First Seahorse Purchase Yesterday

[ZoeReef]

I have a 160g interconnected three-tank system (120 + 20 + 20). Water conditions are all stable. Temp is 76.0 - 76.5. ORP is 360. pH is 8.1. All tests are solid.

One 20g tank is my refugium/seahorse tank. It has an established feather Caulerpa stand, slow water flow and a minimum of bubbles.

I added a bottle of pods about 5 weeks ago and they are now in all three tanks.

I added a pipefish a week ago to test the water conditions and it is extremely happy and thriving. It is very active. Based on this I added two black tank-raised seahorses from a good LFS. One is about 2.5 inches tall, the other, about 1.5 inches tall. Wish I had more science in the description...

My question concerns food. I have a mix of the following three dry foods that I feed to the tank in addition to the normal fish foods. Do you think the seahorses can gain nurtition from these?

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=TL3131

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=TL3151

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=LF1311

Granted, the best thing I could do would be to raise brine shrimp, so I guess I'm not looking for the ultimate menu, but what works. Because I am out of town at times for a week and have others helping with the tank, I'm looking for a good way to keep my newest additions happy and healthy.

Now if.. they can gain from these foods, what else do you feel should be added in addtion to these (dry food and pods) to keep them healthy?

Finally, if I add mysis shrimp, will that keep them from eating the others?

Thanks...Andy

 

[pledosophy]

The foods you linked will not work as seahorse food. I have used two of them on my system, the seahorse never touched them.

If the seahorses are CB then they should be trained to eat frozen mysis. This is the best food you can give them.

 

[luvabunny]

Hi Andy,
It sounds like you have a nice setup there, unfortunately it doesn't sound very seahorse friendly.

Seahorses, with very few, very rare exceptions, will not eat flake or freeze dried food. In the past 6 years, I have heard of one horse snicking flakes one time. And no, they will not eat it if they get hungry enough. As pledosophy said, if they are CB, then they should be already trained to frozen mysis, and that should be their staple diet on a daily, or twice daily basis.

In all actuality, a 20g tank is not large enough for a pipefish and 2 seahorses. Due to the size of your horses, and the fact that the tank is plumbed with another140g of water, you will probably be okay for now, but I wouldn't suggest adding anything else to that specific tank.
The bad part about having a plumbed tank is that your CB horses have probably not been exposed to many of the diseases your WC fish in your other tanks may be carrying. Also, the temp is at the top range for horses. These two variables can easily lead to bacterial infections for your horses.

To answer your original questions, no, the foods you have listed are not seahorse foods and will not be recognized as such. Your seahorses will not eat them.
A pipefish and 2 seahorses have probably already fished all of the available pods out of the 20g tank. Natural foods will not occur fast enough to keep them fed. Live mysis will be a welcome treat, but again, won't last long enough to be a permanent supply. Brine shrimp is not a good diet long term, and raising it from hatching to feeding size is difficult.

You said you weren't looking for the ultimate menu, however, the ultimate menu would be a cube or two of frozen mysis daily. PE or Hikari are the most readily available and accepted brands. It's not hard to feed, and doesn't take long, and your horses will be much happier and healthier for it. You may still have to watch your pipe. Many of them don't ever take to frozen, and you may have to move him to your larger tank for him to find enough pods to eat.

If you feel you can't feed the frozen on a daily basis, I would suggest taking the horses back. They will slowly starve to death in the current setup you have discribed, with the foods you have listed.

 

[ZoeReef]

Thanks for taking the time to leave the feedback. In summary, the difference between what I have now and a seahorse friendly tank would be a cube of mysis daily.

As far as not being very seahorse friendly my entire system was designed around eventually owning seahorses. That's why the temp is at the range that it is, why the refugium (not the sump which is an entirely different tank) is aquascaped and lit the way it is and has the substrate and lighting that it does. That's why it has the waterflow that it does even though the other attached 20g tank with SPS doesn't have as high a flow as I would ideally set. It was all based on the parameters I researched before putting it together. I stock 6 types of frozen foods in addition to the dry for various livestock needs.

I remember one time taking my family to get a free cat at a local pet shop. I had to fill out an application. The animal adoption people declined my application was because 1) I kept my dog in the backyard and 2) because I said I would let the cat go outside. Huh? "A dog is a pack animal and as such it needs to be in the house with the people" and a cat outside "may get injured or killed". I guess I had didn't have the 'animal correct' view of what a pet is, so their free stray cat, stayed at their store at least one more night. We apparently were not animal friendly. We got our cat. It sleeps next to my wife each night when it's not outside stalking birds. If anything it's the most spoiled member of the family. No, it's not a 75g tank. I will be really surprised if they actually need more than they have. Each of my two sons has their own bedroom, but growing up in a family of nine, I shared my bedroom with 3 other brothers. Two bunkbeds. It was just 'normal' to me although my two kids would bristle at the lack of privacy. Four kids in one room works just fine. We're all successful in life.

I realize many people launch off into owning seahorses without doing the rudimentary things that are necessary and you must get more than a few postings here. I don't mean to go off on you for I appreciate your response, but perhaps you could understand why your statement brought back other memories. Your explanation helped me and the right answer apparently is: They eat mysis. Time to ramble on...

 

[bosborn1]

Andy,
Are you running the Prodibio on this system...Been wondering about doing that with the BioStart system in my new seahorse tank.

Scott

 

[ZoeReef]

I do have Prodibio running in the system. I'm dosing pretty conservatively and following the instructions closely. Your thread has become a hot topic but very appreciated. Currently dosing 1/2 amp of BioDigest and 1 Bioptim. No vodka dosing. Currently reading .5 phosphates (salifert) and minimal nitrates. My calcium is still lower than I would like but I'm trying salifert's all-in-one which is highly recommended by Cerreta whom I have a great respect for as an aquarist. He really knows his stuff and is very careful in his thought process.

Have you been keeping up with the recent posts on your thread? I think it's going in a good direction. My concern for people adding all kinds of additional additives to the Prodibio protocol was my concern that all kinds of strange chemistry/biology would take place when adding ingredients together when people don't even know what's in them and then complaining that 'it doesn't work'. That's like adding bleach and ammonia together and saying, 'it doesn't work'.

Have you reduced your dosage yet? I know early on you were basing it on Melev's parameters which he later said was a mistake and had over-dosed his system. I will let you know what I find out re:seahorses, and I hope you will do likewise. thx!

 

[pledosophy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7747212#post7747212 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZoeReef
Thanks for taking the time to leave the feedback. In summary, the difference between what I have now and a seahorse friendly tank would be a cube of mysis daily.

IMO Yes.

I don't think the 20g is a strtch in keeping a pair of horses. Having the system tied into the others will handle the biologicl filtration issues.

Good Luck.

 

[ZoeReef]

pledosophy.. thanks! SPS corals and seahorses will be probably my greatest challenges. If push comes to shove, SPS loses.

 

[pledosophy]

Are you keeping the SPS and seahorses together in the same tank?

I've considered it a few times but never tried it myself. No jokes, but I'm more of a softie kind of guy.

 

[ZoeReef]

My main tank is my softie community tank. It is 95% softies. One of my 20g tanks is my frag/SPS tank. It has 175w mh 20k lighting. My final tank is my seahorse/refugium. I may be attempting the impossible, but perhaps that's my style. I'll post of the system later. It's Saturday! Time to go feed my seahorses

 

[Puffer Queen]

Congrats on your seahorses.

I have two concerns - one the pipefish - is it wild caught and if so did you quarantine it and deworm it?

My other concern here is the 20 gallon - is it a high or long tank. Seahorses need taller tanks rather than longer in order to breed/transfer eggs. In a shorter tank, the female may become egg bound.

Best of luck.

 

[ZoeReef]

Thanks! It is a tall tank. I need to post some pics.

I just returned from my first mysis shrimp feeding. They both were happy happy eating away.

I don't know about the pipefish. I had never heard of deworming a pipefish but it obviously has my attention now. I'll check my place of purchase and see. Thanks for the tip.

With three thousand gallons of tanks and a hobby that is diving, do you dive in your tanks? WOW.. you have set a new standard in people I have talked with!

 

[bosborn1]

Andy,
I have been discussing some of my concerns sproratically about the steps that are being added to the Prodibiotic system. I did drop my dose but I was going with the same that Melev was and I really didn't have the problems. As far as the SH tank I am going to use the Startup kit.No Reefbooster because I am not to sure how it will work with the macro algae. I will start posting about it the thread as soon as my first dose.

Good Luck
Scott

 

[ZoeReef]

Scott, we'll I've had different kinds of algae issues and have been moving my turbos around clean where needed. I upped my dosage today to 1 Digest and 2 Bioptim. We'll see..

 

[bosborn1]

So, Andy where are the pics?!

Scott

 

[ZoeReef]

ahhhhh...u got me. how good is a promise good for???