S&M's Seahorse IM Lagoon 50 Build

[shornik]

Hmmm, I don't know if they are captive bred, but I will check tomorrow with my lfs, The "fish guy" wasn't there when I purchased them but he'll know where they came from. So far I haven't noticed them eating anything, I have been putting in a little frozen mysis and these small frozen copepods (I forget the name) but they are red. I'm guessing that probably means they are WC but I will absolutely find out.

 

[vlangel]

If they are WC I read a theory that bigger than normal water changes can help with mixing species of seahorses together. I wonder if it might help with having pipefish and seahorses together too?

 

[Clr]

Following, awesome build !

 

[shornik]

Really sad news to report..... On the one hand I don't have to worry about the WC pipefish, which I confirmed they were, on the other hand neither of the two made it. One died about 1 week after purchase, though I think it was eating it just died one night and I'm not sure why.

But what is horrible, and its kept me up all night is my other one was doing great, eating bugs, eating the baby brine shrimp, it was even starting to recognize the Julian's thing Id use to put the brine shrimp in the tank and he/she would be waiting for it. Well 2 days ago I bought some macro algae (pics later) for the horses to hitch to. One wasn't what I expected it was just a clump of really dense algae, denser the chaeto, bit it had these neat blue tint to it. Anyway when I got home from work last night the pipefish had presumably went into it - snout first - to eat some bugs and must have gotten stuck. It was awful, just sticking up vertically from the clump of algae - ugh and had died.

I really loved those fish and know I'll get others but right now I'm truly depressed about it since it was my fault. I really take the responsibility of caring for my animals (fish, corals, inverts) and know some aren't going to make it, but when its because of a mistake of mine it really hurts.

Anyway, you live and you learn, and if anyone's reading this thread and thinking about pipefish, be careful with any macro algae you purchase....

 

[DeniseAndy]

So sorry for you. Those guys are really cool fish.

 

[Naiad]

I'm so sorry. I tried pipes not long ago. I loved them! However they had something wrong with them and died. I am getting the courage up to try again.

 

[shornik]

I know I'm going to try again, and in an earlier post @vlangel reminded me I can purchase captive raised pipes - which would be better for the seahorse's when I get them from Ocean Rider. I've got a trip coming up next week but will most likely order them when I get back. I really loved them and know it wasn't a lack of food for them to eat but the mistake I made in the environment + the Ocean Rider's eat mysis.

 

[shornik]

So sorry for you. Those guys are really cool fish.

Wait a minute... you have a 210g Gorg tank, please, please post some pics. I'd love to see it.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Pics are not great, but I have a video. Few month old. I will link it here. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-bored-lets-see-your-reefs.220447/page-51

It is a bit different now. I have a large lta and some of the gorgs have grown nicely. I also lost a dotyback to egg bound issue. Poor baby. I also did some rearranging.

You will get the idea though.

 

[shornik]

Pics are not great, but I have a video. Few month old. I will link it here. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-bored-lets-see-your-reefs.220447/page-51

It is a bit different now. I have a large lta and some of the gorgs have grown nicely. I also lost a dotyback to egg bound issue. Poor baby. I also did some rearranging.

You will get the idea though.

Wow, its so nice, I love it. I'm hoping my gorgs grow like yours. So far so good they seem to like the spots I placed them out.

 

[shornik]

And here are a few pics of my recently purchased inhabitants, one purple whip gorg, one Cesputularia, one red macro algae (not the one that killed my pipefish - that one is out on the patio backing in the hot florida sun).

 

[DeniseAndy]

key is gorgs like food. Lots of it. I feed mine with autofeeder. Also keep algae off them. I lost one due to my silly nem walking all over it and then the urchin took for a ride. I need a new guy as it was my only of its kind. Those are nice

 

[shornik]

key is gorgs like food. Lots of it. I feed mine with autofeeder.

What food do you use? I've been using Reef Chili, but I was thinking of trying something I saw from Fauna Marin called SeaFan Coral Food.

 

[shornik]

I finally got some pics of my Mandarins, I have a male and female.

Pics are bad I just had my iPhone.....

 

[DeniseAndy]

I use a huge variety of food. I grow phyto and rotifers and sometimes baby brine. I use anything from oyster feast and roe to fauna marin sea fan, reef chili, reef roids, cobalt coral food, lps diet, sps diet in liquid forms, and some others cannot think of off hand. I mix a lot together in different containers with the phyto and feed auto.

 

[shornik]

I use a huge variety of food. I grow phyto and rotifers and sometimes baby brine. I use anything from oyster feast and roe to fauna marin sea fan, reef chili, reef roids, cobalt coral food, lps diet, sps diet in liquid forms, and some others cannot think of off hand. I mix a lot together in different containers with the phyto and feed auto.

Sounds like I need to up my variation. I've been doing the Phyto, reef chili, some ocean snow and micro-blast (Continuum), but not mixed together. I guess I could easily mix it all up. When you say feed auto do you mean using a dosing pump, or something else?

 

[DeniseAndy]

I do use a dosing pump. However, you will get more algae and need to compensate for added nutrients. I have a 4 pump that has food on three and runs just tank water on the other to clear lines each feeding. The way I have it set up, I need to do this to avoid build up in lines. I have looked at many configurations, but this is what worked best for my set up. If I rebuilt ever, I would build it very differently.

I love the variety. I think it is closer to what they would get in the wild to have lots in the water. I am not sure they really care though. I do have good growth, but for gorgs that is hard to measure as some just grow very slow and some very fast. They have grown faster with the doser. Just my observation. I have one that grows no matter what and I have to cut a lot. Another that hardly grew in 5 years and now started to take off. Not sure if it is food or age or water. I attribute to feeding and flow.

Certain gorgs are very toxic to other corals though. I can only keep leathers and mushrooms in the gorg tank (along with nems). I have tried many other corals and tested many times and it always comes out with lps or sps dying. I think it comes down to size, species and number in the tank.

 

[shornik]

So I just came back from the tank after being gone 4 days and the Mandarins are both alive . I added a lot of pods, mostly alive but a lot unfortunately had died in shipping. I didn't realize until the night before I left so I was worried that there might not be enough for the Mandarins to eat while I was gone. But apparently there were and this make me cautiously confident that there is a large enough pod population in the tank for me to leave on short trips. I'll keep adding pods every few months and will definitely do a big addition when I'll leave the tank for another 4 days towards the end of July. The good news about that trip is that after I come back there won't be any more trips for a while and so I'll be able to get the sea horses - finally.

 

[shornik]

My mourning period is over and so I bought 2 more pipefish. These are a little different, Yellow Banded pipefish. I've seen them eating the baby brine but not as much as I would like. I think I'm used to "normal" fish that eat as much as they can as fast as they can. Anyway I'm going to start enriching the brb and grow them out a little bit more and see if I notice them eating more of them. The Mandarins love them just fine as they are though. Anyway, here's a quick video I made, its fun watching them roll around.

 

[boudster]

Great video. Your tank is so peaceful to watch!