thereefer9
Member
I would like as much info on this little gems as possible? How do I build them a brine feeding station. Tank reqirments etc.
Thanks for all the help,
THEREEFER9
Thanks for all the help,
THEREEFER9
Dwarf seahorses?
- Thread starter thereefer9
- Start date
thereefer9
Member
Anybody?
bronco300
Active Member
These are VERY delicate little guys, i had some and just traded them away not long ago because i couldn't enjoy them like i was hoping with everything else going on in my life./...but the tank recommendation is 5-10 gallons, no bigger because they are SMALL, an adult will fit on a quarter...babies will fit on a dime....any and all flow creators in the tank must have some sort of thick sponge over the intake so they dont get sucked in...it doesnt take much....you also have to feed live brine shrimp twice per day so water quality is a very big issue since your feedings are so big compared to the tank size...if you look at some of my threads you'll find some about my dwarves i had and the feeding schedule, my hatchery setup and tank....also if you are planning on doing the "live" setup panacur is needed....they kill hydroids, which are deadly to these guys as they can sting them like crazy...so you have to dip everything in panacur to make sure you dont bring anything dangerous in the tank(even dip snails,etc)....if you are new to saltwater these are definitely not recommended, if you have a lot of experience there you can probably do it, but they are not recommended for the first time having seahorses....it takes a LOT of dedication to feeding, water changes, and cleaning the tank.
bronco300
Active Member
here is one of my dwarf threads:
dwarf seahorses
dwarf seahorses
thereefer9
Member
Thanks bronco300.
lesleybird
Active Member
Hi, If you are really serious about dwarf sea horses and want all the work that they are, I would advise keeping them in an 8 to 15 gallon tank that has a lot of live copapods. Too big of a tank and it is difficult to get enough of a consentration of food for them. I currently have a large population of these copapods on the glass in my new 190 gallon. On top of the population of copapods you would need to hatch live baby brine shrimp for them. There is a liquid product called Life A that is in a liquid form of brine shrimp eggs that have the egg capsule removed and will still hatch in the tank. These can be added directly to the tank to hatch as they don't have the egg shells that may choke some creatures if eaten. You also need to use a sponge filter as a regular filter will suck up all the tiny live food the minature horses eat. If you get one of those new cool looking cubes you may have to take the filter floss out if the brine get caught in it. These fish like a lot of living saltwater plants to hitch onto. A little live rock and live sand help. I would try to get a copapod population growing in large numbers before putting the horses in. Maybe a couple of months to grow a big enough population. One can buy pod populations on line if you do not have any to seed the tank. You may need to very lightly feed the pods with some sinking pellet food. Minature seahorses cannot be maintained in the long hall on brine shrimp alone as the nutrient content is lacking and they would die of malnutrition in time, and will not eat any food that is not live. They also cannot eat anything as big as adult brine shrimp. If the brine get too big for them to eat then net them out. Make sure you do regular partial water changes.
These little guys are a lot of work to keep alive and healthy, but fun to watch. Make sure that you are up to the time and effort they take before starting with them. Lesley
These little guys are a lot of work to keep alive and healthy, but fun to watch. Make sure that you are up to the time and effort they take before starting with them. Lesley
thereefer9
Member
Lesleybird,
The tank you described for the horses almost sounds like a refugium,large amount of pods,live plants and wouldnt the flow of new water from the main tank all but take care of the water changes? The only hard part seems to be getting them food. I heard of a site which has dwarf seahorses that will eat frozen brine shrimp this would take care of their eating problem right?
The tank you described for the horses almost sounds like a refugium,large amount of pods,live plants and wouldnt the flow of new water from the main tank all but take care of the water changes? The only hard part seems to be getting them food. I heard of a site which has dwarf seahorses that will eat frozen brine shrimp this would take care of their eating problem right?
bronco300
Active Member
be careful about sites that state that...you never know what will happen when the horses get to you, they may decide to stop at anytime, where you have to be prepared to feed live brine....which is just fine for them as long as when you hatch them you enrich them....its usually not recommended to put the eggs directly in the tank as they can make the water very dirty from the rest of their junk...plus you cant enrich them then and are indeed pretty well worthless after the first little bit...i'd be prepared to have a hatchery so you can enrich the shrimp to give them a good diet.
lesleybird
Active Member
Originally Posted by THEREEFER9
Lesleybird,
The tank you described for the horses almost sounds like a refugium,large amount of pods,live plants and wouldnt the flow of new water from the main tank all but take care of the water changes? The only hard part seems to be getting them food. I heard of a site which has dwarf seahorses that will eat frozen brine shrimp this would take care of their eating problem right?
It would have to be tiny frozen brine shrimp. I doubt that they are telling the true story. I have had them and they don't eat anything that is not moving, and they usually do not swim to the food, the food has to come to them where they are hanging on with their tails. I had some and it was a lot of work. For the person who said not to put the eggs in the tank because they polute, that is what the kind of expensive Life A de-encapsulated eggs are all about. I really don't see how one successfully can enrich live brine shrimp. Maybe dead ones can be soaked in Selcon, but most won't eat dead ones. The brine in the tank can be enriched if they eat algea and stuff in the tank before they are eaten. I would try to just put in a few drops of the Life A maybe twice a day to have them constantly hatching. I think enough lighting for plants and lots of different types of pods would be best along with live baby brine shrimp. I had them for a while in a 25 gallon and it was too big to have enough concentrated food, and they were too much work. That was when I was just new to saltwater 5 years ago. I think if one has a refugium with light water flow they could live in there. Or maybe a 12 gallon cube. Lesley
Lesleybird,
The tank you described for the horses almost sounds like a refugium,large amount of pods,live plants and wouldnt the flow of new water from the main tank all but take care of the water changes? The only hard part seems to be getting them food. I heard of a site which has dwarf seahorses that will eat frozen brine shrimp this would take care of their eating problem right?
It would have to be tiny frozen brine shrimp. I doubt that they are telling the true story. I have had them and they don't eat anything that is not moving, and they usually do not swim to the food, the food has to come to them where they are hanging on with their tails. I had some and it was a lot of work. For the person who said not to put the eggs in the tank because they polute, that is what the kind of expensive Life A de-encapsulated eggs are all about. I really don't see how one successfully can enrich live brine shrimp. Maybe dead ones can be soaked in Selcon, but most won't eat dead ones. The brine in the tank can be enriched if they eat algea and stuff in the tank before they are eaten. I would try to just put in a few drops of the Life A maybe twice a day to have them constantly hatching. I think enough lighting for plants and lots of different types of pods would be best along with live baby brine shrimp. I had them for a while in a 25 gallon and it was too big to have enough concentrated food, and they were too much work. That was when I was just new to saltwater 5 years ago. I think if one has a refugium with light water flow they could live in there. Or maybe a 12 gallon cube. Lesley
bronco300
Active Member
but how do you know those brine shrimp will eat anything in the tank before the seahorses snatch them up? even with the decapped eggs it can still make the water bad....what i do is hatch them, give them 24hrs to grow mouths(since they do not have the mouth untill then)...then put in an enrichment like naturose and others like that...they will eat it....then you can get a BBS net and strain them out and rinse them to get all the junk off before putting them in your tank.
monalisa
Active Member
Originally Posted by Bronco300
but how do you know those brine shrimp will eat anything in the tank before the seahorses snatch them up? even with the decapped eggs it can still make the water bad....what i do is hatch them, give them 24hrs to grow mouths(since they do not have the mouth untill then)...then put in an enrichment like naturose and others like that...they will eat it....then you can get a BBS net and strain them out and rinse them to get all the junk off before putting them in your tank.
Good info, Luke. Beth and I are in the beginnng process of setting a 15 tall in the event that we need to house seahorse fry from my kudas. I hadn't thought about adding the enrichment for the brine, but it makes sense.
Thanks,
Lisa
but how do you know those brine shrimp will eat anything in the tank before the seahorses snatch them up? even with the decapped eggs it can still make the water bad....what i do is hatch them, give them 24hrs to grow mouths(since they do not have the mouth untill then)...then put in an enrichment like naturose and others like that...they will eat it....then you can get a BBS net and strain them out and rinse them to get all the junk off before putting them in your tank.
Good info, Luke. Beth and I are in the beginnng process of setting a 15 tall in the event that we need to house seahorse fry from my kudas. I hadn't thought about adding the enrichment for the brine, but it makes sense.
Thanks,
Lisa
bronco300
Active Member
awesome....enrichment is definitely something good to do...unless you can make sure the seahorses eat them right away after hatching they do become worthless...so thats why you just hatch, wait 24hrs for their mouths to develop and enrich them with something then you know its good.