My Hawaiian Pygmy Seahorses from Ocean Rider came in!

[Mo2]

Hmm could just be that they are young.. Every larger one that I have seen was either red or yellow. Never saw any large brown ones. Do u know if you have true pairs?

I would love for them to turn red or yellow. Fingers crossed Btw, how much are opae ula in Hawaii? Or did you just collect them to feed?

 

[Eckozulu]

Love it.

 

[vlangel]

I would love for them to turn red or yellow. Fingers crossed Btw, how much are opae ula in Hawaii? Or did you just collect them to feed?

Do you have any red or yellow hitching posts for them. I'm not sure about your species of seahorses but at least H erectus will sometimes change color influenced by their environment. I read that the supplements to their diet can encourage certain pigmentations as well.

 

[Mo2]

Do you have any red or yellow hitching posts for them. I'm not sure about your species of seahorses but at least H erectus will sometimes change color influenced by their environment. I read that the supplements to their diet can encourage certain pigmentations as well.

I have a huge rock with red kelp in the tank, you can kind of see it in the shot. I'm also enriching brine shrimp with spurlina, algamac, vitamin c, sanolife and astaxanthin.

Cool pic of the colony I got yesterday hahaha

 

[vlangel]

That is a very cool pic. They are beautiful!

 

[enchelycore808]

I would love for them to turn red or yellow. Fingers crossed Btw, how much are opae ula in Hawaii? Or did you just collect them to feed?

Depends where you go. Can be anywhere from $0.15-$1.00 each! You can collect them but they are pretty rare nowadays. Only certain places have them.

 

[Reefmaster1996]

This are some nice ponies

 

[truetricia]

Congratulations on your new charges.
However, they are NOT pygmy seahorses.
Most pygmies don't get to an inch, and, are not able to be kept by a hobbyist.

I've actually kept pygmy sea horses before successfully. But I also loved in Florida and collected wild copepods and froze them into ice cubes with added nutrients. And baby brine.

 

[rayjay]

truetricia, if you are just a hobbyist, you were most likely keeping dwarfs, H. zosterae which can be found in the Florida area.
Most pygmy seahorses, smaller than dwarfs, require special habitat to survive and even professional marine biologists in public aquariums have trouble keeping them alive.
I don't know where you would get pygmy seahorses as they are not sold to the hobby.
Here is a blurb on pygmies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_seahorse

 

[RennyRen]

How are these guys doing? really interested in keeping some H. fisheri but I do have some concerns since they are considered a pelagic seahorse.

 

[rayjay]

The terms pelagic and benthic refer to the fry produced by each species.
It doesn't come into play unless you are wanting to raise the offspring as pelagic fry are generally speaking harder to raise.
Benthic fry are more likely to hitch at birth, and pelagic fry usually take a couple of weeks before much hitching occurs.

 

[RennyRen]

The terms pelagic and benthic refer to the fry produced by each species.

It doesn't come into play unless you are wanting to raise the offspring as pelagic fry are generally speaking harder to raise.

Benthic fry are more likely to hitch at birth, and pelagic fry usually take a couple of weeks before much hitching occurs.

Hmm from what I've been reading, they remain pelagic throughout their whole life and can be found at deeper depths than the other species of seahorses. Is that incorrect?

I am really curious about H. fisheri since it seems they remain smaller, which would be great if I could keep my smaller tank instead of upgrading to my 30 gallon like I had previously planned.

 

[rayjay]

Here are some recently purchased.
http://seahorsetalk.fusedjaw.com/index.php?topic=422
Pete G does say they remain pelagic, but they do hitch as well as far as I know.

In any case, he states that their size is misleading and they should be kept in tanks 30" at least, with 36" preferred.
I'm assuming you have read his blurb but just in case you haven't:
http://www.seahorse.com/forum/h-fisheri

 

[RennyRen]

Thanks Ray! I actually didn't see that blurb. I did a lot of animal behavior and evolution classes back when I was getting my degree, so since I read they were pelagic, I thought they might have a lot of issues in shallower tanks. I can see now from that post that they do have issue with the shallower tanks with gas bubble. I'll just stick to the original plan then!

 

[bonzaicube]

Those are really neat looking seahorses. I like how they have a ''spongy'' appearance.

 

[rayjay]

OR recommends a large deep tank... but these guys are soooo freaking small. I have them in a 10 currently. To make sure they were eating and such. I have a 40 gallon breeder I can put them in after I observe then doing well.

My 40g breeders are shallow tanks. Are you using yours as a temporary one until you get a tall one that is recommended?

 

[Mo2]

My 40g breeders are shallow tanks. Are you using yours as a temporary one until you get a tall one that is recommended?

I do have a bigger tank that I could put them in if needed... but they are doing pretty well in their current tank and it just looks nice with the colony in this tank with the red kelp. I've reached out to a few other people who have /are keeping fisheri and no one has had problems with gas bubble. There is so little information on the web about this species and even less about how/where they are collected. They are said to be found at night in deep water but yet I've heard of them being found in much more shallow water.

I will eventually need a bigger tank when they get bigger, but more due to them reaching adult size than the belief of them needing a deeper tank.

 

[Stevenliu9]

I have a huge rock with red kelp in the tank, you can kind of see it in the shot. I'm also enriching brine shrimp with spurlina, algamac, vitamin c, sanolife and astaxanthin.

Cool pic of the colony I got yesterday hahaha

Love it when they huddle, my wife and I were roped into a pair of tank raised Kudo at the store because as they fed them frozen food they were "holding hands" and floating along the current to capture food. so cute!

 

[Stevenliu9]

Love the huddling, really adorable

 

[snorvich]

truetricia, if you are just a hobbyist, you were most likely keeping dwarfs, H. zosterae which can be found in the Florida area.
Most pygmy seahorses, smaller than dwarfs, require special habitat to survive and even professional marine biologists in public aquariums have trouble keeping them alive.
I don't know where you would get pygmy seahorses as they are not sold to the hobby.
Here is a blurb on pygmies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_seahorse

That is correct. Dwarfs are doable, pygmies are not doable for a hobbyist. Also, because of their size, they would not be very interesting to even attempt to keep.