Seahorse feeding station

[DSDoyle]

Hello,

I am planning a seahorse only tank. I am thinking about utilizing a feeding station. Has anyone had any experience with them and which one(s) is best. My thought is getting them to feed at the station and hopefully making it easier to keep the water clean/healthy.

Thank you for your time,

Don

 

[griss]

@vlangel any insight on these?

 

[vlangel]

Hello,

I am planning a seahorse only tank. I am thinking about utilizing a feeding station. Has anyone had any experience with them and which one(s) is best. My thought is getting them to feed at the station and hopefully making it easier to keep the water clean/healthy.

Thank you for your time,

Don

Yes a feeding station is a very good idea to help keep your seahorse tank cleaner. I made my own. I have done multiple types from just a small bowl on the floor of the tank and putting a rigid acrylic tube down to the bowl and using a turkey baster to squirt thawed mysis down the tube into the bowl.
I also glued magnets on bowls that could be attached to the side of the tank. I glued soft rubber hitching posts to the bowl. This feeding station was very helpful in keeping the ravenous peppermint shrimp out of the seahorses' food.

 

[vlangel]

Another helpful thing in keeping a seahorse tank clean is a bare bottom. I painted my seahorse tank on the outside of the bottom glass to look like sand.

 

[vlangel]

Here is what a FTS looked like. I hope this helps and I wish you the very best with your ponies. They are such charming pets.

 

[kelly_12]

Looks interesting

 

[DSDoyle]

Hello,

Does it makes sense if I were to proportion frozen mysis and have it ready to simply be dropped into the tube of the feeder which would eventually fall down into the feeder as it thaws? I am thinking mainly when I am away.

Thank you,

Don

 

[vlangel]

Hello,

Does it makes sense if I were to proportion frozen mysis and have it ready to simply be dropped into the tube of the feeder which would eventually fall down into the feeder as it thaws? I am thinking mainly when I am away.

Thank you,

Don

The problem with mysis is that once it thaws it degrades very quickly. With its high fat content, pathogenic bacteria like vibrio quickly develop and can cause a gut infection. The big advantage of a feeding station is leftover mysis can be removed to prevent bacterial infections.

So if you are planning on that for a rare occasion that you could clean the feeding station later that day, it would probably be ok. If you are thinking for a weekend, then I would say it's not a good idea.

When I went away for weekends I ordered live ghost/grass shrimp and dump a lot of them in the tank for the ponies to hunt for themselves.

 

[griss]

The problem with mysis is that once it thaws it degrades very quickly. With its high fat content, pathogenic bacteria like vibrio quickly develop and can cause a gut infection. The big advantage of a feeding station is leftover mysis can be removed to prevent bacterial infections.

So if you are planning on that for a rare occasion that you could clean the feeding station later that day, it would probably be ok. If you are thinking for a weekend, then I would say it's not a good idea.

When I went away for weekends I ordered live ghost/grass shrimp and dump a lot of them in the tank for the ponies to hunt for themselves.

Morning Dawn. Where do you order the ghost/glass shrimp from?

 

[DSDoyle]

I too would like to know where you get the ghost/glass shrimp. Also, have you ever tried feeding them copepods?

Thank you,

Don

 

[DSDoyle]

The problem with mysis is that once it thaws it degrades very quickly. With its high fat content, pathogenic bacteria like vibrio quickly develop and can cause a gut infection. The big advantage of a feeding station is leftover mysis can be removed to prevent bacterial infections.

So if you are planning on that for a rare occasion that you could clean the feeding station later that day, it would probably be ok. If you are thinking for a weekend, then I would say it's not a good idea.

When I went away for weekends I ordered live ghost/grass shrimp and dump a lot of them in the tank for the ponies to hunt for themselves.

I too would like to know where you get the ghost/glass shrimp. Also, have you ever tried feeding them copepods?

Thank you,

Don

 

[vlangel]

Morning Dawn. Where do you order the ghost/glass shrimp from?

Oops so sorry George, I am only just seeing this. I used to order from Kevin from ' at your door shrimp' or something like that. I just found him online. It's been a long time since I have ordered ghost shrimp and I ordered a lot at at a time.

 

[griss]

Oops so sorry George, I am only just seeing this. I used to order from Kevin from ' at your door shrimp' or something like that. I just found him online. It's been a long time since I have ordered ghost shrimp and I ordered a lot at at a time.

No. Need to apologize my friend. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

[griss]

@vlangel I can’t find your source but, I did find this.

 

[vlangel]

I too would like to know where you get the ghost/glass shrimp. Also, have you ever tried feeding them copepods?

Thank you,

Don

Hi Don, It's been years since I have ordered them but I found him online. He was 'at your door shrimp' or something like that. My erectus seahorses ate much bigger food than copepods. They occasionally would snick an amphipod but they were too lazy to put that much effort into looking for them. I never had much luck culturing shrimp or brineshrimp and decided that it was easier to pay rather than work at the cultures. And brineshrimp need gut loaded to even be nutritious.

 

[vlangel]

@vlangel I can’t find your source but, I did find this.

Hhm, I don't think that is the same and it's pricier. However I bought shrimp before COVID and it seems like everything went up after that. I still have my shrimp guys number and I texted him and asked if he still sells them. I will let you know.

 

[griss]

Hhm, I don't think that is the same and it's pricier. However I bought shrimp before COVID and it seems like everything went up after that. I still have my shrimp guys number and I texted him and asked if he still sells them. I will let you know.

Thank you. I wasn’t trying to say it was the same seller. I couldn’t find your seller in a search.

 

[vlangel]

Thank you. I wasn’t trying to say it was the same seller. I couldn’t find your seller in a search.

I know and I couldn't remember enough to help you. He is on ebay: atyourdoorfishstore
Try that and see if it's better than the seller you found. Again, I have not ordered shrimp in 5 years or so and I would expect prices to have gone up.