Copepods - Good food source for Seahorses?

[mkapraun10]

I ran into somebody who has seahorses and he says that he feeds them copepods. He says that the copepods reproduce like crazy in his tank, therefore there's plenty of food for the seahorses. Everytime I read something about feeding seahorses, they say that you need to feed them about 6 times a day and they can be difficult to feed.

Right now, I'm doing some research before I plan on buying seahorses. Some more advice would be awesome.

Where can I buy a colony of copepods and how will they do in a tank with a couple of seahorses? Can seahorses survive on just copepods as a food source? What is a good way to raise and keep the copepods going (feeding, breeding, etc.)?

 

[rayjay]

I don't know anyone with a tank that can supply seahorse food sufficient for even a pair just by having copepods in the tank.
A pair of seahorses would decimate the copepods in no time at all.
If the seahorses are larger, they won't even touch most types of copepods due to their small size. My seahorses won't even touch newly hatched brine shrimp which are larger than most copepods.
You definitely need to feed the tank for the seahorses to survive, or have a disproportionately sized tank for even just a pair of seahorses.
I like to feed 3 times a day myself, but I know others that are only able to feed twice a day.
Periodically I feed mine live adult brine shrimp enriched with Dan's Food.

 

[con999]

i feed once a day should i be feeding two... sorry to hijack a little

 

[wdt2000]

While I have never seen my horses eat them I would think amphipods are the ticket. I have large numbers in my seahorse tanks that have sand bed with macro algae. I am assuming thats what the seahorse enjoy hunting.

Tigerpods (Tigriopus californicus) are super easy to culture if you want to give them a try. In my experience some adult seahorse will eat them, most will not. But the other fish in the tank seem to really enjoy eating the pods.

 

[Peka]

i feed once a day should i be feeding two... sorry to hijack a little

Yes, once in the morning and once in the evening would be good...



As rayjay said, larger horses won't go for the small copepods. I suspect they are also eating amphids in that persons tank. They love them and some will hunt them all day long...

 

[namxas]

With the exception of raising fry (which we no longer do), we feed once a day, however, we keep a good growth of live macro in the tank and the SH do hunt larger pods (Gammarids and Munnids) during the day.

 

[mkapraun10]

Ok, thanks for the tip!

 

[loganbug3]

Would H. Zosterea eat these? I'm considering buying a pair and I'm not sure how to feed them live brine shrimp, it sound complicated.

 

[wdt2000]

Would H. Zosterea eat these? I'm considering buying a pair and I'm not sure how to feed them live brine shrimp, it sound complicated.

Yes they will eat the copepods which are much better food than brine shrimp.

 

[rayjay]

I agree that zosterae will feed on many copepods, but producing sufficient for their needs is much harder than producing and enriching brine shrimp, IMO.
Copepods are an excellent auxiliary food though, if you don't mind the work culturing them as they are relatively expensive to be always purchasing.

 

[loganbug3]

How do I culture them? I'm new to this

 

[wdt2000]

Tigriopus californicus are very easy. Just throw them in a bucket of old tank water and add some crushed up food along with a large piece of blue bond. Place it in a cool area and check back in a few weeks. Less is more with these guys in my experience.