bng.fixious
New member
Guys, will seahorse survive with plankton? I do have a Kent chromamax plankton will that be okay?
Plankton food of seahorse?
- Thread starter bng.fixious
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bng.fixious
New member
Mtc1996, I only bought Kent chromamax plankton is it sufficient or will my seahorse die if I only feed it with plankton?
novahobbies
New member
Get to your LFS today and look for frozen mysis shrimp. If your LFS doesn't have it, ask for live brine shrimp to hold you over. Live brine isn't very nutritious, but it will hold them over for a few days while the mysis comes in. If, like MTC said, your horses were wild caught, you will have an uphill battle converting the horses to feed on frozen foods. Let us know!
Are these dwarf seahorses or standard sized ones?
Kent chromamax plankton:
KENT MARINE CHROMAMAX is a concentrated blend of aqua-cultured, naturally-occurring phytoplankton that has been found to increase coloration in filter-feeding marine invertebrates. Rich in protein, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids with particle sizes from 5 to 25 microns. These compounds increase metabolic efficiency, can enhance immune systems, coloration, and protect sensitive tissue from exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
Being phytoplankton, not zooplankton, it is no good to feed directly to seahorses as they don't eat vegetation.
It is also too expensive to use as a food for the brine/mysids/copepods that one would feed to seahorses of any size.
Kent chromamax plankton:
KENT MARINE CHROMAMAX is a concentrated blend of aqua-cultured, naturally-occurring phytoplankton that has been found to increase coloration in filter-feeding marine invertebrates. Rich in protein, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids with particle sizes from 5 to 25 microns. These compounds increase metabolic efficiency, can enhance immune systems, coloration, and protect sensitive tissue from exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
Being phytoplankton, not zooplankton, it is no good to feed directly to seahorses as they don't eat vegetation.
It is also too expensive to use as a food for the brine/mysids/copepods that one would feed to seahorses of any size.
bng.fixious
New member
i believe it is the standard size seahorse. it was wild caught. my LFS doesn't have frozen mysis shrimp nor live brine shrimp. my only solution are the zooplankton if it is a sufficient food for the seahorse then i will buy Kent zoomax. URGENT REPLY NEEDED.
mtc1966
New member
neither of those are seahorse food you need adult brine shrimp right away and then start mixing in frozen mysis to hopefully switch it over. what was the store feeding it? if you cant get these things bring it back to the lfs or give it to someone that is properly set up. otherwise it is going to die. how many days have you had it?
bng.fixious
New member
Almost 2days.
How long did the store have it? What was it eating at the store?
If a seahorse goes more than about 4 days without eating it is next to impossible to get them eating again.
For now you have to immediately get some kind of live food that is appropriately sized for the size of the seahorse.
Have any stores around you got live myids, or live brine?
You can also try live freshwater feeder type shrimp that are selected to be small enough to feed to the seahorse. Just put in one at a time so they don't all die off before the seahorse gets to see them. Best to release them right in front of the seahorse so it is sure to know live food is there for it.
If a seahorse goes more than about 4 days without eating it is next to impossible to get them eating again.
For now you have to immediately get some kind of live food that is appropriately sized for the size of the seahorse.
Have any stores around you got live myids, or live brine?
You can also try live freshwater feeder type shrimp that are selected to be small enough to feed to the seahorse. Just put in one at a time so they don't all die off before the seahorse gets to see them. Best to release them right in front of the seahorse so it is sure to know live food is there for it.
bng.fixious
New member
It's not eating anything at the store and he said to feed it plankton. I'm not sure how long they had it. I recall that other shops have sera brine shrimp in a pack hope it works.
Yes, the Sera packs as far as I know are just salt and cysts to hatch nauplii and they are too small for anything but seahorse fry. Also, you don't have time to hatch them out right now anyway.
The Kent zoomax is too small sized for feeding seahorses.
If you can get something to get you by for a few days you can order live brine shrimp from livebrineshrimp.com.
Find some FW live shrimp that are the size of adult frozen shrimp if you can't get live adult or juvenile brine, but it needs to feed very soon or you will loose it for sure.
As for zooplankton, it too has to be the larger sized species or the seahorse won't be bothered with them either.
What are you keeping it in and at what temperature?
See the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping"
Those links at the bottom can give you the basics of what you need to know for seahorse keeping.
The Kent zoomax is too small sized for feeding seahorses.
If you can get something to get you by for a few days you can order live brine shrimp from livebrineshrimp.com.
Find some FW live shrimp that are the size of adult frozen shrimp if you can't get live adult or juvenile brine, but it needs to feed very soon or you will loose it for sure.
As for zooplankton, it too has to be the larger sized species or the seahorse won't be bothered with them either.
What are you keeping it in and at what temperature?
See the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping"
Those links at the bottom can give you the basics of what you need to know for seahorse keeping.
How long has it been since you've had them?
If no local fish stores carry frozen mysis, I would order some online ASAP, as well as ordering some live mysis to get them eating again (seahorse source carries them, and if you would also possibly be able to start a breeding colony (though do not consider this the only food source!) in your refugium).
You're LFS may have confused zooplankton with amphipods or something of the sort.
If no local fish stores carry frozen mysis, I would order some online ASAP, as well as ordering some live mysis to get them eating again (seahorse source carries them, and if you would also possibly be able to start a breeding colony (though do not consider this the only food source!) in your refugium).
You're LFS may have confused zooplankton with amphipods or something of the sort.
bng.fixious
New member
rayjay, im searching online right now to buy live brine shimp. im just curious on what you said, "the Sera packs as far as I know are just salt and cysts to hatch nauplii and they are too small for anything but seahorse fry. Also, you don't have time to hatch them out right now anyway." so you mean that the brine shrimp in packs are still alive and will hatch? how will i do that? do i use a different container for those?
pledosophy
Active member
Some of us have kept seahorses for decades. We can tell you they need mysis, you can try to make something new. Funny you would have thought in the decades we were keeping seahorses we would have though of that. Guess we are morons.
Wild caughts need live food and transition to frozen, CB need mysis. Cars need gasoline to go 300 miles, baseball players need gloves, etc, etc.
Wild caughts need live food and transition to frozen, CB need mysis. Cars need gasoline to go 300 miles, baseball players need gloves, etc, etc.
You DON'T have time to grow out food to usable size because the seahorse will never eat again if it goes too long without food, and in fact it would have died of starvation before a Sera Artemia Pack hatches out and grows large enough for the seahorse to have interest in. The Sera packs as far as I know, are just prepackaged salt and cysts that you add to water and aerate.
It's an expensive way of getting baby brine shrimp.
You must find a local supply of live food today to get you by until you can order in live brine shrimp from http://www.livebrineshrimp.com/.
As I mentioned, for now you can get by with fresh water shrimp that are about the size of frozen adult brine shrimp.
Once you have it eating well, you can start adding a bit of frozen brine shrimp in with the live brine shrimp, gradually reducing the amount of live and increasing the amount of frozen as it begins feeding off the frozen.
Once it is eating frozen brine, you can introduce it to frozen mysis gradually, and decreasing the amount of frozen brine.
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