.020 – 1.024, optimum 1.021
pH = 8.2
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0-20 ppm

Suggested Stocking Density: 1 pair per 8 gallons (30 liters).

Aquarium Requirements:
The following recommendations are based of Devasmita De’s rearing program for true Hippocampus kuda at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). They provide a description of the Aquarium’s exhibit tank for H. kuda. This has proven to be a very successful system for holding H. kuda, in which Devasmita reports that the adults reproduce regularly and health problems have never been encountered.

Population: 11 animals: 7 males and 4 females
Volume of tank: 180 gallons (684 liters).
Height of tank: 24 inches (60 cm).
Circulation: closed
Water: artificial
Filtration: wet/dry, UV sterilizer, protein skimmer
Substrate: crushed coral gravel
Holdfast: plastic plants, rocks.
Fluorescent light: 2 x 36" twin tube, 75 watt
Photoperiod: 16 hours Light: 8 hours Darkness (16:8 L:D).
Temperature: 77oF (25oC).
Nitrite (NO2): 0.025
Nitrate (NO3): 12.5
Ammonia (NH4): 0.00
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 33.0
Water changes: 50% every 7 days
Tank cleaning: every 7 days
WQ analysis: every 7 days

Devasmita notes that H. kuda has basically the same aquarium requirements as other tropical seahorse species from the Indo-pacific (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). To duplicate the Shedd’s successful system in the home aquarium, I would suggest setting up a large SHOWLR tank supplemented with a wet/dry trickle filter, UV, and a good protein skimmer. The kuda tank need not be especially tall. A tank 24-inches deep has proven to be quite sufficient at the Shedd, and the adults breed well with that amount of vertical swimming space (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48).

Juvenile Rearing Tanks:
Devasmita De reports that the pelagic H. kuda fry at the Shedd are retained in separate nursery and rearing tanks with circular flow (the kreisel effect) and 250-micron screens covering the overflows (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). The newborns are surface huggers that gradual begin to settle out and take up a bottom dwelling existence over a period of weeks. Only about 1 in 5 fry begin to seek out hitching posts and orient to the substrate within the first week (Mi, Kornienko, and Drozdov 1998). Most of the true kuda fry are not ready to descend to the bottom until they are around 3 weeks old (19-22 days) (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48).

Wolfgang Mai achieves excellent results raising pelagic H. kuda in shallow greenwater nurseries (Mai 2004b). He uses bare 10-gallon (25 liter) nursery tanks which are initially filled with only 2 inches (5 cm) of saltwater. Each such nursery can safely house 150-200 kuda fry and is aerated with a coarse airstone that provides surface agitation for efficient oxygenation as well as generating the desired gentle current (Mai 2004b). He drip feeds the fry with 1 pint (-1/2 liter) of phytoplankton and 1 pint (-1/2 liter) of zooplankton at least 3 times a day (Mai 2004b).

The phytoplankton nourishes the zooplankton and provides the necessary level of murkiness or turbidity to keep the pelagic fry away from the surface (Mai 2004b). (Mai finds that kuda fry raised in clear water tend to suffer buoyancy problems and intestinal infections, resulting in heavy losses due to "floaters.") The pelagic fry remain in the greenwater phytoplankton throughout their free-swimming phase, until they begin seeking out hitching posts around day 20 (Mai 2004b).

The zooplankton consists of a mixture of copepods, Euplotes, red worm-like rotifers, and Brachionus rotifers (Mai 2004b). Wolfgang reports that Brachionus rotifers alone are inadequate to sustain kuda fry, and limits their use to 10% of the zooplankton mixture (Mai 2004b). After 5 days, the zooplankton mix is supplemented sparingly with enriched Artemia nauplii and after 30 days the kuda fry are eating enriched Artemia as their staple diet (Mai 2004b).

The bottom of these bare nurseries is siphoned clean at least twice a day, and the water removed while siphoning helps compensate for the saltwater that’s added by drip feeding (Mai 2004b).

Newborn H. kuda are small, only about 5 – 8 mm in height with a mean weight of 2.5 mg (Mi 1993; Mi, Kornienko and Drozdov 1998), but they grow fairly rapidly as indicated below. The following table shows the mean juvenile growth for true captive-reared H. kuda raised at between 84-86oF (29-30oC) (S. Job pers comm. in Bull and Mitchell 2002).

Age in Weeks Standard Length
00 (day 1) 6-8 mm
02 29.7 mm
03 42.1 mm
04 54.7 mm
05 65.5 mm
06 72.4 mm
08 86.0 mm
10 99.7 mm
12 111.2mm
14 120.7mm

The Australian form of kuda raised by Tracy Warland produces benthic fry that can eat enriched brine shrimp (Instar II Artemia nauplii) right from birth. They do not require a kreisel/pseudokreisel nursery and can be reared in a basic benthic nursery.

Diet, Nutrition, and Feeding Techniques:
The peak feeding period for H. kuda in the aquarium is the early morning hours from 6 AM to 8 AM (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). They normally do not feed at all at night as proven by examination of gut contents (Do, Truong, and Hoa 1996).

In captivity, commonly used foods for adult H. kuda include frozen Mysis, live Mysis (wild-caught and captive-reared) and adult brine shrimp (Artemia) (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). The feeding schedule usually calls for two feeds a day. This is true at the Shedd Aquarium, where frozen Mysis are provided once a day and adult brine shrimp (Artemia) are given at the second feeding (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48). As a change of pace, live Mysis are given as an occasional treat in place of either the frozen mysids or the adult Artemia (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p48).

As with many other seahorses with small pelagic fry, newborn H. kuda are provided with a selection of day-old and two day-old Artemia nauplii, rotifers and copepod nauplii (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p49). Devasmita states that the fry are usually fed 2 to 3 times a day in an effort to assure that there is always some suitable live prey in the nurseries (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p49). As the juveniles grow, they are fed on larger nauplii supplemented by small live Mysis, and gradually introduced to frozen crushed Mysis. The juveniles are usually fed at least twice a day (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p49).

At the Shedd Aquarium, live adult Artemia are enriched with Selco, DC-DHA Selco, Nannachloropsis phytoplankton and Spirulina algae (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p49). Artemia nauplii are enriched with Selco for 12-24 hours and then either fed directly to the kuda fry or fed to the live Mysis shrimp to enrich them (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p49).

Discussion:
The designation Hippocampus kuda has been applied to virtually all the smooth-skinned (non-spiny) seahorses throughout the Indo-Pacific at one time or another. At least 15 different names for supposedly separate species are now known to be merely synonyms for H. kuda, while there are still a number of valid species that are currently lumped together under the all-purpose banner of Hippocampus kuda. As a result, it has become futile to attempt to distinguish all the imposters from the true kuda, and it is now only possible to speak of the "kuda complex" in which a single name — kuda — is applied to many similar species (Bull and Mitchell, 2002, p47).

This is true of captive-bred (CB) seahorses as well, and hobbyists should be aware that 3 distinctly different types of farm-raised seahorses are currently masquerading as Hippocampus kuda, none of which are actually the real thing. It is nevertheless perfectly proper to refer to them all as H. kuda for the time being — there is simply no other recourse until the kuda complex has been sorted out once and for all.

The captive-bred lines of H. kuda included Bill Stockly’s "Kona Golds" from Hawaii, the Travid strain of Australian kuda raised by Tracy and David Warland in Port Lincoln, and a relatively new line of kuda from Ocean, Reefs, and Aquariums (ORA) in Florida.

Of these, Stockly’s strain of H. kuda was by far the largest seahorses. They were available in both the black and golden color phases, and the Kona Golds were truly spectacular seahorses. Their brilliant yellow-orange coloration made them extremely popular among aquarists. Bill has not made any livestock available to the general public for quite some time, and there is a growing fear among the seahorse community that the beautiful Stockly strain of kuda has now been lost. If so, the loss of such a magnificent line of captive-bred seahorses would be a serious setback for the hobby. Everyone is hoping Stockly’s splendid strain of golden kuda will soon reappear.

The ORA line of cultured kuda is considerably smaller than Stockly’s strain and specimens are still only sporadically available. Tracy Warland’s Australian kuda are the smallest of all, but the Travids are consistently available and very popular among hobbyists here in the US. Aussie aquarists do especially well with them, and part of their charm lies in the fact that they are relatively easy to rear.

The Australian form of H. kuda is a smaller species than the wild kuda typically seen at pet stores in the US (Abbott 2003). The kuda that hail from Down Under are found in North Queensland, Northwestern Australia, the Northern Territory and Indonesia, and Tracy Warland’s strain may reach 4-3/4 inches (12 cm) in length (Abbott 2003).

The Travids are polygamous ponies that produce fairly big broods (about 200 fry on average) after a short, two-week gestation period. Many hobbyists are attracted to Tracy’s strain of kudas because they produce large benthic babies that are able to eat brine shrimp nauplii at this first food, making them reasonably easy to raise.

Perhaps because of their smaller size, the Australian kuda tend to be a little on the shy side in the aquarium, at least at first (Warland 2003). They are shipped at the age of 6 months, when they are still pretty small, and new arrivals may benefit from a stay in a grow-out tank for further growth before being introduced to main aquarium.

Amanda Vincent has examined the type specimens of as many species of seahorses as possible, including the specimen of Hippocampus kuda on which the original description of the species was based. She stresses the fact that the true kuda is a massive animal, quite unlike the so-called "kuda" we typically see in pet stores (Vincent, pers. comm.).

The type specimen of H. kuda is a large, robust, remarkably thick-bodied seahorse (Vincent, pers. comm.). It is these rather substantial animals, the genuine kuda, which may reach the impressive length of 12 inches (30 cm). After studying the type specimen, Vincent feels that true H. kuda are rarely, if ever, seen by hobbyists (Vincent, pers. comm.).

Wild H. kuda populations are probably more heavily exploited than any other species. They are the most desirable species for Asian folk medicine and have long been targeted for TCM, and they are also commercially valuable as aquarium specimens and broodstock for Asian seahorse farms.

The real kuda are polygamous both in the wild and in the aquarium. As previously discussed, they deliver very large broods of tiny fry (6-8mm) that are pelagic for the first few weeks of life.

This makes them challenging to raise, but true H. kuda have long been reared successfully on large seahorse farms in South East Asia. However, breeders in that part of the world raise them strictly for use in Eastern folk medicine, which very much favors large smooth-bodied seahorses, and the captive-bred Asian kuda never found their way into the US market. That’s a shame and a tragic waste, since captive-bred kuda would easily have been worth 20-50 times as much as aquarium specimens in the USA, alive and on the hoof, than they were worth dead and dried for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (Giwojna, Jul. 2002). Nearly all the Asia seahorse farms have now disappeared in the wake of widespread economic reforms; without State funding, it proved impossible for them to make a profit raising seahorses for TCM. Ironically, the Asian seahorse farms might well have been profitable had they only been able to tap into the pet market and provide live animals for the aquarium industry.

Bottom Line:
Tracy Warland’s Australian line of kuda is a fair choice for hobbyists that want to breed and raise their seahorses. The Travid strain of kuda is highly recommended for Aussie hobbyists who keep tropical tanks.

However, hobbyists in the USA should be a little more cautious about them simply because they will be getting their specimens from a wholesaler after a long trip all the way from Australia, rather than directly from the breeder, and going through a middleman complicates things. The health of the Aussie kuda will be impacted by the quality of care they receive during their stopover.

Even though they are captive-bred, I suggest that hobbyists in the US quarantine Australian kuda for a period of weeks before transferring them to your seahorse tank. Consider your quarantine setup to be a grow-out tank for the new kuda, and use their time in isolation to target feed them and give them a good headstart.

Additional Information (to learn more about Hippocampus kuda, please consult the following references):

Chaladkid, S., & Hruangoon, N. 1996. "Comparative Studies on Different Types of Feed and Salinity which effect the growth of young seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) in the laboratory." Institute of Marine Science, Chonbury, 1.

Do, H.H., S.K. Truong, and H.T. Hoa. 1996. "Feeding behaviour and food of seahorses in Vietnam." Third International Conference on the Marine Biology of the South China Sea, Hong Kong.

Hippocampus kuda, Spotted seahorse. 1 Mar. 2004. Fish Base.
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?id=5955

Jiaxin, C. 1990. "Brief introduction to mariculture of five selected species in China (Section 1: Sea-horse culture)." FAO/UNDP. Report number RAS/90/002. July.

Marichamy, R., A.P. Lipton, A. Ganapathy , and J.R. Ramalingam. 1993. "Large scale exploitation of seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) along the Palk Bay coast of Tamil Nadu." Marine Fisheries Information Service. January/February, 119:17-20.

Mi, Pham Tchi. 1992. "Raising the sea horse Hippocampus kuda." Russ. J. Mar. Biol.; Biol. Morya. Mar. Biol. 18(5-6): 93-96.

Mi, P.T. 1993. "Raising the seahorse Hippocampus kuda." Russian Journal of Marine Biology. 18(5-6): 203-205.

Mi, P.T., E.S. Kornienko, and A.L. Drozdov 1998. "Embryonic and larval development of the seahorse Hippocampus kuda." Russian Journal of Marine Biology. 24(5): 325-329.

Nguyen, V.L. and H.H. Do. 1996. "Biological parameters of two exploited seahorse species in a Vietnamese fishery." 1st International Conference in Marine Conservation, Hong Kong.

Truong, S.K., and T.K.L. Doan. 1994. "Reproduction of the seahorse (Hippocampus kuda) inhabiting the Cuabe Estuary." Tuyen Tap Nghien Cuu Bien. Collection of Marine Research Works. 111-120.

So that’s the current situation with the kuda complex, AC. Perhaps the best way for you to determine which type of H. kuda you have would be to contact the source you purchase them from and ask them if the offspring they produce are benthic (i.e., demersal) or pelagic, and what they would recommend feeding the newborns as their first foods.

I would also suggest that you pick up a copy of "How to care for your Seahorses in the Marine Aquarium A Stable Environment For your Seahorse Stable" by Tracy Warland. It’s a very good guidebook for Australian seahorse keepers since it is devoted to the species that are commonly kept and cultured in Australia. In addition to explaining how to set up an aquarium for your seahorses, it includes lots of good information about H. kuda in particular.

In addition, AC, be sure to check out the following discussions I referred you to previously in my earlier message. For example, the following online article explains how to raise both benthic seahorse babies and pelagic seahorse fry. It will also explain why pelagic seahorse fry like the true H. reidi babies are harder to raise than benthic seahorse fry and discusses how to culture live foods for the newborns:

Click here: Seahorse.com – Seahorse, Sea Life, Marine Life, Aquafarm Sales, Feeds and Accessories – Nutrition – Feeding & Rear
http://www.seahorse.com/FAMA_-_Freshwater_and_Marine_Aquarium_magazine/Horse_Forum_-_Nutrition/Nutrition_-_Feeding_%26_Rearing_the_Fry_-_Part_IV/

In addition, the following topics on this discussion forum are also devoted to raising seahorse babies and should have a lot of information you will find useful in your quest to raise your H. kuda fry:

Click here: Seahorse.com – Seahorse, Sea Life, Marine Life, Aquafarm Sales, Feeds and Accessories – Re:I had Babies!! – Ocean
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,/func,view/catid,2/id,1299/#1299

Click here: Seahorse.com – Seahorse, Sea Life, Marine Life, Aquafarm Sales, Feeds and Accessories – Re:Babies – Ocean Rider Cl
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,/func,view/catid,2/id,1316/#1316

Click here: Seahorse.com – Seahorse, Sea Life, Marine Life, Aquafarm Sales, Feeds and Accessories – Re: Suitable Fry Container
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,/func,view/catid,2/id,863/#863

In particular, be sure to check out the following discussions regarding the best methods for raising H. reidi fry. Newborn H. reidi also go through an extended pelagic period so the tips and suggestions for increasing the survivorship of H. reidi babies will be especially helpful in raising true H. kuda fry:

Click here: Seahorse.com – Seahorse, Sea Life, Marine Life, Aquafarm Sales, Feeds and Accessories – Re:raising redi – Ocean Ri
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,/func,view/catid,2/id,1164/#1164

Click here: Seahorse.com – Seahorse, Sea Life, Marine Life, Aquafarm Sales, Feeds and Accessories – Re:reidi fry no survivors
http://www.seahorse.com/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,/func,view/catid,2/id,1054/#1054

Hopefully, that will get you started off on the right foot with your efforts to raise this challenging species, AC.

Best of luck with your new H. kuda, AC. G’day, mate!

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna