rykna
Active Member
Life is filled with surprises!!!
My friend Beth invited me to come with her to our LFS. I hadn't planned on purchasing anything....I've been saving up to purchase my ponies. As we head out she mentions..."I want to stop at the "evil" LFS.(This store tried pass off a extremely dead plate coral as a sponge and tried to sell it to me for $50!)
I promised I'd be good and keep my mouth zipped...I can't stand going in there, listening to the baloney they sell to customers. Example:
Sebae anemones only require low lighting....Gonipora are easy to keep.....not to mention all the dead fish floating......
So we park, head inside, and go into the coral room. As I'm glancing around...
"Rykna!!! They have seahorses!!!!! Beth said."
First thing that goes through my mind is "God have mercy on them!!!"
I went over to look at the horses. The four females were in a 1-2 gallon cramped tank. No hitching posts...nothing...just sparse sand. One was lying one the sand bed gasping, the second was dragging along the bottom in search for food, the other two were huddled in a corner. They were so thin and pale!!!!! I checked the price quick......80 smackers.....
"They're going to die. I told Beth"......I thought a moment....and then told Beth I was going to find a manager. "Be nice. She called after me"
Beth confessed to me latter that she thought that I was going to chew out the manager for the mistreatment of the seahorses and get into some hot water!!!
I found an employee and asked who cared for the seahorses. I was directed to "Jason".
I explained my concerns to him and asked if he had kept seahorses. He had. I then asked if there was a chance that the manger might give me a discount on them, because if they are left here they will die within two days. He nodded and left to find the manager. I went back to watch the little horses. It was a sad site....they didn't have a chance of survival here....they were all so thin...all of them were desperately scanning the sand bed for any signs of food. What chance of a discount did I have???.....
not much.....
Finally Jason returned. "What did the manager say? I asked."
"Fifteen dollars for each seahorse."
I thought I misheard him....$15 each????
"Yep! He replied. "
"Sold, I said, I'll take all four."
I asked him the basic questions about the seahorses...especially when the seahorses were last fed. He told me they had gotten them in last Friday (it was now Tuesday) and to his knowledge no one had been feeding them.
It's been 48 hours since I brought the four girls home. I have them in a 5.5 QT and they will remain there for the rest of January, if not longer. The girls were so hungry they spent the first 30 minutes inhaling mysis. After resting they began to perk up.
Today I've started food dish training. I put a whole cube of mysis soaked in garlic into the dish. After they figured out the food was in the dish all of them spent over a hour in the dish barely moving except for their snouts. The next hour they spent resting on the bottom of the food dish. As of an hour ago they were playing in the flow and searching the bottom for any left overs.
The next week will be crucial for them. When I bought them I gave them all a 50% chance of survival, which is probably generous. I plan to feed them round the clock for the next two weeks. I have some new ideas for treatment.They will all need daily health inspections which may/will include FWD, medication, swabbing off any remaining parasites, etc.
Time to go thaw some mysis! I'll be back with some pictures!!!
~Rykna
My friend Beth invited me to come with her to our LFS. I hadn't planned on purchasing anything....I've been saving up to purchase my ponies. As we head out she mentions..."I want to stop at the "evil" LFS.(This store tried pass off a extremely dead plate coral as a sponge and tried to sell it to me for $50!)
I promised I'd be good and keep my mouth zipped...I can't stand going in there, listening to the baloney they sell to customers. Example:
Sebae anemones only require low lighting....Gonipora are easy to keep.....not to mention all the dead fish floating......
So we park, head inside, and go into the coral room. As I'm glancing around...
"Rykna!!! They have seahorses!!!!! Beth said."
First thing that goes through my mind is "God have mercy on them!!!"
I went over to look at the horses. The four females were in a 1-2 gallon cramped tank. No hitching posts...nothing...just sparse sand. One was lying one the sand bed gasping, the second was dragging along the bottom in search for food, the other two were huddled in a corner. They were so thin and pale!!!!! I checked the price quick......80 smackers.....
"They're going to die. I told Beth"......I thought a moment....and then told Beth I was going to find a manager. "Be nice. She called after me"
Beth confessed to me latter that she thought that I was going to chew out the manager for the mistreatment of the seahorses and get into some hot water!!!
I found an employee and asked who cared for the seahorses. I was directed to "Jason".
I explained my concerns to him and asked if he had kept seahorses. He had. I then asked if there was a chance that the manger might give me a discount on them, because if they are left here they will die within two days. He nodded and left to find the manager. I went back to watch the little horses. It was a sad site....they didn't have a chance of survival here....they were all so thin...all of them were desperately scanning the sand bed for any signs of food. What chance of a discount did I have???.....
Finally Jason returned. "What did the manager say? I asked."
"Fifteen dollars for each seahorse."
I thought I misheard him....$15 each????
"Yep! He replied. "
"Sold, I said, I'll take all four."
I asked him the basic questions about the seahorses...especially when the seahorses were last fed. He told me they had gotten them in last Friday (it was now Tuesday) and to his knowledge no one had been feeding them.
It's been 48 hours since I brought the four girls home. I have them in a 5.5 QT and they will remain there for the rest of January, if not longer. The girls were so hungry they spent the first 30 minutes inhaling mysis. After resting they began to perk up.
Today I've started food dish training. I put a whole cube of mysis soaked in garlic into the dish. After they figured out the food was in the dish all of them spent over a hour in the dish barely moving except for their snouts. The next hour they spent resting on the bottom of the food dish. As of an hour ago they were playing in the flow and searching the bottom for any left overs.
The next week will be crucial for them. When I bought them I gave them all a 50% chance of survival, which is probably generous. I plan to feed them round the clock for the next two weeks. I have some new ideas for treatment.They will all need daily health inspections which may/will include FWD, medication, swabbing off any remaining parasites, etc.
Time to go thaw some mysis! I'll be back with some pictures!!!
~Rykna
