What and how much do you feed your ponies?

[aquanut6]

I'm curious to know what kind and how much food are people feeding their ponies. I'm currently feeding my 3 reidi's (1 male, 2 females) about a cube of hikari mysis shrimps per day given over 3 feedings(morning, afternoon, evening). For a while I thought I've been overfeeding but someone recently posted that they're feeding their 2 pairs of kuda's about 6 cubes of mysis per day. So, now I'm thinking I may be underfeeding my horses.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[sugartooth]

I worry about overfeeding too, but it seems they want to eat!
I have 1 male and 2 female Reidis too and they wrestle when I put food in, which I thought one was going to get hurt at first. (seems that they do it all the time)
I thought the rule of thumb was 2 mysis per pony, but they eat way more than that. More like 4-5 pieces per seahorse. They are about 3-4 inches. I feed 2X a day, but always seems to be hungry.
The brand I use is PE, but I have used Hikari a couple of times. Once in a while I will soak the PE with some Selcon.

 

[Big Ying]

Since Seahorses don't have a normal stomach, I don't think they would ever feel full. I have a pair of Erectus and a pair of Barbouris - each pair has their own tank. I cut 1/3 of a cube of Hikari Mysis, and than divide it in half. Each pair gets half of the 1/3. I do this in the morning and in the evening. On average, each horse might get 5-10 whole shrimps each feeding, plus some smaller pieces. I've had them about 7 weeks now and both pairs seem healthy to me. In fact, the Barbouri Male just gave birth to about 50 fairly good size babies that I am going to try to raise...... but that's another story. I am hesitant to feed more because of water quality and the sheer expense. Hikari is not cheap.

 

[DanU]

I use the general starting point of 1 cube of mysis per pair of horses per feeding, usually fed 3 times a day. Then adjust up or down on the amounts based on what they actually eat. This can vary somewhat with some species, but with kuda, erectus and reidi, I think most have a tendancy to underfeed.

Dan

 

[Big Ying]

Dan, is there a way you can tell if a seahorse is underfed, or fed adequately, other than them just looking skinny? Mine don't look skinny, but look healthy to me. I'm not feeding them as much as you recomend.

 

[DanU]

Visual appearance is one indicator and probably the easiest to detect. The activity levels, breeding activity and overall health are others. Seahorses, like people, will have individual needs. There are some that just don't seem to eat as much as others and yet we also find some, that we wonder how they can eat so much.

Another factor that can play into this is habitat. If you have a lot of life, such as pods in a tank, they can be picking up nutrition elsewhere.

If you are concerned, you could try upping the amount slightly and see if they take it all.

Dan

 

[Big Ying]

They would definitely take it all. When I first got them I was feeding heavier. They would eat and eat and eat. I thought it was overkill and the food they ate first would pass through them faster than thay could get the nutrients. Oceanrider (which is where I purchased them) advises 2-5 PE mysis per sitting. Hikari shrimps aren't as big in general, about half the size of PE, so I figured if they were geting close to 10 at a sitting that would be O.K. That's the theory I'm operating under right now.

 

[aquanut6]

Thanks, so far, to everyone for their responses. I think I'll follow Dan's advice and up the amount of food to see if they'll take it because it sure looks like they would.

I'll let you know how it goes.