1. Can they go more than one day without feeding?
That depends on the condition of the seahorses at the time they go through the foodless period. I wouldn't let them go through more than two days and I wouldn't let it happen more than once every couple of months.
2. What duration of lighting to they seem to prefer?
They don't really need lighting for any specific period, and don't need special lighting. In fact, ambient lighting is sufficient.
Balance of 1. ie. If you put extra food in there and left on "vacation" could they go a few days...or will they just eat themselves to death?
3. What is the ideal amount of cultures(food) that you should you have going?
I read that it takes 24 hours to raise the food and if you are supposed to feed them every 24 hours, does this lead to the need for an overlap?
Putting extra food in the tank is pretty pointless because the bbs loose their nutrition very fast and at that point they are eating but getting nothing and that is probably as bad AS eating nothing because they expend energy and get nothing for it. They won't eat themselves to death though.
As far as amount of cultures going, that depends on each person's protocol.
For those that hatch daily, you need three, in hatching mode, grow out mode and enrichment mode. Hatch out for a day, then grow them out for another day for them to develop their digestive system so they can eat, and then the following day, enrich them for two 12 hour stages with new water and new enrichment for each 12 hour stage.
However, there are a few variants used by some hobbyists.
For me, if I don't have dwarf babies, I hatch out enough for 10 to 14 days and transfer them to a growout container. There, I feed them on spirulina and AlgaMac 3050 each day, but I remove a days feeding each day and enrich for the two 12 hour stages and then feed them to the tank.
I have a very small filter on the tank set on a timer so that after feeding, the timer comes on for an hour and removes the uneaten food so that the next feeding is ensuring the dwarfs only eat the new enriched food and not the food that has deteriorated nutrition wise.
4. I read you should freshwater dip the dwarfs. Is this crucial, or is it detrimental to their health?
This may be someone's idea when the seahorses are wild caught. It shouldn't be needed if you buy true captive bred from someplace like seahorsesource.com.
5. What is the best method to decapsulate brine shrimp eggs?
There are quite a few ways but I don't know who can say what is best. You can google for the information and pick one to work with and if it doesn't work well you can try different methods.
For me, I hydrate the cysts by first letting a tablespoon of cyst sit in water for 1/2 hour followed by an hour of aeration. Then I add bleach so the solution is 4 parts water and one part bleach. i.e. 2 cups water, 1/2 cup bleach. Aerate for about 6 minutes or until the cysts start to turn orange following a brownish grey stage. Pour through a mesh to capture the cysts and rinse for at least 4 minutes under the cold water tap to remove the bleach. Some use a dechlorinator but I no longer do.
I then rehydrate the cysts by placing them in saturated salt water and aerate until hydrated. Some say change the water several times but I just make sure there is always salt in the bottom that shows it stays saturated.
