Mixing Species / Feeding Dish?

[minnemoline]

Just a couple of quick questions:

Does anyone have more than one species of seahorses in a tank? Everything that I've read warns against it.

Some seahorse keepers have referred to having a feeding dish. How do you go about that?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jaodissa]

I've only seen a hand full of posts where someone houses multiple types of seahorses together. I read your not suppose to because one species may carry pathogens that the other species can't deal with making them sick and die.

And I know zero about feeding dishes. Dwarfs don't use them that I know of so I haven't looked into that type of system at all!

(Im completely new to sea horses. Don't even have any yet so I could be wrong, just what I read.)

btw! We used to live in Wyoming! My husband was at the base there. Not many fish stores around though lol.

 

[Octoshark]

A feeding dish or feeding station is just a small cup-like container (completely your choice, anything that can hold the food for the horses) that you stick somewhere in the tank. Most are suction cupped to the glass/acrylic. Seahorses are slow so it is easier (and cleaner) to put their food in this container so they can eat out of it instead of having to swim around the tank slowly chasing pieces of food.

 

[Octoshark]

Here, I found a picture online to help:

That shell is being used as a feeding station. You put all of their food inside something like that (can range from a shell to a small container) so they can eat right out of it. It is also useful to have a nearby hitching post so they can hitch and feast.

 

[namxas]

one of our SH setups houses erectus and reidi. that being said, we had both species for a few months (CB SH from same source), added the reidi, waited a month, added the erectus, and within a month, lost the male erectus. coincidence? maybe, maybe not.

anyhoo, my recommendations are these:

if you're new to SH keeping, i don't recommend mixing.

if you do mix, get true CB SH from the same source.

give each species a lengthy QT separately.

have your SH med kit stocked and ready.

 

[Mattik]

There are a handful of people who have multiple species, but generally speaking it is not recommended.

I agree with namxas (who, assuming I recognize the pic from seahorse.org, definitely knows his stuff) that if you do want to try it, go with CB.

CB would give you a greater chance of getting disease free fish that eat well and can stay strong during shipping and transfer to your system.

 

[Peka]

I would not mix seahorses. I have had issues mixing the same cb species from different breeders.

As far as feeding stations, I would recommmend them. They are a way to keep the tank cleaner as well as making sure your horses are eating. It also gives you at least one chance a day to visual examine your horses to make sure they are all healthy and that they are all eating.

I actually train the horses that I breed to use feeding dishes before they even leave my tanks. It takes a little patience to get them to use the feeding dish since most like to eat the food out of the water column when it's moving.

I use seashells mostly. I can take them out and boil them in hot water when they need cleaning. In very tall tanks, I use a clear plastic soap dish, which I have modified by gluing magfloats to them. This allows me to move it up and down when needed and also allows for me to take out any uneaten food. To remove the uneaten food, turkey basters work well and so do homebrew beer siphons.


Make sure not to choose a painted dish or a non food safe dish to use in the tank....

 

[namxas]

I would not mix seahorses. I have had issues mixing the same cb species from different breeders.

so have we...in fact, worse than with mixing different species from the same source (then again, my source for the reidi and erectus was Dan, so IMHO, we had that much in our favor).

 

[Peka]

so have we...in fact, worse than with mixing different species from the same source (then again, my source for the reidi and erectus was Dan, so IMHO, we had that much in our favor).

you just never know do you Greg?..... too bad there can be problems. It would be great to be able to mix worry free...... oh well....

 

[minnemoline]

A feeding dish or feeding station is just a small cup-like container (completely your choice, anything that can hold the food for the horses) that you stick somewhere in the tank. Most are suction cupped to the glass/acrylic. Seahorses are slow so it is easier (and cleaner) to put their food in this container so they can eat out of it instead of having to swim around the tank slowly chasing pieces of food.

Okay, so this may be a crazy question, but how do you get the food to stay in the dish and not float away?

 

[minnemoline]

Here, I found a picture online to help:

That shell is being used as a feeding station. You put all of their food inside something like that (can range from a shell to a small container) so they can eat right out of it. It is also useful to have a nearby hitching post so they can hitch and feast.

Thanks for the visual and the info.

one of our SH setups houses erectus and reidi. that being said, we had both species for a few months (CB SH from same source), added the reidi, waited a month, added the erectus, and within a month, lost the male erectus. coincidence? maybe, maybe not.

anyhoo, my recommendations are these:

if you're new to SH keeping, i don't recommend mixing.

if you do mix, get true CB SH from the same source.

give each species a lengthy QT separately.

have your SH med kit stocked and ready.

Since I am new to seahorse keeping, I don't think that I will push my luck. General consensus seems to be to not mix species.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

 

[minnemoline]

btw! We used to live in Wyoming! My husband was at the base there. Not many fish stores around though lol.

Yeah, it kinda sucks living in Wyoming and having a bad addiction to reef keeping. Colorado is only an hour or two away, so depending on which direction I go, there are a few decent LFS! You gotta do what you have to do :thumbsup:

 

[D3monic_Urges]

Okay, so this may be a crazy question, but how do you get the food to stay in the dish and not float away?

I turn the pumps off when I feed. Mysis is heavy enough that it doesnt blow out of my dish though. It needs a bit of a scrubbing but here's mine.

 

[namxas]

Okay, so this may be a crazy question, but how do you get the food to stay in the dish and not float away?

if you thaw the mysis in a bit of SW, rinse under the tap, then put it in a small cup of SW, the mysis will float around much less. then you use a piece of rigid tubing (the type used for UGF's), place one end into the feeding dish, and pour the mysis into the tube, then let it settle.

 

[D3monic_Urges]

pretty much the same thing I do...but I use a piece of 3/4" pvc to deliver it to the dish, let it settle then pull the pvc out.

 

[Octoshark]

Here is a video of using a tube to target feed fish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_icUkq98P8

 

[pledosophy]

Here is my feeding dish.

It is a mussell shell glued to a mag float. I then glued some rocks tot he magfloat to help it blend in.

I like to suspend the dish up off of the ground and in a place where no liverock or plants touch it. This helps to keep bristleworms out IME. The food left over in the dish was dispensed by my peppermint shrimp.

The flow in my tank was over 40x an hour and the mysis would stay in the dish with the pumps on.

If your going to mix keep the temps low, the water clean, and the chance for an intial stressor down as far as possible. JMO

 

[minnemoline]

Thanks all, for the information. I think that I'll give the feeding dish a try by using an old clam shell.