Seahorse care/eating etc.

[macman7010]

Hello,

I am new to keeping sea horses but not new to reef aquarium keeping and freshwater aquarium keeping. I have kept many fish species and coral/anemones etc, but this is my first expierence with a sea horse.

We recently set-up a 24 gallon nano cube in our office. It has several non stinging corals in it as well as some shrimp and a false percula clownfish. We were thinking about adding a sea horse so I contacted Pacific East Coast Aquaculture and they said with my current tank set up I should be able to add one or two Hippocampus Reidi. We decided to start with 1, so we ordered a single Reidi from them.

The seahorse arrived on thu the 9th so we have had it 2 days. We have lots of live rock and an artifical coral decoration for it to anchor on to. Also the flow in the tank is kept to a minimum. My problem is that I cannot get the seahorse to accept any food. The only thing I have tried is frozen mysis shrimp soaked in Garlic Guard and Marine Zoe. The seahorse looks at the shrimp acts somewhat interested but does not eat. Nothing else in the tank except for some shrimp show much interest in the mysis.

I am assuming that the seahorse needs some more time. He is totally captive bred and raised and is very robust so my assumption is, and has been reassured by PECA that he was eating frozen mysis well.

I have both shot the food in front of him with a baster and just put it in the tank to let it cycle around. Any techniques, ideas that might help me get him eating.

Tank Parameters:

Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.0-8.1
Temp: 76 day 74 evening

Other inhabitants
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
1 coral banded shrimp
various hermits
various snails
2 sexy anemone shrimp
1 false percula clownfish
1 purple firefish

 

[DanU]

I would recommend talking to the vendor for help. A good vendor should be helpful.

Some seahorses can take time to adjust to their new homes, they can seem disorientated at first. Could be the seahorse is used to a different brand of mysis or different feeding patterns. Also, seahorses tend to do better in pairs or more as they are generally a social creature.

Long term, the nano will be too small. Reidi can get quite large. They are a slow grower though, so you should have plenty of time before needing a larger setup.

Dan

 

[macman7010]

Thanks Dan,

I am using the Nano as a place to get my barrings with sea horses. I plan to eventually section a portion of my 90 gallon reef at home off for seahorses, at which time I would move the Reidi over as he grew. thanks again

 

[Swanwillow]

I'll point ya over to the orgs... seahorse.org or sygnathid.org they can BOTH EQUALLY teach you and show you direction

I agree that a 24 gallon cube may not be ideal for horses, BUT< a pair of them may do ok in it short-term. thats a BIG but how tall is the tank?

then, you'd have ta get rid of the perc (they out-comepete for food)

it should also be in a ten gallon QT system, so that you can watch it better: bare-bottom, with plastic hitching-posts.

how much flow is in the tank? they do better in pairs, so having two and introducing them both at the same time is better than one, but you have what you have...

what non-stinging corals do you have? seriously, some non-stinging corals aren't very good. hermit crabs? any other inverts that are ok in a reef tank and you may have not mentioned?an anemone that your shrimp are in (and consider your shrimp food in about 3 months)


hmmm, but a horse going a few days without food is NOT good. it is hopefully eating pods, but you should try to make sure it is eating something: acclimate some ghost shrimp over to salt water and try feeding them out. what type of mysis are you feeding?

thats all for now, I guess...

 

[Swanwillow]

oh PS... pacific east coast (blah, long name) is Dr. Mac... I just ordered LR from him, hes really nice. they should readily be eating frozen mysis, so I dunno why yours isn't. call him up, the number is on the web-site

 

[macman7010]

Ive talked with Dr. Mac he wasnt concerned that it was not eating. It does eat live brine shrimp with gusto. I added some live brine last night and it went to town right away, still not much luck with the frozen though.

 

[Dr. Mac]

I don't recommend keeping other fish or inverts with the seahorses that will compete for food. Some of them are just too slow eating to compete with others for food. Uusally these tank raised seahorses do quite well and are relatively aggresive eaters when kept by themselves, but if other fish are in there then some just give up and don't compete and eventually starve. I would recommend taking the other fish out and then feeding the seahorses plain frozen Mysis, no garlic or other additives. Mysis is what they eat from a very early age and what they are fed exclusively. I usually feed them once or twice a day by putting the thawed Mysis in an area with some good water flow so the seahorses get a chance to see the food as it swirls around for a bit. Many of them here will go around and pick up the left overs from the bottom but some will not. I would think that if your water conditions are good and you get rid of the other fish and inverts from the tank that are competing for food then the seahorse should eat Mysis for you within a couple of days.

 

[Swanwillow]

exactly...


but, you never did answer any questions macman... so I'll number them, so its easier for you to answer...

how much flow is in the tank?

whatcorals do you have?


hermit crabs?

any other inverts that are ok in a reef tank and you may have not mentioned?

an anemone that your shrimp are in?

 

[DanU]

A good vendor should be helpful.

Kudos to you Dr. Mac!

Dan

 

[macman7010]

The flow in the tank is very little, its provided with a 108 gph powerhead. I have a long tentacle plate coral (what the shrimp are hosting in), an open brain coral, candy cane coral, star polyps and a colony polyp.

There are blue leg hermits in the tank for clean-up as well as a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp and Coral Banded.

 

[Swanwillow]

... the candy coral I can live with, and maybe the open brain...

but the plate coral isn't really good... but that wouldn't make it not eat.

what is the perc interacting with it like?

 

[macman7010]

The perc pretty much sticks to the righ side of the tank with little to no interaction with the seahorse at all. Really nothing seems to bother the horse, at least as far as I can see. Dr. Mac recommended removing everything else which I plan to do with the exception of the corals.