How to handle sea horses ? LFS

[zooqi]

I just heard a friend who went to LFS to pick up some seahorses for me that the LFS guys picked them up with his hand and put about 8 of them in a container 5" wide X 3" deep and 6" high. Is it common to pick them up with hands and packing three of them in a bag with on Oxygen for a 4 hour ride. The bags were big but by the time I got them I have lost 5 out of 15. I'm afraid I might lose more of them later on.
I used to have seahorses and never done that before but maybe it is ok and I'm not aware of.

 

[KingDiamond]

Actually, scooping them up with your hand can be safer that using a net. Not using O2 for a ride that long is dumb.

Brad

 

[hooterhead]

shouldn't take them out of the water either. they can ingest air and that is deadly. when i bag them, i use my hand to usher them inside of a specimin (sp?) container under water and then bag them

 

[zooqi]

I really would scoop them in a container and in the water. What my friend told me that the LFS worker filled the bag with few cups of water, scooped the SH and put them in there and then took a container and pured water heavily in the bag. grabbed the bag with room air in and used the rubber band to tie it.

 

[Swanwillow]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6682222#post6682222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hooterhead
shouldn't take them out of the water either. they can ingest air and that is deadly. when i bag them, i use my hand to usher them inside of a specimin (sp?) container under water and then bag them

ummm, huh? sorry, I scoop mine, most people do. yes, you can use a specimin container to do it also, but the NORMAL way to do it is to use your hands... I don't see seahorses ingesting air, and that sounds like the biggest load of crud...

but, why did you get 15? are they dwarves? I also agree that they should have been seperated-only 5 per bag, with O2

 

[Swanwillow]

and, how did you acclimate them? I don't think (re-reading your post) that three in a bag is bad, but they did need oxygen. Call up the store and complain, or SOMETHING!!!

 

[DanU]

Seahorses ingesting air is a common myth. We commonly lift seahorses out of the water, even fry, without issue.

Depending upon the amount of water, 3 in a bag should not be too much. We can ship up to 4 to a bag which is much longer than 4 hours. It is a large bag though. O2 should be used.

Something is amiss here! Don't know if you had pre stressed animals, if the 02 was too low or what exactly.

Dan

 

[zooqi]

I'm sure O2 had to do with it too. I just was wondering if scooping them with hand is something common and I know I won't do it myself. 3 in a bag with no O2 probably is taking a risk. I know to get my cooler with air pump ready if I need more. Some stores don't have O2 and not sure if this store have it or no. Thanks guys..

 

[Sun_Shining]

We have shipped pairs of animals with no O2 (don't have a canister here at our facility) overnight with no problems. Of course larger animals got their own bags. but dwarves and juveniles were shipped in the same bag with no fatalities.

I agree with DanU... there seems to be someting else amiss.