Feeding dwarf seahorses

[jaodissa]

Heres what I found out so far. Please give me any and all input.
#1. Dwarf seahorses must be feed live food.
#2. They must be feed 2-4 times a day. More often if babies are present.
#3. They can not survive off baby brine shrimp alone.
#4. Brine shrimp need to be enriched for 24 hours.
#5. tigger pods can grab onto the dwarfs and irritate their skin so should not be feed.
#6 Baby mysis shrimp are a good source of food but difficult to cultivate.
(how can I breed mysis shrimp?)
So what am I suppose to feed these guys for long term health? I only have baby brine shrimp as a food option right now and need some help.

 

[reefnutpa]

You can feed 24 hour old enriched baby brine shrimp long-term as their main foodsource.... as long as you are using an assortment of enrichments to give the best possible nutrition.
You can purchase/add enriched tisbe pods to the tank on occassion as a 'treat' or as supplemental feeding which is recommended... but not 100% absolutely necessary for survival. However, I still recommend it be done when possible.
The rest of the information you gathered is pretty much spot-on. Dwarfs really aren't for those without a bit of time each day to spend on their care. IMO...the larger horses require much less work.
Tom

 

[jaodissa]

it looks like tisbe pods are different from Tigriops sp. correct? It looks like they would be as easy to cultivate also so if this is true and they are not as aggressive as Tigriops sp. why would someone not breed them and feed these daily along with baby brine shrimp? (Instead of just purchasing and feeding them once in a while) Does this make any sense lol. Sorry for such a confusing response. Im just trying to find a variety of foods that are easily breed at home so the dwarfs could be feed multiple things throughout the day.

 

[reefnutpa]

Originally Posted by Jaodissa
http:///forum/post/3214563
it looks like tisbe pods are different from Tigriops sp. correct? It looks like they would be as easy to cultivate also so if this is true and they are not as aggressive as Tigriops sp. why would someone not breed them and feed these daily along with baby brine shrimp?
I can only guess that it's because for the majority of people it's MUCH easier to dump a bit of eggs in a soda bottle for a day and feed their dwarfs bbs the next day, than it is to set up 2 or 3 CYCLED tanks for the sole purpose of culturing pods. Then add to it the enrichment vessels, etc etc etc. Hobbies are supposed to be fun. Once things turn into a "chore", it's no longer fun...it's work and not as enjoyable.
IMO, culturing pods and other live foods just requires too much time, work, money, space for the casual hobbyist to get involved with.
Tom

 

[jaodissa]

maybe Im wrong but it didn't sound difficult to culture pods. It actually sounded like as long as you feed them and keep them clean they would maintain themselves? Im wishing these dwarfs ate frozen just so I knew they weren't going to starve to death LOL. Thanks for the help! I know for sure I am going to do baby brine shrimp and enriched 48 hour old brine shrimp I will have to keep working on the other methods. Im gonna see if I can find any LFS that sell small quantities of mysis shrimp. Maybe I could put 10 or so in with the seahorses. Then the mysis would eat the brine shrimp and produce another source of food for the sea horses at the same time. It wouldn't be a main source but supplement for their health.

 

[danu]

Culturing copepods isn't really difficult. The real issue is two fold. First, they don't multiply that quickly. Still you can culture them and add them in from time to time. Second, is their biomass. They are typically much smaller than artemia (BBS). While they are nutritious, it takes a whole bunch of them to equal out in mass so more energy is expended to get the same plateful if you will. Still, having some available will contribute to some variance in their diet.
Adding mysis has proven beneficial to us. Not just as an added food source but as a clean up crew as well. I would add around 100 to the tank instead of ten.
You idea of feeding enriched artemia is smart. Newly hatched is harder to digest and very low in DHA. Enriched artemia is more digestable and you up the fatty acid profile to a more suitable and sustainable level.
Dan

 

[jaodissa]

Thanks for your input. I found an old forum post from you about mysis in your tanks the information was great! I think I've figured out my plan.
I am going to set up a 40 gallon breeder with tisbe and see what happens LOL. I will feed them "green water" I believe but have to research this a bit more.
I am going to attempt to put 100 mysis shrimp in the main tank although Im worried 100 might be to many for my 4 gallon tank. If this plan doesn't work I would like to attempt to set up a tank dedicated to breeding the mysis.
and last but not least the enriched brine shrimp.
I think its going to be trial and error for the first few weeks. But Im willing to try anything.

 

[rotifer]

Could you share where you found the information about Tigger-Pods irritating them? I've never heard that before.
Thank you,
Randy

 

[jaodissa]

Im gonna have to go through my history because I don't remember where I found the info. I've been searching through a million post over the last few days. What I read was tigger pods live in tide pools in cold climate areas and they have claws on them for climbing in the tide pools. They can use these claws to grab onto the sea horses or even defend against the sea horses with them. I have no idea but I don't think it would be fatal. People have been feeding them for a long time apparently. It's just not a good food choice. I'll see if I can find the exact info for you though.
I also might just be feeding you a bunch of crap I read online. Every time I come up with some brilliant plan to feed my dwarf horses something comes around and contradicts my ideas. I was gonna set up a tigger pod culture in the garage because they seemed the easiest. But when I found that info I gave up on that idea too. As I've said I've got tons of ideas but none that seem are gonna work.

 

[jaodissa]

Stole this from another website. Still looking for the one about them attaching to the seahorses.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Body length 0.047–0.055 in (1.2–1.4 mm). Body slender, cylindrical, with inconspicuous boundary between prosome and urosome. Female antennules short, nine-segmented; male antennules geniculate on both sides. Antenna with three-segmented exopod. Mandible with well-developed biramous palp. First swimming legs modified, biramous with both rami prehensile and armed with array of apical claws. Legs 2–4 biramous, with three-segmented rami. Fifth legs with large endopodal lobe and single free exopodal segment in both sexes; bearing five setae in male.

 

[danu]

Randy, I believe this has to do with fry and very small seahorses. I doubt it applies to larger seahorses. At one of the IMAC conventions I saw photos with them attached to the fry.
Dan

 

[danu]

Jaodissa, you have to find out what works for you. Keep in mind a lot of what you read in message boards has to considered from the source. Follow the lead of those who have succeeded long term.
100 mysid in a 4 gallon is probably a bit much and would likely drop in population. The 40 breeder or even a 30 breeder would work well for this purpose. My own experiment of using 60 gallon round tanks has proven to be successful and still working. I will be taking this down soon and will be experimenting with running 2 20 gal longs. I need the 60's for other species as I am running out of room with current survival rates. I have wanted to try the 20's anyway.
Dan

 

[rotifer]

I've gone through a Google Image search and found some good pictures of them. Some of the best are:
http://www-biology.ucsd.edu/news/ima...n_tig_sm_l.jpg
http://college.usc.edu/labs/edmands/...podspecies.jpg
http://reed-mariculture.com/zooplank.../tigriopus.jpg
The do live in tide pools and can cling to the sides, and I assume that they do have claws, but they must be pretty small because they don't readily show up in the pictures.
By the way, they live in both cold and warm water climates, ranging from Washington to Baja California and perhaps further south.
http://reefnutritionfaq.porks.com/Tigger-Pods+FAQ
I was curious because I've not heard about them about attaching to living organisms. There was a rumor a few years about them bothering the gills of fish, but that was quickly disproven.
If you are able to find any addition information about the attaching to or bother any living organisms I'd love to see that
Thank you,
Randy

 

[jaodissa]

Im still searching my history for you! If anything though it was just a forum post someone made. So no real scientific proof or anything.

 

[danu]

If I can scrounge up images, I will be happy to forward. If memory serves me correctly, it looked large on the seahorse fry so the fry had to be very small. Pelagic species are indeed small and very slow movers. Even protozoans can be problematic for them.
Dan

 

[jaodissa]

Im sorry I havn't been able to find the website I found the information on. I still have one more days worth of history to check though maybe it will be there!