Seahorses eatting....

[jpuzio]

Hi. I have three seahorses, one from the ocean and two that were tank raised. The two that are tank raised are eatting Mysis off the sand bottom of the tank.

When I am feeding the Seahorse from the ocean I usually put the food so it is suspended in the water and floats to the bottom. He usually eats acouple but it takes a while.

I was just wondering if he will eat food off the bottom because acouple of times he ignored the food and watched it float to the bottom but I have never seen him eat it off the bottom of the tank/sand. The tank raised ones eat it off the bottom.

I want to make sure he is eatting right....Thanks!

 

[Samala]

He may eventually learn to eat it from the bottom. Wild seahorses are very much attuned to the movement of their prey. Since they are more-or-less ambush predators, they need to be able to zero in on the sight of their meals and sneak up on it quickly.

Generally the wild ones take a few moments to appraise a potential meal. They seem to take these seconds to decide if its edible and if its something they can physically consume. So drifting dead mysis wont be as enticing as dancing copepods, which move in erratic patterns, as do shrimp larvae - both of which are natural food items.

Keep a close eye on his feed intake. It is not uncommon to have major problems keeping wild caught seahorses on frozen foods and needing to supplement their diet with live foods.

There is also a risk of transferring diseases to the captive raised seahorses which may have never before been exposed to parasites and bacteria from the ocean. Keep an eye on them as well.

>Sarah