Hi everyone and happy holidays!!! I recently (Friday) have gotten a pair of seahorses. I done my research and made sure they were captive breed and were eating frozen food. When I got them they had said that they might not eat for a couple of days from stress. After several different ideas for feeding station they have still not eaten. Does anyone have any suggestions for different things I can try? I have no idea if its the feeding station, food, stress or a million other things. I did get my water checked yesterday to make sure it wasn't something like that and did a water change. I would love any suggestions for different things to try to make them eat.
eating?
- Thread starter jbeach
- Start date
What live food have you tried?
-live mysid or even ghost shrimp often appeals to them
-live brine shrimp adults suffice for many
-once you find what live food they eat, be sure to enrich it first
-after getting them eating live food, substitute similar species frozen food in increasing amounts to get them off the live food again
-I prefer to feed enriched live foods once or twice a week, but use frozen mysis as the base food.
-You mentioned "feeding station", but initially you may have to "broadcast" the food to get them eating initially because a feeding station isn't normal. I still prefer the broadcast feeding for my seahorses, preferring to watch them "hunt" their food.
-live mysid or even ghost shrimp often appeals to them
-live brine shrimp adults suffice for many
-once you find what live food they eat, be sure to enrich it first
-after getting them eating live food, substitute similar species frozen food in increasing amounts to get them off the live food again
-I prefer to feed enriched live foods once or twice a week, but use frozen mysis as the base food.
-You mentioned "feeding station", but initially you may have to "broadcast" the food to get them eating initially because a feeding station isn't normal. I still prefer the broadcast feeding for my seahorses, preferring to watch them "hunt" their food.
Well, I would suggest you suspect any information that person has given you then.
NO seahorse is brought up initially on non live foods, even true captive bred, indicating that the person is not very well informed on seahorse keeping.
Seahorse fry are normally fed a diet of live foods such as rotifers, copepods, and enriched brine shrimp nauplii to start with. Some need the smaller rotifer sized food first, with some others doing just fine with enriched brine shrimp nauplii.
As they grow, the foods they receive need to be larger as well.
Eventually they are weaned off of live foods and onto frozen foods.
Even after weaning the juvenile seahorses off of live foods, I still like to feed enriched live food once or twice a week for improved nutrition.
I enrich live foods with Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com.
I would first off try broadcast feeding though because this may work without having to go to live foods right now.
Just remember to siphon out any uneaten food pieces before the next feeding.
NO seahorse is brought up initially on non live foods, even true captive bred, indicating that the person is not very well informed on seahorse keeping.
Seahorse fry are normally fed a diet of live foods such as rotifers, copepods, and enriched brine shrimp nauplii to start with. Some need the smaller rotifer sized food first, with some others doing just fine with enriched brine shrimp nauplii.
As they grow, the foods they receive need to be larger as well.
Eventually they are weaned off of live foods and onto frozen foods.
Even after weaning the juvenile seahorses off of live foods, I still like to feed enriched live food once or twice a week for improved nutrition.
I enrich live foods with Dan's Feed from seahorsesource.com.
I would first off try broadcast feeding though because this may work without having to go to live foods right now.
Just remember to siphon out any uneaten food pieces before the next feeding.
MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
turn off all your pumps, powerheads, overflows, and the like.
wait a few minutes for the current to settle down.
squirt the food directly in to the tank.
let them eat for a bit, then restart the flow.
Sorry, I forgot that part of your question.
I use a small diameter automotive battery filler but you can use anything.
You can add the food to a small mesh net and rinse well, then reverse dip it in the tank.
I also use open ended air lines and mini power heads in each of my tanks to keep the food in suspension longer.
The return pump and larger power heads are connected to a mechanical timer that I turn off, and then advance the timer wheel until the on button comes in contact with the switch. The timer automatically turns everything back on in about 40 minutes.
I use a small diameter automotive battery filler but you can use anything.
You can add the food to a small mesh net and rinse well, then reverse dip it in the tank.
I also use open ended air lines and mini power heads in each of my tanks to keep the food in suspension longer.
The return pump and larger power heads are connected to a mechanical timer that I turn off, and then advance the timer wheel until the on button comes in contact with the switch. The timer automatically turns everything back on in about 40 minutes.
