What kind of time commitment is culturing brine shrimp for dwarf seahorses?

[djryan2000]

I'm considering making a seahorse tank out of a waterbox 15g peninsula. I've watched some videos on setting up the brine shrimp hatchery that made it seem fairly easy but am becoming intimidated reading more about the process of enriching the shrimp with vitamins at certain life stages. Around how much time should I plan to devote to the shrimp?

Or are there any seahorses that can fit in a 15 that are large enough to eat frozen? It seems any species large enough to consume frozen needs a 30 gallon or larger aquarium, but I'd love to be wrong on that one.


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[ThePurple12]

I hatch brine shrimp at most twice a week for my dwarfs. I put the shrimp in a small aquarium. A bucket works too. I feed daily. I would guess hatching and collecting takes 15 minutes or less. Not hard at all.

As for a 15g seahorse tank, that’s not a good size for dwarfs or full size. Dwarfs need tiny tanks-I have 6 adults and some babies in a 2 gallon- so that the brine shrimp are more concentrated. Dwarfs won’t travel to get their food, they just snick things that float by. You can train them onto frozen just like other seahorses.

All greater seahorses need at least 30 gallons.

Actually, I’ve never kept them in smaller tanks, but it’s what the experts say.

 

[rayjay]

IMO, to PROPERLY feed brine nauplii for dwarfs, it first of all requires hatching of the cysts. Then, as they don't have a completed digestive tract you have to keep them until they molt to Instar II stage where they can be fed/enriched. At this point, they can be gut loaded with an appropriate enrichment high in DHA in 12 hours, but they can be much better if you do a second 12 hours with new enrichment and new water as they will then have assimilated the nutrient into their flesh. You also should treat with peroxide before adding to the tank as bacteria that artemia are know for can be deadly to seahorses, dwarf or otherwise.
As for the statement

You can train them onto frozen just like other seahorses

I disagree with it. While SOME dwarfs with partake of non live food to some extent, not all of them will, and even the ones that do won't eat enough of it for long term survival. (dwarf lifespan is about a year give or take)
I do agree with tank size being too large. As mentioned you need a good food density and for a 15g tank it would tank an inordinate amount of nauplii to do a proper feeding.
I have no problem keeping around 50 in a 5g tank, but if you are only going to have 10-20 then consider a 2.5g.
If the videos showed in tank hatchery I'd recommend against it. First, it exposes the dwarfs to nasty bacteria that artemia are known to have, and second, it means NO enrichment. Lastly, Instar I newborn nauplii have a tougher carapace making them harder to digest meaning less nutrition taken up, AND with no enrichment they get no DHA that the seahorses need but can't produce for themselves.

 

[djryan2000]

I hatch brine shrimp at most twice a week for my dwarfs. I put the shrimp in a small aquarium. A bucket works too. I feed daily. I would guess hatching and collecting takes 15 minutes or less. Not hard at all.

As for a 15g seahorse tank, that's not a good size for dwarfs or full size. Dwarfs need tiny tanks-I have 6 adults and some babies in a 2 gallon- so that the brine shrimp are more concentrated. Dwarfs won't travel to get their food, they just snick things that float by. You can train them onto frozen just like other seahorses.

All greater seahorses need at least 30 gallons.

Actually, I've never kept them in smaller tanks, but it's what the experts say.

Thank you! Could you go over what you do to maintain water quality in a 2 gallon tank like that?


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[ThePurple12]

Nothing special, just a little live rock and macroalgae with 25% weekly water changes.