New Seahorses!!!

[monalisa]

Originally Posted by PettyHoe
I have been looking for something a lot like that, your ponies are going to love that thing, and you don't have to worry about feeding it!
Yeah, and you should see it now. The cycle is winding down, and the thing is just crawling with pods!! Good thing for the horses too. Not so good are all the bristle worms...I've got to try to figure out how to get those under control. Hmmmm...
Lisa :happyfish

 

[pettyhoe]

you can buy traps from your lfs that are pretty effective. I have a giant one somewhere in the back of my tank.. HUGE, but he never comes out.

 

[flpriest]

Very cool pics of the ponies! Your tank looks awsome!

 

[pettyhoe]

Originally Posted by flpriest
Very cool pics of the ponies! Your tank looks awsome!
Thank you!
Here they are in their feeding bag. They love it in there!

 

[flpriest]

Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Wow, again, very cool. Here's a pic of that coral rock that I found a few weeks ago. I thought it would make a great hitching station...I hope. The piece is about 13" high by about 8-9" at the widest. I just really liked it.
Lisa :happyfish
Lisa, your set up looks great!! I can't wait to see your ponies that you put in it!!

 

[monalisa]

Thanks flpriest. I'm really happy with it as well. As I stated previously, the cycle is winding down (I think) and the glass and rocks are crawling with pods. Very nice.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[ci11337]

Awesome...

 

[poniegirl]

Originally Posted by PettyHoe
Thank you!
Here they are in their feeding bag. They love it in there!

Well, I've heard of strapping on the feed bag...!
I'm not so sure that you have three boys, there, though. :thinking:

 

[pettyhoe]

Oh really? what do you think the sexes are? And how can you tell?

 

[flpriest]

Originally Posted by PonieGirl
Well, I've heard of strapping on the feed bag...!
I'm not so sure that you have three boys, there, though. :thinking:
You know, after looking at this pic close... I have to agree with PonieGirl. Looks like you have at least two females. I can't tell the one in the back. (can't see his pouch, or lack of) The way I tell the difference between a female and male is that, the female seems to have a more pronounced abdomen, where as a males abdomen area is more sloped twards the tail. The area under his abdomen is where his pouch is, which creates less definition between the abdomen and the tail. Hope this helps.

 

[poniegirl]

On females, the cirri (or spines) will continue uniterrupted to the ventral fin where the "tail" begins in the front. The abdominal shelf is more pronounced.
With males, as flpriest says, the abdomen gradually slopes to the tail, and is noticably free of cirri (smooth).
It's harder to --- juveniles, but yours look female. With the exception of the horse closest to the camera in the fourth picture. That one, I'm not sure about.

 

[pettyhoe]

Well since there is a confusion, I'll try and get some close up good pictures and post a bunch of them to help solve this. I would like to know what --- they are... I might just have to wait until they mature a little as well. One of them has stripes on his back, does that help at all?

 

[susie&jeran]

Thats amazing that you have ponies! I'm jealous. I have a 55 gal, but I'm thinking of setting up another tank just for sea horses, but I still have alot of research to do before I can buy any.

 

[pettyhoe]

I would definately recommend doing as much research as you can before buying them. Although it was an impulse buy, I had luckily read a lot about them and their requirements. I am by no means an expert, but I think I might have to become one. They are definately worth it!
On a side note, I come home from work today, and my g/f buys this HUGE ricordia rock I had been eyeing at the lfs for a while. It is a beauty! I had to do a little aquascaping to get it in right, but I will be putting pictures up soon.
Update on the horses, they are eating like champions, more and more each time. The bag method has been very good to me. They are starting to swim up to the bag when I put it in so I know they like it.

 

[poniegirl]

Glad to hear they eat well!
Another little oddity of seahorses is their lack of a stomach. Digestion actually takes place in the intestines, with no stopping or holding area. For this reason the nutrients that they take in at a feeding don't last long.
They should be fed twice daily, reasonable amounts. Three times daily, if you can swing it!
Overfeeding a seahorse once daily does not help, because the food will pass through undigested. No benefit to the horse, and bad for water quality.
And we ALWAYS love to see more pictures!

 

[pettyhoe]

That is interesting. I feed twice regularly, three if I have time already, so thats is always good. Thank you

 

[pettyhoe]

upon inspection, I was feeding brine shrimp to my horses, and apparently, its the almost like feeding them nothing because of their lack of nutritional value. SOOO I went to buy some mysis shrimp, and apparently the horses even love that more. They take to new food very readily, which is always a good sign. It's amazing what reading can do for you.

 

[pettyhoe]

Ok, here is some pictures finally. Some pics also of the new corals,
beautiful richordea rock with a bunch of polyps,
nicely colored mushroom,
nice detailed pictures of the ponies.
I am not pretty sure they are all females. So no breeding, who cares, its almost impossible to keep the fry anyway.
Oh yeah, the horses love the candy canes for some reason. They just gather right next to them.. its like their water cooler!

 

[monalisa]

Ok, here is some pictures finally. Some pics also of the new corals,
beautiful richordea rock with a bunch of polyps,
nicely colored mushroom,
nice detailed pictures of the ponies.
I am not pretty sure they are all females. So no breeding, who cares, its almost impossible to keep the fry anyway.
Oh yeah, the horses love the candy canes for some reason. They just gather right next to them.. its like their water cooler!

QUOTE]
Haha, water cooler...that's funny!! Great pics and very happy looking horses. I'm glad to hear that they're eating different foods. That's one of the things that I really need to research more...what to feed mine when I get them. Do they like Cyclops?
Again, great pics.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[pettyhoe]

apparently, one of the best things to feed them according to seahorse.org is mysis shrimp. Brine shrimp offer no nutritional value, but if they are soaked in a nutritional supplement, then they are o.k., but still not good for them. They have a great library of articles to help a noob at seahorses.