Feeding Questions???

[meowzer]

This is what I bought...in cubes: mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, krill and about 3-4 diff. things for my fish tank(clams, spirulina w/brine, mega marine). Should I vary their food, and out of what mentioned should I give tghem?
????'s: Do you thaw your cube first?
HOW do you get it to "dangle" mine floats away. I used a turkey baster, and a pipette...any suggestions.
How can I be sure they are eating enough...it's not like fish where they gobble stuff up..they seem to just kinda lean their snout over...
I don't want to starve them. Yesterday I had to use 2 cubes to be sure they got it in their dish. I don't want to overfeed tank either, but if it floats away, you know you can't catch the food.

 

[dingus890]

I feed my horse frozen cubes of freshwater cyclops and will try to get ther to eat PE mysis shrimp in the future.I personally do not use a feeding dish but hope to in the future when my horse graduates to PE mysis which are bigger.
What I do is I have a little plastic measuring cup and I take some water from the tank and let 1/4 of the cube melt in the cup.I save the rest of the cube for the rest of the day in the freezer.
I then drip some of the water with the cyclops in the tank by the horse while she is hitched and hunting.
It's hard to tell if they are getting enough food but seahorses should have rounded bellies at all times.When the start to look concave,then you know they are not getting enough food.
Do you have live copepods in the tank?
One thing I enjoy about my powerhead is that it creates a small current on one side of my tank and the horse can't get to the copepods on the glass on that side as easily(She tries and looks like Superman flying...lol)
So she can't wipe them out as easily.

 

[meowzer]

I do not know about copecods, but I did see some buglike things, and when I researched another thread (Cranberry) called them munnid isopods....

 

[dingus890]

If you look real close to your tanks glass if you have copepods they are tiny white almost clear flea like creatures.

 

[meowzer]

Yes that describes what I have. Is a copepod the same as some sort of isopod? Anyway the food is in the bowl...horses are in the back of the tank meticulously going after something back there...now what?? Just wait to see if they find it?

 

[novahobbies]

did you try presenting some of the mysis in front of their noses with the baster? Just squirt one or two out and see how they react. All horses hunt pods, but I really wouldn't consider that a full time food.....they should be regarded as the snacks between meals. Wild horses of course are used to grazing all day long, but captive bred horses are (or should be!!) already used to frozen preparations like mysis. If you're worried because the horses are sub-adult, then try the baby mysis....but you'd be amazed the size of the food items a seahorse can suck down! My reidis have no qualms about destroying a live feeder shrimp between half and inch to an inch long....that's longer sometimes than the size of their snout!
This, by the way, is why I don't suggest peppermint shrimp or skunk shrimp in the seahorse tank. I had a skunk shrimp in my horse tank, and the horses kept after him until he died. They couldn't eat him in one go, but they literally kept after him until their shots broke the shrimp's shell. I was bummed and fascinated at the same time. I couldn't get to him without breaking the tank completely down, so I just watched nature take its course......then did NOT reintroduce another skunk shrimp into the tank! Funny how I felt bad about the cleaner shrimp, but I feed the horses live feeder shrimp on a bimonthly bases without "shedding a tear." Hmm.

 

[dingus890]

OMG!That's what might of happened to my peppermint shrimp!!Do you think a 3 1/2 inch horse could do that though?
I have been trying to figure what could have happened to him.
He shedded his exoskeleton and I cleaned it out then the next day I saw his feelers and legs all torn or should I say "Snicked" apart.I thought is was from his exoskeleton but I cleaned the whole thing out the day before.This is when my nitrites were kinda going crazy.
I know it wasn't my other fish as they have been in the tank with him for about 4 months now.

 

[meowzer]

Yes, I tried everything...I finally got one into the dish with the food, and it just swam away, didn't even look at the food...they have their tales wrapped around stuff with their snouts to the ground, just looking so intently (at something)...what do I do if they won't eat what's in the dish? I did let some food float off hoping they would find it.

 

[dingus890]

It usually takes many times to train horses from what I have read to use the feeding dish.I would try squirting one mysis shrimp in front of one of the horses.Have you seen them eat the shrimp or food you are offering?It is more important to get them to eating then to get them to eat in the dish.

As to what they are looking at,they are probably just searching for copepods on the sand and ect.

 

[meowzer]

yes, I squirted some in front of them..they didn't seem to care. I think they may have found some in the rocks...not sure. I'm hoping they have. YAYYYYY As I am writing this, one is in the bowl eating......YAYYYYY

 

[novahobbies]

 

[novahobbies]

Also remember, it is not unusual for a seahorse to "go off" food for a day or two when they're stressed. For instance, when they are transported and introduced to a new environment! While I don't suggest you should be blase' about a non-eating seahorse, I just want you to keep in the back of your head that they may not want to eat right away. When they get their bearings they may really pick up the eating pace. Glad one is eating from the bowl, that's a great sign!

 

[meowzer]

Well it didn't stay in their for more than a few minutes, but I am pretty sure it picked spome food up. The other one was about 2 inches from bowl, and decided to go somewhere else...They both are still picking at stuff (pods maybe) so I guess that is good. How many times a day do you feed them?

 

[novahobbies]

I feed 'em twice a day, morning and evening.....and on the weekends they get fed thrice daily.

 

[meowzer]

Good I was kinda wondering, as I was sure that most of you (like me) have jobs...lol, and could not spend all day (like I have done the last 2) sitting there staring at your horses. I am lucky that I have off Fri, Sat & Sun (after gas went up) So I get to spend 3 full days with my fish.