Looking for solutions

[Dogshowgrl]

Tank stats:
Fully cycled as of Feb 6th
RedSea tests
Amm 0
Nirtrite 0
Nitrate 40 (starting to dose NoPox next week)
Temp 70-71°F
60 gallon
Fully quarantined pair CB Erectus female is Alyssa's Cirri ( Cirrious) added 3/5 , male was bred by a friend (Lee) added 3/12.
Fully quarantined pair CB Barbouri (Female - Zorse, Male - Zonkey) added 3/19.

Tank full of macros and Gorgonians.
Mars Aqua LEDs.
Three nassarius snails.
Neon toadstool
GSP
Sympodium
Feeding Hikari mysis with Vita chem and PE mysis.

I am trying the feeing bowl in the display but Cirrious is acting depressed, she has a boyfriend but they have not bonded and she was a big flirt, not as much now she is my best hider and smallest eater.
We did a feeding station in quarantine but I was target feeding too to keep her fat. Lee is great, not a huge personality but good boy he is a great hunter and seems fine. What can I do in my display to help her? I am willing to take her back to quarantine, but she was fine there I really need to problem solve for her success in this tank if I can.


Now for Zorse and Zonkey, that are amazing. They came in thin from the wholesaler, I know they are tough to keep due to wasting away but being CB and I bought a bonded pair, I am hoping that will help. They have not gotten thinner in quarantine, but nor have they gained weight. I have dewormed all my ponies, just in case. These guys eat aggressively, but how can I best fatten them up? Right now if something goes wrong I don't have much wiggle room for them to stop eating.

I am target feeding and feeding dish feeding three times daily, more if I or my husband are home. I syphon out extra and have 3 larger nassarius snails. What clean up crew do you recommend? I feel I need so much more CUC. Trochus snails will be added next for some algae. I was thinking a serpent or brittle star?

If you are replying to me, thank you for your time. Please understand I still recognize I am new, but know, I have done my research and I am reaching out. I have been burned on this forum before, please know this is the last time I will reach out if you tear me down. I want to be successful, I am looking for guidance and know this is one of the best places. They were not an impulse buy. I culture my own phyto, tisbe pods, rotifers, and BBS as needed for any fry that may be produced.

Thanks for your input!

Cirriuos

Lee

Zorse

Zonkey

The stable

Don't worry those were blackout bags I turned the lights off for the release.

 

[heathlindner25]

If you are trying to fatten them up, I would go with live food

 

[CritterHeaven]

Your barbs are beautiful. Tough seahorse to find and keep healthy.

The erectus look really young? Do you know how old they are? But pretty too. The little female has a short shout, almost thought it was a picture of a dwarf at first.

Your tank looks nice, like a seahorse playground!

PE mysis will fatten them up far better than Hikari. Any frozen food is really hard to enrich, just sort of slides off the shrimp. I would continue to target feed the little one.

Enriched live food is a good idea but you can probably find something better than Vita Chem. Seahorsesource has some good enrichment blends. Just make sure you give the live food enough time to gorge on the enrichment AND also keep feeding frozen so you don't have an issue with them not eating frozen.

 

[Dogshowgrl]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY!!!!! I consider live, I just was worried if I would have a problem getting them back on frozen. But, i like the idea of mixing!


She is bigger than my male. He is tiny, but quite the hunter. She is about 4-5 months approx 3.5 inches eating both Hikari and diced pieces if PE. He is about 3-4 months approx 2.5-3 inches tall. The darker one holding onto the gorgonian in the photo above. I have both of their birthdays written down somewhere.


All doing much better through out today. Cirriuos has picked her spot and now it eating better. The erectus are too small for PE, so I am mixing Hikari and PE for the particle size. Thank you for the help!


Oh and today the Zonkey and Zorse were dancing! Wow. More fun to come!

 

[dmcmares24]

I would keep my water temp.at a stable 72 degrees. See if you can feed the small ponies live brine shrimp enriched with either Selco or Dans Feed from Seahorsesourse.com and make sure that you are running a protein skimmer.

 

[BlueCat1949]

I would give them live SW mysis that have been gut loaded. That should get them over the hump. Feed the live once a day and frozen for your other two feedings. They should be able to take PE shrimp as they can snick much bigger food then you think.

One point I like to make is to be sure you watch her while she is eating so you can see if she suffers from weak snick or any other feeding problems. You should be able to hear the snick sound with the live food.

I would not add anything else to your tank until the horses are stable and healthy. There is no quick fix it just takes time. Keep up with your testing to be sure the bioload is not starting a recycle.

You seem like a thoughtful person and I am not trying to be a neigh sayer but mixing species is not the best choice. You would have been better off getting all four horses from the same place. That being said I wish the best for you and your new ponies.

Zorse looks a little thin in the chest so she would benefit from the live shrimp as well.

 

[Dogshowgrl]

Thank you for your reply! Yes both of my Barbouri came from the same source and way thinner than I thought they would be. I am proud I lost no one in quarantine. I am ordering in live, and it will arrive today! I chose different sources because I was not able to get separate linage from one wholesaler and if I am not going to stop them from breeding, I will not inbreed. Genetics is what I do. I will do everything right in ever other part, but this is where I stray, my ethics say it's worth trying.