Pipefish/seahorse foods

[Bluetangclan]

Feeding is one of the more difficult aspects of these fish along with a few others in the group not common enough to specify. However on RC there is no consolidated thread on what to feed and how which would probably help members without starting new threads to figure out how to feed fish X. I hear stuff like fish rowe(sp?) and things like that and have no clue where to get this stuff or who makes it(obviously the fish duh! But I am using an example.) Most of these foods once you get the fish eating prepared it is important to vary the diet a good bit. So Synathid(sp?) keepers out there, what do you feed and where do you get it or who makes it?
Obviously ones everyone should know.
Cyclopeeze (http://www.cyclop-eeze.com/ ) most LFS I know of carry it
Frozen Mysis (too many makers to list and available even at big boxes)
Tigger and Arctic pods (http://www.reefnutrition.com/tiggerpods.html ) seen it at many LFS
Brine Shrimp (too many makers to list and available even at big boxes)
Grass shrimp LFS usually

These are the ones I have seen or used, but I know there is other stuff out there. Start naming them. Also if you have some words of caution, please state and why.

 

[Elysia]

Cyclopeeze is likely to be eaten only by pipes or young seahorses, just so you know. Other companies offer frozen freshwater cyclops, and I have used freshwater cyclops as a gateway food to transition pipes onto frozen. But freshwater animals do not contain the necessary omega 3 & 6 fatty acids that marine animals do, so you'll want to have a variety in that sense.

As for frozen mysis, there are horses that will refuse to eat certain brands but relish others. The different brands differ in the size of the mysis and the species. Hikari packages a "mini mysis" that is good for pipes and juvenile horses. PE mysis are a freshwater species but are enriched, and the packages contain many whole mysis (instead of broken up parts.) Horses can be picky when it comes to their food, and some may not strike at mysis that are missing their heads.

The same is true of frozen brine shrimp. It is possible for brine shrimp to be a taste and somewhat nutritional snack for horses, but you need to be careful regarding the brand that you chose. I will not purchase San Fran/Sally's flat packs because I have found their brine to be stringy and stick together and have seen fish choke trying to eat it. Now I only purchase the Omega-3 enriched brine from San Fran that is blister packed, as you can see the individual brine shrimp (and I have a citron goby that spits out almost all foods other than brine.)

I did feed my pipes fish roe. Rod's has a nice fish roe frozen food that I was able to get a sample of at MACNA. My wrasses like it. Until I got the Rod's I was feeding fish roe that I bought from an LFS that came in a little plastic jar, and I am not even sure if the manufacturer's name was on it. There is also prawn (shrimp) roe out there that I will get whenever I get pipes again. I believe Drs Foster & Smith carry the prawn roe. The roe is something that I have only ever seen pipes eat.

 

[TamiW]

Syngnathid.

I like using Hikari plankton on occasion, which is actually a small krill. The seahorses don't seem to prefer it as much, I think it must have a thicker shell. But it ads variety.

Frozen mysis is interesting, as some comes from freshwater sources (PE mysis) and some saltwater (Hikari). This is important because the fatty acid profile will be different in each. I feed primarily hikari but also feed pe a couple times a week.

I've tried frozen glass worms (why not?) No interest even though I think they look a lot like hikari mysis. Maybe if I mixed it in but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[timinnl]

My H. zosterae gets BBS, tonsa, moina, tisbe & live mysis. My H. comes & H. reidi gets live mysis, gammarus, frozen krill & frozen mysis. Ruto is the brand in The Netherlands.

 

[WWCC]

Try Nutramar Ova. Its good for coral too. its by the same ppl who make the trigio copepods

 

[D3monic_Urges]

Its really small but my pipes like it.