rykna
Active Member
Does this make sense?~I posted this another another site an wanted your opinion regarding the light situation
Brine and Submersible Lights:
My Post:
It's hard enough to make sure your horses get enough to eat, let alone your ponies. Since bbs(baby brine shrimp) are attracted to light, it occured to me that a small submersible light would make the perfect food dish for ponies.
Last night was the second bbs buffet with the light show. The adults and babies had already gathered before I turned the submersibles on. One baby even swam down and sat on the light and proceeded to slurp bbs.
Rykna,
I have to be honest with you and say I think this is a bad idea for your horses and very un-natural. You are forcing them to go to a light in order to be able to eat.
Yes, artemia are attracted to light and if you want to deprive your horses of hunting, then you could place a small light on the outside of the tank directed at the bottom yet not forcing the horses to stare into it.
I have always found that zosterae are not hard to feed at all if given the correct setup and variety of foods. They will be active and love to hunt and feed.
Many claim that zosterae will only hitch and wait until the food swims by and in many instances we have discovered that the people were keeping their horses at excessively high temps,etc, causing them stress and having to expend excess energy with increased respiration.
[hr]
Janet
Rykna,
Just understand that bright lights are not so good for horses, they live in less then clear waters where they are somewhat hidden, so their eyes are good for low light situations, not so good for bright lights.
Great thought but.
[hr]
Cheers, David
My response:
Sigh...yes, seahorses live on coastal waters that are murky. The lights I am using are not bright lights. They are tiny night time spot lights. Used for night time viewing, 4 watts at most. My intent was to gather the brine in the dense hitching post areas for easier access to dinner, instead of having them swept away in the current. I prefer to keep my tanks set up as close as I can to the seahorses' natural habitat. The pony tank has several corners filled with Chaeto and Caulerpa. I put one of the lights in the middle of these, the babies flock here just before dinner time. The other light I place in the middle of several artificial plants that are a favorite hitching posts for the adults. They to arrive right on time for dinner.
Many new born ponies do not make it past the first two days of life due to starvation. In the wild food sources are abundant, but no so in our tanks. Do to the seahorses' inefficient digestive tract, making sure your seahorse(w/all fish but seahorse are the extreme example) receives a balanced diet is essential to their longevity. After training my Kuda and Kelloggi to eat from a food dish, I began thinking of ways to do the same for ponies. Hence my idea to use the light to draw the brine into a smaller area, similar to what sharks, dolphins, and other large predators do to schools of fish. By herding them together they do not have to expend extra energy chasing after individual fish.
[hr]
My Post:
Going back to you comment about the light being too bright. I watched the ponies last night as they fed. None of them seemed bothered in the least by the lights, but that doesn't mean it does not have a bad effect on them. How many times did you parents tell you "Don't sit too close to the TV, you'll ruin you eye sight!" I considered covering the lights with Chaeto, since the brine love to hide in it.
This is my current schedule for night feeding time. When it's dinner time, I turn the feeding lamps(FL), while I soak the brine in garlic for 10 minutes. When the brine is done soaking I turn the main light off and release the brine into the tank leave the feeding lamps on for 20 minutes or so. Then I turn the FL off and all the tank lights are off for the night.
All my ponies, except the large male and a few females given to me by a friend, have been born in my tank. Given that these are CB, I would think their light tolerance would be different. But, being born CB doesn't change the physical make up of a seahorse.
Would a picture or video of the tank with the FL on be helpful to determine if the lights are too bright?
I currently disagree that the lighting would disrupt the seahorses vision and eating habits, but I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions.
~Rykna
Brine and Submersible Lights:
My Post:
It's hard enough to make sure your horses get enough to eat, let alone your ponies. Since bbs(baby brine shrimp) are attracted to light, it occured to me that a small submersible light would make the perfect food dish for ponies.
Last night was the second bbs buffet with the light show. The adults and babies had already gathered before I turned the submersibles on. One baby even swam down and sat on the light and proceeded to slurp bbs.
Rykna,
I have to be honest with you and say I think this is a bad idea for your horses and very un-natural. You are forcing them to go to a light in order to be able to eat.
Yes, artemia are attracted to light and if you want to deprive your horses of hunting, then you could place a small light on the outside of the tank directed at the bottom yet not forcing the horses to stare into it.
I have always found that zosterae are not hard to feed at all if given the correct setup and variety of foods. They will be active and love to hunt and feed.
Many claim that zosterae will only hitch and wait until the food swims by and in many instances we have discovered that the people were keeping their horses at excessively high temps,etc, causing them stress and having to expend excess energy with increased respiration.
[hr]
Janet
Rykna,
Just understand that bright lights are not so good for horses, they live in less then clear waters where they are somewhat hidden, so their eyes are good for low light situations, not so good for bright lights.
Great thought but.
[hr]
Cheers, David
My response:
Sigh...yes, seahorses live on coastal waters that are murky. The lights I am using are not bright lights. They are tiny night time spot lights. Used for night time viewing, 4 watts at most. My intent was to gather the brine in the dense hitching post areas for easier access to dinner, instead of having them swept away in the current. I prefer to keep my tanks set up as close as I can to the seahorses' natural habitat. The pony tank has several corners filled with Chaeto and Caulerpa. I put one of the lights in the middle of these, the babies flock here just before dinner time. The other light I place in the middle of several artificial plants that are a favorite hitching posts for the adults. They to arrive right on time for dinner.
Many new born ponies do not make it past the first two days of life due to starvation. In the wild food sources are abundant, but no so in our tanks. Do to the seahorses' inefficient digestive tract, making sure your seahorse(w/all fish but seahorse are the extreme example) receives a balanced diet is essential to their longevity. After training my Kuda and Kelloggi to eat from a food dish, I began thinking of ways to do the same for ponies. Hence my idea to use the light to draw the brine into a smaller area, similar to what sharks, dolphins, and other large predators do to schools of fish. By herding them together they do not have to expend extra energy chasing after individual fish.
[hr]
My Post:
Going back to you comment about the light being too bright. I watched the ponies last night as they fed. None of them seemed bothered in the least by the lights, but that doesn't mean it does not have a bad effect on them. How many times did you parents tell you "Don't sit too close to the TV, you'll ruin you eye sight!" I considered covering the lights with Chaeto, since the brine love to hide in it.
This is my current schedule for night feeding time. When it's dinner time, I turn the feeding lamps(FL), while I soak the brine in garlic for 10 minutes. When the brine is done soaking I turn the main light off and release the brine into the tank leave the feeding lamps on for 20 minutes or so. Then I turn the FL off and all the tank lights are off for the night.
All my ponies, except the large male and a few females given to me by a friend, have been born in my tank. Given that these are CB, I would think their light tolerance would be different. But, being born CB doesn't change the physical make up of a seahorse.
Would a picture or video of the tank with the FL on be helpful to determine if the lights are too bright?
I currently disagree that the lighting would disrupt the seahorses vision and eating habits, but I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions.
~Rykna
