New Seahorses!!!
- Thread starter pettyhoe
- Start date
pettyhoe
Member
Well.. apparently, seahorses are allergic to their owners going on vacation. I left the house with them in great shape, healthy water, and full of mysis shrimp. less than 12 hours later, then my friend came to feed them for me, all three were dead! I have no idea how. Either my lawnmower blenny finally decided to take a chunk out of them, or stress them out... or there was a temperatuer change that night that really stressed them out beyond recovery. I'm just so upset that it happened the momment I left. It snowed that night, and that is the only thing that I can think of... If you can think of a better reason three horses spontaneously die, let me know.
Sorry, but no more pictures of horses.....
Sorry, but no more pictures of horses.....
torno
Member
I'm very sorry to hear that. The only thing I can think of would be something in the water levels. Did you test water parameters? I've had large temperature swings that my two have lived through, so I don't think it could have been that. The blenny seems an unlikely culprit too, to have killed all three in such a short period.
Once again, I'm very sorry that happened! I hope you don't give up on them, they're great fish!
Once again, I'm very sorry that happened! I hope you don't give up on them, they're great fish!
pettyhoe
Member
Well.. the blenny is gone now, I had to rip apart my tank to get him out of the rockwork. That was fun.. On the bright side, three new ones!!! The lfs had three very pretty ones, two of which are yellow, the other looks about the same. My levels were great, maybe its possible one of my roomates friends tampered with my tank. I'm gonna give these guys another shot. I'll have some pictures up soon. I reworked the tank to help the flow and put a couple more things for them to hitch on. I'm thinking they were quite stressed out because they couldn't relax at the bottom due to the blenny, and the flow up top was too strong. I solved both of those.. fixed my alkalinity which wasnt far off.. Wish me LUCK! Thank you for your condolences
pettyhoe
Member
Major changes so far, I have redone the rockword to adjust for lower more efficient flowing of the tank, as well as placed the heater on the back side of the wall as opposed to inside the first back chamber to allow for a more stable temperature. I have taken back my three Mexican turbos, and purchased two true percs to keep the horses company. I have bought some more coral for them to perch on and they seem to be quite happy, or at least it appears so. I read that you have to clean the frozen mysis before feeding them so that the vibrio living in the frozen part is washed away, as well as you CANNOT refreeze the frozen food, or leave it out too long (over an hour) otherwise it decays and poisons your horses. So the preparation in feeding has become another chore worth doing if you want more healthy horses. The temp has been brough down to ~74 F which is ideal for these horses, and it was quite a pain to stabalize it there. PICTURES COMMING SOON!
monalisa
Active Member
Originally Posted by PettyHoe
Major changes so far, I have redone the rockword to adjust for lower more efficient flowing of the tank, as well as placed the heater on the back side of the wall as opposed to inside the first back chamber to allow for a more stable temperature. I have taken back my three Mexican turbos, and purchased two true percs to keep the horses company. I have bought some more coral for them to perch on and they seem to be quite happy, or at least it appears so. I read that you have to clean the frozen mysis before feeding them so that the vibrio living in the frozen part is washed away, as well as you CANNOT refreeze the frozen food, or leave it out too long (over an hour) otherwise it decays and poisons your horses. So the preparation in feeding has become another chore worth doing if you want more healthy horses. The temp has been brough down to ~74 F which is ideal for these horses, and it was quite a pain to stabalize it there. PICTURES COMMING SOON!
Ummm...clowns are probably not good company for horses from what I've read. They'll out-compete the ponies for food every time and the poor horses will starve. Sorry, but true. Do you have another tank to house your percs in case you need it? Just a suggestion. I'm considering getting a pair of yellow clown gobies to put into my sh tank. If they don't work out in there, they'll be great for my reef.
Hope things work out for you!!
Lisa :happyfish
Major changes so far, I have redone the rockword to adjust for lower more efficient flowing of the tank, as well as placed the heater on the back side of the wall as opposed to inside the first back chamber to allow for a more stable temperature. I have taken back my three Mexican turbos, and purchased two true percs to keep the horses company. I have bought some more coral for them to perch on and they seem to be quite happy, or at least it appears so. I read that you have to clean the frozen mysis before feeding them so that the vibrio living in the frozen part is washed away, as well as you CANNOT refreeze the frozen food, or leave it out too long (over an hour) otherwise it decays and poisons your horses. So the preparation in feeding has become another chore worth doing if you want more healthy horses. The temp has been brough down to ~74 F which is ideal for these horses, and it was quite a pain to stabalize it there. PICTURES COMMING SOON!
Ummm...clowns are probably not good company for horses from what I've read. They'll out-compete the ponies for food every time and the poor horses will starve. Sorry, but true. Do you have another tank to house your percs in case you need it? Just a suggestion. I'm considering getting a pair of yellow clown gobies to put into my sh tank. If they don't work out in there, they'll be great for my reef.
Hope things work out for you!!
Lisa :happyfish
pettyhoe
Member
yeah, I'm sticking to the feed bag method, they are getting used to it and just swim in when I put it in the water, its most efficient it keeps the excess food outside of the tank. Other than that, they pretty much leave the horses alone completely. Every now and then I'll give them some scraps of the seahorse food, they love it.
pettyhoe
Member
Ok, finally I have found time to take pictures and post them. I found a great spiney oyster shell that just died at my lfs that would make a great feeding station, I'm just gonna glue it to my magnascrubber and use that, if it doesnt work, It'll still be nice to have.
I'm finally happy with the aquascaping, and I finished the refugium in the back midle compartment, I bought some 5w submersible pond lights to light them back there, I will upload pictures if you want them.
The clowns are false percs, but are very social and leave the horses alone altogether
I bought a watchman goby that completely ignores the horses and helps clean up any waste that hits the floor, looks good too
The horses have grown quite fast, and are showing signs of healthy behavior, and seem to anticipate feeding time by comming up to where I place the ziplock bag into the water and just waiting.
All is well.. here are the pictures you have been waiting for, if you want to see a certain detailed picture of something, let me know and I'll take it and upload it.
awesome zoanthid frag i found, orange/yellow
Thanks guys, feedback is nice!
I'm finally happy with the aquascaping, and I finished the refugium in the back midle compartment, I bought some 5w submersible pond lights to light them back there, I will upload pictures if you want them.
The clowns are false percs, but are very social and leave the horses alone altogether
I bought a watchman goby that completely ignores the horses and helps clean up any waste that hits the floor, looks good too
The horses have grown quite fast, and are showing signs of healthy behavior, and seem to anticipate feeding time by comming up to where I place the ziplock bag into the water and just waiting.
All is well.. here are the pictures you have been waiting for, if you want to see a certain detailed picture of something, let me know and I'll take it and upload it.
awesome zoanthid frag i found, orange/yellow
Thanks guys, feedback is nice!