Trying to do some seahorses...

[uztaryn]

Well I picked up a couple of seahorses tonight. I may have done so prematurely; however, it is done.

I have a 100g fuge that is connected to my 500g display tank. I have it set up with a 4-5inch sand bed and it has multiple types of macros growing in it.

There are tons of pods (all kinds) as well as a pair of cleaner shrimp.

I haven't got any fish in the tank and the flow is very mild but turns over well.

I can keep it at a different temperature from the main display but cannot vary more than 2-3 degrees from the reef that is currently 78-80.

Water quality is good, changes are frequent, all levels are normal.

What should i feed these and how often?

They are tank raised and are currently about 3 inches tall. Swimming around some but mostly rooted to the macros.

What temp should I keep for them?

They are on a 10 hour lighted cycle now is that good or is there a better cycle?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[seas_inside]

What species are they?

It depends on the species at what temp. you keep it at.

You need to feed them frozen mysis two or three times a day if they're eating that. If they're not eating frozen, you need to get ahold of some live mysis/ghost shrimp/enriched brine shrimp.

10 hours sounds fine.

 

[uztaryn]

They were called yellow seahorses but they appear mostly black with the belly's being somewhat whitish or yellowish.

I put in a good deal of mysis and cyclopese yesterday but didnt see them eat any.

I have TONS of pods in the fuge... I saw them bent over towards the sand and it appeared that they were eating something but I dont know what.

 

[scapes]

pictures then??

 

[uztaryn]

I will take some this afternoon when I get home... and will post them tonight.

 

[dzekunoi]

It's a good idea to research first and get the fish second.

 

[uztaryn]

Yeah I realize that; however, they were at a LFS that had them in a high flow tank with fish they shouldn't have been with. I felt like they had a better chance in my fuge than in that tank.

Guess we will find out. Couldn't stand to see them in those conditions. They didn't even have anything to anchor to.

 

[vipjd39]

If its a tropical seahorse then the temp should be kept at 72 it needs to be that low in order to keep them from getting bacterial infections and the such. pics would help greatly to determine the species. Linky removed, please feel free to share your experience on Reef Central (if you have any), however linking to another board is not permitted. HTH

 

[Fredfish]

Hopefully you have purchased tropical horses. I would lower the temp of your fuge as much as you can. Tropical horses tend to live in higher water temperature, but do not seem to do well at those temperatures in our tanks.

As for feeding, horses seem to be very visually oriented predators. With all those pods, I am not surprised that they are ignoring the frozen. In fact, you may find yourself in a situation where they refuse frozen after they have cleaned out the pods in your fuge, and clean them out they will.

Here is what I would do. Divide your fuge in half with some sort of coarse screening. Something small enough to keep the horses on one side, but big enough to let pods through.

This will protect half of the fuge and still give your horses a good sized tank. That way your horses will not deplete the entire fuge and will continue to have a source of live food.

Fred

 

[uztaryn]

Sorry I didn't update sooner but they died late on the evening of the 24th. They didn't make it much more than 24 hours. I never really saw them eat anything and suspect they never had a chance.

I had the fuge at about 75 degrees and offered them all kinds of frozen as well as all the pods that were there.

Sucks, but I talked the LFS into not getting them anymore since they seemed bad from the start and they really weren't set up to house them either.

Thanks for the help, but I think I am going to stick to the reef.