Pegasus/ Sea Moths ?

B

Bluetangclan

New member
Has anyone had these before? I know they are relatives to seahorses and pipefish, thus why I posted here, but do they eat the same things? I have been letting my sea grass tank sit for about 2 months now with no fish in it, a few shrimp, almost 100% fresh live sand and mud. So fresh fiddlers and snails were alive and well if that tells you anything. I have also added a bottle of tigger pods and have rotated LR from my reef tank to further spread the pods. My calurpa grows like crazy and am waiting for xenia to kick in(if it will, have never been successful at xenia). There are micro stars and pods all over the glass at all times of the day, to the tune of about 7 or 8 per square inch of glass on the front. I think i have the food aspect covered. Going snorkeling next weekend to pick up some different macro(thus pods) and whatever else I can get my hands on(yes its legal for me, I asked DNR).

Pegasus fish/ Sea Moths
So anyone had them? Any experiences first or second hand? Details you wish to share?
 
That fish is so rare, it is rarely caught let alone caught for the ornamental trade. When they are caught, they are dried and kept by Chinese as a treasure, possibly for good karma, I'm not just sure.
However, this is the first that I've heard that it is related to seahorses.
I have seen querys occasionally on this but never seen any postings with much info, and never any post with anyone having had one.
 
They are in the Kuiter(sp) book briefly mentioned. Along the same line that ghost pipes, shrimp fish, and sea dragons are related I think, distant but kinda. I also think the requirements are closer to sea horses than normal reef fish thus why I am here. I found some in stock at an online retailer at a decent price. Definately less rare than ghost pipes, which I have only heard of a couple making it into the trade. Sea World had one in one of its quarentine tanks about 6 months ago, but no one present who knew anything about it at the time I was there.
 
A LFS received 2 Sea Moths last week and they really peeked my interest when I seen the pictures.
But, after searching for information on them " No Helpful Information Found ".
Decided to pass on them.

Will tag along on this thread.
 
Well my Achilles tang was not hard to get but I've never seen a SM for sale in southwestern Ontario at least.
 
sea moths are indeed Syngnathids, altho like the ghost pipes, nobody has had any success in keeping them. first, i believe it's because they are basically starved beyond the point of no return (which isn't hard to do with Syngnathids due to their rudimentary digestive system). secondly, one has to get them to eat. third, they need a tank with pretty much all open space. additionally, like walking batfish, they have a tendency to smack their snouts repeatedly into the sides of the tank, which damages it and opens them up to bacterial infections.

about 3 weeks ago, i saw a few at the wholesaler, and i really felt bad for them knowing they're pretty much doomed.

that being said, i know a person who got her hands on one fairly quickly after it came in, and she has reported that this particular fish is taking frozen mysis, which is the first one i've heard of that accepted non-living food. i'll be interested to she how she does with it. i should note that said person is a very experienced SH keeper, so she's got some experience under her belt.
 
the sea moth is a real interesting fish in needs mostly sand bed and a matuer tank to live well it eats everything that a seahorse will eat but needs a 5 percent water change every week if you want it to flourish make sure to not use a scrachy substrait use sand that you would for a ray or a shark witch is coruse and loose so it can pick out copapods and other inverts keep little live rock depending on what size tank i wouldnt put them in anything smaller than a 75
 
One thing to note is that their diet includes worms from the sandbed, and that is different than most syngnathids.

I don't think anyone really knows if that means they need worms in their diet or not. I plan to eventually try to get a few, and I am going to try freshwater worms, such as black worm, along with the usual suspects (mysis, brine, etc . . .). Blackworms don't last long at all in saltwater, so it will be an interesting experiment.
 
He posted a inflammatory rant for suggesting feeding freshwater food, so I reported it. I can only assume a drunk posting, because why else would someone care that much. :)
 
My ears were burning, so I decided to pop in!

I got my sea moth "Falcor" a couple months ago. He has been in captivity since February. He was extremely skittish at first, banging his nose into everything. If you look closely, he doesn't have much of a nose, it must have broken off at some point (before I got him). After about a month, he started to act more brave. He doesn't hide from me (the mysis dispenser) anymore, and will actually appear if he sees me. He even ventures up onto the more flat areas of my live rock now, looking for little creatures to eat.

He learned to eat frozen mysis in a bare bottom, low light tank full of CB seahorses. He now enjoys Cyclop eeze, Hikari mysis, and has recently started eating PE mysis.

Never in a million years would I have thought this possible. I got very, very lucky with this fella. Here's a video of him eating mysis. It's a low quality video shot in my dark tank, but the last few seconds of the video is an unmistakable shot of him consuming a frozen mysis shrimp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4M7CLyqtvI
 
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Wow, awesome. That really gives me some encouragement for when I eventually try myself. Can you explain what steps you took to train it to frozen, and what you offered in the meantime?

I have a crazy idea in my head that I'd like to not only get one, but attempt to get a pair; and breed them. I believe they are broadcast spawners, which sets them apart from other syngathids.

Has it shed yet?
 
A shipment came through the Netherlands a few months back. All were dead within a week. Maybe a bad shipment? But they are available as TCM dryed.
 
I'm going to try sinking pellets, also, just because I'm curious. He's more like a Dragonet than a seahorse, I bet he will eat pellets. I'll keep you updated!
 
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