Happy Birthday VALENTINA !!!!!

Today is Thursday, February 14th, 2013 or Valentina's Day.
Can you take a wild guess as to whose birthday it is today?
Come on, take a wild guess!

Valentina remains shy...
Only coming out to dance once or twice during the month.
But, when she does, it is absolutely precious!

Valentina, with her rotund body makes every attempt to sway gracefully back and forth. However, like
"Humpty Dumpty", the swaying gets out of control and Valentina finds herself rolling over quite clumsily and ungracefully.
As if embarrassed, she swims off and once again hitches to the filter area!

The Birthday Gal...Valentina!

Valentina enjoys a spa day on her birthday!
She loves the feeling of the bubbles!

More bubbly for Valentina!

After shutting off both the filter and the air bubbles, the water was dead calm.
The photo shows Valentina's mirror image.



Back to the Spa!



Valentina enjoys a facial in these 4 photos.

"THE PET DEN" & The Seahorse Troth

Now, this is a most amazing...

You know, my seahorses are very, very, very spoiled in a multitude of ways.

One way is that the majority of the time they dine on only the finest live brine shrimp from my great friends Dennis and Maurice.

These guys own "The Pet Den"

located on 6230 Jericho Turnpike

in Commack, New York.

They can be contacted at:

(631) 499-0276

You can expect all your pet needs fulfilled

and all your questions expertly answered!

Visit "The Pet Den" when you are in the Commack area.

It is the experience of a lifetime!

The staff is more of a big, loving, fun, family then just co~workers!

Come in and meet them.

Brouse around.

This is no ordinary pet store!

I've spoken  about "The Pet Den" before.

They are legendary on Long Island for their exotic pets,

and pet supplies.

And may I elaborate...

they have fresh, frozen or dried delicacies for any hungry reptile, amphibian or bird to savor at mealtime!

May I define "fresh" as meaning "alive"...

"The Pet Den" caters to the rare, and exotic pet.

But, never fear...their expertise  extends to all creatures...

large and small!

Young or old, you can also have a party at "The Pet Den"

in their "Party Jungle" Room.

Their motto:

"Come Rumble At Our Jungle"!

 Okay...

Because seahorses cannot live by live brine alone,

"The Pet Den" also carries  premium frozen brine.

Well, now and then, I will give my spoiled rotten babies frozen brine. When using the frozen brine, rather then putting it directly into the tank, I have trained the seahorses to eat out of a troth.

Now there's a concept for you!

Seahorses eating out of the same receptacle, troth, that horses eat out of!

It is quite adorable!

Once the frozen brine has been put into a strainer and then rinsed under cold water, it is ready to go. Putting the brine directly into the tank scatters the brine. This diminishes the seahorses ability of consuming the majority of the brine. It also has the tendency to "overfeed the tank". The leftovers can cause toxins like ammonia to spike. It can also change the PH and other chemistry's in the tank.

Because seahorses are fragile, these tank changes can make them sick or can even be fatal for them.

Anyway...

Seahorses can be trained!

And that is exactly what I did!

Over the period of a few days, I fed the prepared brine into the top of the troth.

It floated down to the tray area.

Using a turkey baster with a few brine shrimp in it, I slowly made a trail in front of the seahorses that EVENTUALLY led them to the troth.

Please note that the turkey baster was a brand new one and is dedicated for seahorse use only.

That goes for any seahorse equipment.

Cross contamination is therefore minimized.

After a few days, at mealtime, the seahorses would go and hitch onto the troth before I even put the brine into the tube.

They were waiting to be fed!

Again...seeing is believing!

And it is sooooooo adorable to see the seahorses eating out of the troth.



The adorable seahorses eat the frozen brine out of the troth.
Their tails hitch on the lip of the feeding tray.

Here my seahorse hitches on the side plant.

Look how the sweet seahorse's neck stretches to eat the frozen brine.

SWEETHEART IN LABOR

This post is one that I have been more then excited to write . It involves the monogamous love between
2 seahorses.

My seahorses have never gotten to the point of
egg fertilization, but they have completed the elaborate courtship, which is more of a ballet.

This ballet is a series of synchronized swirls and movements that goes on for several days.
The seahorses braid their tails together while going up and down and around and around in the tank.

The seahorses also change color as they dance.

During the complicated ballet, the female seahorse will strain her head and lift her neck upward. With her snout pointing up, it is as though she is howling  in an attempt to hurry the male seahorse along.

Now and then, the male separates from the female as he sweeps his tail forward and up toward his snout. How many times I have felt myself coaching the male as he gives big pushes which result in opening up his pouch.
The repeated "pushes" further opens up this vertical slit.

When seahorses do "consummate the relationship", the female and male alien their open pouches. The female's thousands of eggs are then transferred into the males pouch where fertilization takes place.

Gestation lasts for 2 to 4 weeks depending upon the "type" of seahorse and the water temperature. 

The link below is an amazing video of a male seahorse giving birth.
GET READY TO COACH IN THE PUSHING DEPARTMENT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaoLxR9FTwk

This next video shows a hippocampus seahorse
(the type I have)
giving birth to quite a few fry...
Ummmmm...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsHCqrrU-Gk&NR=1&feature=endscreen

This is my beloved Abby Road Vin Diesel. He is the same seahorse type as Sweetheart.
Abby pulls his tail forward and bares down in order to open up his pouch.
The other seahorse, my Imagine Peace, stays close to Abby. Had the courtship gone to fruition, Imagine would have deposited her eggs into Abby's pouch.
Fertilization would then take place .
Two to four weeks later, the fry would be born.



Again, as sweet Abby pushes, Imagine Peace is at his side
LITERALLY coaching and supporting her lovingly.



Abby takes a break from the pushing that will open up his bare cavity.
The bubbles offer a soothing massage to his belly.

Valentina is fat with eggs. Hoover is not far behind her as the courtship continues.
Valentina scurries a few inches away from Hoover. She hitches and waits for Hoover to catch up.
Its as though Valentina is playing shy and  "hiding in plain site" from Hoover.
Once Hoover catches up to where Valentina is, Valentina will once again run off, and then wait for Hoover to catch up.
This part of the courtship repeats itself over and over again!
ADORABLE AFFECTION!!!!

Here, my photo shows the fullness and bloating of the female's belly.
This is in sharp contrast to the loose baggie appearance of my male's belly.



As the courtship continues, the seahorse couple begin to swim in unison up and down.
They swirl around each other in a synchronized ballet.
They are in total precision with each other.
Its as though they have practiced this intertwining dance forever.

This lovely photo shows Valentina looking tenderly at Abby's belly.

Some photos are a bit repetitious for 2 reasons:
One, I'm not that good at the computer, so if I delete one, I'm not certain that others will also be deleted.
Second, they are so worth another look!

Seahorses gracefully swirl around each other in a perfectly synchronized courtship dance.

Here, my photo shows my female Seahorse lifting her snout upward. She is coaching my male (or maybe yelling at him),
"HURRY UP"!
"OPEN YOUR BELLY"!
"I CANNOT HOLD THESE EGGS MUCH LONGER"!

Sweetheart continues to push.

Note the open belly.

Again, the open belly in the male.

More encouragement for the male from the female to get that belly open
so the eggs can be transferred (into his belly) and fertilization can take place.

More...."encouragement"...

And again....
"HURRY!"
"KEEP PUSHING"! 

Note the bulbous belly area.

More pushing by my male seahorse.
The female stays close to his side during the courtship.

Again, I know some of my photos are close-ups of the same photo....
BUT...
If you are as mesmerized as I....you'll check them all out in wonder!