seahorse confusion??

owlett

owlett

Member
I just bought my first seahorse yesterday, I reallythink the lfs has messed me up.
First of all, the little girl is only about three inches long, I asked the lfs how big she would get and he told me that they generally don't get much bigger than what she is.
Then after I bought her I opened up my big book of fish and the only picture that came close to her says that she will get to be ten inches long!!!!! i only have 30 gal tank! I'm really hoping that the book I own has the wrong picture.
Does anybody know what she is? She's black and has a nice long snout and a very noticable lump knob on the back of her head like a horn. She doesn't have any spots either.
Also, I need to know how to feed her, as of now she is tearing into my isopod and copopod population with such vigor you'd think it's been weeks since she's seen any food. I'm pretty sure there is enough in there to last her a month but she never seems to stop eating and some sites I've visited claim that you shouldn't feed them everyday. (not that there is anyway to stop her though)
I need help!
 
katara

katara

Member
Try this site:http://www.syngnathid.org/
And if your seahorse is wild caught remember that their life expectancy is unfortunatley not very long:(
As for feeding, they love brine shrimp and can sometimes be adapted to frozen mysis both of which should be enriched w/vibrance or zoe.I hope your tank is a tall one,Good luck.
 
owlett

owlett

Member
I don't know if she is CB or WB. Do you know why the WC don't do as well? Do they just stop eating or something?
When I bought her the guy at the fish store said that she had been at the store for about two weeks but didn't specify if she was captive bred. She seems pretty happy to me though, she is a big pig!
also, when you mean a tall tank how tall should the tank be? The tank right now is probably close to about 18 inches high.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
FYI, please don't add other fish. IMO, seahorses belong in a calm, species specific tank, without things like clowns or other potentially territorial fish, anemones, etc. You may need to start buying/growing brine shrimp, which should be fortified before feeding, as well as mysid shrimp or even small ghost shrimp (a freshwater shrimp that will survive brief periods in salt...long enough to be eaten). They generally require a pretty constant supply of food. They are buy no means particularly easy to keep, and do require pretty attentive care...especially if, as mentioned, they are wild caught.
 
owlett

owlett

Member
So far the seahorse and the two fish I own seem to be doing pretty well. I went to seahorse.org and they had a compatability list saying that the percula clown (but not tomato clowns) and the goby will be fine together.
I have a TON of grapevine carlupa that extends all over the tank. the horse uses this stuff alot like a highway to get from one place to another. She seems to like to bury herself in it to get to all the yummy bugs in there.
I am going to try and buy some mysis shrimp today and see if she will eat it. I don't think she can eat ghosp shrimp yet since she is only about two and half inches long
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
They may be compatable, but it doesn't mean I would put other fish in there, especially potentially aggressive feeders like a clown. I just don't see any reason to risk stress or competition. JMO :)
 
owlett

owlett

Member
Good news! I just dumped a few frozen mysis shrimp in the tank and she ate them with about as much zeal as little kids have over hotdogs. :p no worries about the clown being too aggresive of a feeder, he ate a mysis and spit it out, them tried to eat and another with the same result, apparently he doesn't like them too much.
The goby likes them but that is fine with me, since I was worried that some would get wasted, but obvously waste shouldn't be too big a problem.
I have a huge bushy section of carlupa growing near the basse of the tank the size of a soft ball, if I squirt the mysis there, they get stuck in it and the horse hunts them out, she is very very very happy appaently.
I am wondering if she may be CB after all, because she really took to those mysis shrimp really really well.
Also, sammy, I wouldn't worry aboutthe pods running out, I have a separate tank just for raising those dudes.
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
With your seahorses, they need calm water, no air bubbles, tons of smaller diameter things to wrap their tales. Water concerns are the normal params, paying more attention to the nitrates...someone mentioned a tall tank, not really important, unless you intend to breed. They are somewhat slow, but they get around pretty good for what they have to work with. Also, stablize all your rock work if you have it, they will be all over in your rocks, I lost one of mine (a 7 inch kuda) from a pin cushion urchin knocking a rock loose and smashing his upper extremities against the glass...that one sucked...
As for the wild caught, versus the captive raised...anything captive raised is hardier and easier to tend to, alot of people are turned off on wild caught as their numbers are showing the pressure in the wild. The key to purchasing them is to witness them eating, and what they are eating. It is really cool when you can hand feed them a piece of frozen mysid.
Stay away from the dwarfs, unless you intend a much smaller tank. To provide the required concentration of food will kill you on the amonia and such.
Good luck and enjoy the fascinating little fish. They are well worth the extra effort in just watching them...
 
owlett

owlett

Member
the seahorse is still doing very well. As for the bubble thing, she is a she, and so doesn't have a pouch. there are a few bubbles in the tank but I assumed that since males had a pouch for bubbles to get stuck in the female would be okay. IS that right?

here is a picture of what she looks like! This isn't her though, I don't have any of her yet but this is an exact copy!
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
They injest air by swallowing it...bouyancy problems are usually associated with the pouch. But as with all live creatures...some are not so bright at times and will mistake an air bubble for a vittle....I have lost a seahorse before due to air...i resupplied an airline to an existing stone, up came the air...over came the kuda and he just stayed there in the air bubbles. When I came back, he was still in the bubbles, so i physically removed him, he went behind some rocks, and was dead a day later. Prior to that, he was quiet the live brine shrimp chaser, no other problems with him. Who knows...maybe he committed suicide...
As for your air in the tank...just watch the seahorse...if it begins to show alot of interest in it, then you may have a problem. Like I stated above...maybe mine wanted to depart the living...maybe I am such a lousy fish keeper he felt it was his only way out...wow, sad concept...maybe i should have stuck to my vegetable gardening....
 
owlett

owlett

Member
the bubbles are probably too small for her to be interested in, they are little mircro bubbles I think that come out of the protien skimmer
you are great for the advice though:)
also, I was just wondering what did you feed yours? I am feeding mine hikari mysis shrimp right now, but I keep hearing all this stuff about madding vitamins and stuff. Or feeding them PE mysis (but also heard it can be too fatty and kill your horses)
 
leopardshark

leopardshark

Member
i've kept seahorses for actually a year and got rid of them. they bred sucessfully twice but none of the fry survived. the way you can tell if it was wc or cb was how much did you pay. if it was under 30 i almost guarantee it was wild. if it was over then it was probably cb. seahorses dont have to swallow bubles just to get bubbles under their skin. They can actually just by having bubbles blown on them constantly have them erosed under their skin. mine actually used to get them if my filter went dry after a power outage and if the filter turned on and pumped air at them for a long period of time. Usually the bubbles can be popped but sometimes the can get so bad that their bouyancy is thrown off and the horses dont survive the stress. I recommend a species only tank for seahorses because they need their food available to them for 30-45 minutes and usually you need to turn off the filter. fish usually get rid of the food in about 2-5 minutes. maybe even less. another thing is that in f.o. tanks you usually want a really good to moderate flow, as with seahorses you want a very low flow. just enough to curculate the tank.now you can use live gargonians with your horses but they dont stay alive for the longest time because the horses constrict the water flow to the tips. im sure your lfs can get you a dead piece of gargonians for you. good luck with you seahorse and im glad to hear that she is eating frozen food. there is another brand of mysis that is better than sf bay but i cant think of the name of it. i dont work until tuesday so when i get a chance i will find the name of it at work. i would rather have you use the better brand because it offers 60 percent protein. its also a lot healthier than brine shrimp.
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
Thats wild...I have had seahorses for a little over a year now...and never have had an air problem. I guess I have been fortunate...
 
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