New seahorses! First time need advice

[vlangel]

Ok good so seems like about the right price. I believe I paid 80 each so 160 for the tank bread frozen eating breeding pair.

Yes, that is a fair price. I raised 1 batch of seahorse fry and it is a boat load of work. I preferred to buy my last set of seahorses rather than raise any more!

 

[underwaterdan]

Well I know the lfs will give me good money or great trade value for some tank raised seahorses. But I'm not sure I'm going to be raising any.

 

[vlangel]

Well I know the lfs will give me good money or great trade value for some tank raised seahorses. But I'm not sure I'm going to be raising any.

Its an experience worth trying. I am really glad that I did it once.

 

[underwaterdan]

Does anyone know a rule of thumb for how much to feed them? I gave them half a cube of mysis in a half a shell, about half of that half floated away and the other half is still in the shell.
I am just trying to balance feeding them and over feeding the tank.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Two horses can definitely take down half a cube, so they must be still settling in. I used to turn off my pain pump when feeding, to reduce the flow. I would also soak them in some of the tanks water, because the saltwater will make them "sit" better.

 

[underwaterdan]

I think it isn't a problem of them eating the food as much as finding it. Any food that came by them they ate, I just don't think they found it in the shell or knew it was there for them.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

They'll find it, then. They're not skinny, so that's good. It's important to be able to control the food and make sure most of it gets in your horse. Otherwise you be battling issues of nutrient rich water.

 

[underwaterdan]

That's exactly my worry. I wish someone made a feeder for them.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I believe people do now, but you can make your own. First, how are you getting the mysis to your dish?

 

[underwaterdan]

I defrost it in a cup of salt water. Then pour that into the shell. Then put it in the tank with another shell on top. Lowering it into the tank...

 

[Lionfish Lair]

You'll want to rinse those mysis. I would thaw in some saltwater, rinse in a net and then place back into saltwater. I used a large rigid tubing rod to direct the mysis to where I wanted them to sit. For the seahorses I used a half clam shell that I glued to some branching rock. That way they could hitch to the branches and eat in a natural position. I also glued the shell onto a magfloat so that it was suspended half way up the glass. That way the bristleworms wouldn't climb into the dish as easily. I'll try to find some pictures of that. You can see my rigid tubing in the video below.

 

[iLLwiLL]

I got one of those feeding troughs. works like a charm. I toss in a frozen PE mysis cube in the morning and evening and these guys go right for it.

 

[underwaterdan]

Where did you get that from? URL?

I got one of those feeding troughs. works like a charm. I toss in a frozen PE mysis cube in the morning and evening and these guys go right for it.

 

[apercele79]

I am about to add 2 seahorses in my daughter's 24G nano cube and I wanted to know if there are any decorations I need to add. I am under the impression they some sort of decoration so they can wrap their tails around it, is that false? Currently all I have are 3 live rocks, nothing else

 

[underwaterdan]

For my tank I added some branching rock and two dead sea fans that the lfs gave me. They seem to hang on to anything that their tale can grab. I did the fake yellow chain for a few days they didn't seem to care for it.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

What an awesome informative thread! Following!

 

[underwaterdan]

So I printed a 3d seahorse feeding station I found online. The seahorses love it http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:23804

 

[nitro]

Renee, you have a beautiful seahorse tank totally amazing.
Nitro

 

[nitro]

I found a very nice feeder on e-bay under Seahorse connection very well made and they loved it...

 

[shornik]

I got one of those feeding troughs. works like a charm. I toss in a frozen PE mysis cube in the morning and evening and these guys go right for it.

That looks like a feeder from salt critters I could never get my ponies to eat from it, and because I have other things in my tank including pesky cleaner shrimp who would eat everything in the feeder I gave up. So I feed frozen mysis 3x a day and let the ponies hunt for their food. It's fun watching them. But yes it does make the tank more "dirty" and something that I am battling. I don't know if this makes any sense, and it was done quite unintentionally, but I also have cardinal fish - and they eat a lot! so while I feed the tank quite a bit most of it gets eaten by both the pones and the cardinal fish. I actually went from feeding 2x a day to 3x a day because I think the cardinal's were eating too much and seahorses too little.

Macro algae is a great addition and I think it can hide pods if you get them giving them a place to multiply (maybe) but certainly providing the ponies with a place to go "hunting". I also have a bunch of gorgonians that serve as good hitching posts.

Good luck with the tank and keep us posted.