Reef nutrition

Felicia's 30 Gallon Seahorse Tank - Seahorses have arrived!!!

rygh said:
Seriously: What you are doing here is so great. You put some of us to shame.
Doing all the research, talking to the breeder personally, getting the perfect biotope.
You even match the coral colors to enhance the fish.
Then all the amazing close up pictures.
Just: Wow!!!
I feel like such a hack after following this thread.
Sorry that that sounds cheesy, but it is really so cool, I had to express admiration.
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This is absolutely the sweetest comment. I am so flattered and you just made my day! Thank you so much for the kind words! I've had a ton of inspiration and help from a friend on NR who has a stunning seahorse tank. Also, I got a lot of help from BAR members when I was planning the AIO design. I definitely can't take all the credit! :) And you are definitely not a hack! Most tanks don't take quite this much research and planning. Not too many people keep seahorses, so it was a lot more work planning the whole set-up.
 
Btw, both seahorses are now eating frozen mysis for me. I fed them some live brine last night as a treat and they ate a ton. Then for their first feeding today, I was able to spot feed them each some frozen mysis shrimp with some 12" tweezers. I believe they each ate about 5 shrimp, which is great since its recommended to feed each seahorse between 2 and 7 mysis shrimp twice daily. Glad they have their appetites back. In the future, I will be spot feeding them with the tweezers to prevent overfeeding by broadcast feeding the tank.
 
FeliciaLynn said:
Btw, both seahorses are now eating frozen mysis for me. I fed them some live brine last night as a treat and they ate a ton. Then for their first feeding today, I was able to spot feed them each some frozen mysis shrimp with some 12" tweezers. I believe they each ate about 5 shrimp, which is great since its recommended to feed each seahorse between 2 and 7 mysis shrimp twice daily. Glad they have their appetites back. In the future, I will be spot feeding them with the tweezers to prevent overfeeding by broadcast feeding the tank.
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That's awesome!! I was wondering about that. I figured you had been super busy, so I haven't tried to bug ya too much ;) I'm so excited that they've eaten for you!! Congrats!
 
+1 to Mark's comments. I've been thinking about commenting, not being able to find the correct words and then Mark got it just right!

I'm NOT going to let my wife see these pics! That tank is just too beautiful right from the start.
 
aqua-nut said:
+1 to Mark's comments. I've been thinking about commenting, not being able to find the correct words and then Mark got it just right!

I'm NOT going to let my wife see these pics! That tank is just too beautiful right from the start.
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Awww, well thank you! You guys are too sweet! Well if you got your wife a seahorse tank, it would be an excuse for another tank and more coral :)
 
Coral reefer said:
Are you still going to use the feeding station approach? I'd get them to eat as many shrimp as they will ateast twice a day
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So, after talking to several people who have seahorses, it seems the preferred method is to hand feed them one shrimp at a time with some tweezers until they are full. That way you don't overfeed and you can keep a close eye on the seahorses' appetites and notice immediately if anything is wrong. I feed them as much as they want, which seems to be around 5-6 shrimp for these guys. The recommended amount from all the breeders is 2-7 shrimp twice per day. My two have already figured out that the tweezers mean food and they'll eat shrimp right out of the tweezers. Luckily they've gotten super easy to feed now that they have their appetites back after shipping :)
 
FeliciaLynn said:
So, after talking to several people who have seahorses, it seems the preferred method is to hand feed them one shrimp at a time with some tweezers until they are full. That way you don't overfeed and you can keep a close eye on the seahorses' appetites and notice immediately if anything is wrong. I feed them as much as they want, which seems to be around 5-6 shrimp for these guys. The recommended amount from all the breeders is 2-7 shrimp twice per day. My two have already figured out that the tweezers mean food and they'll eat shrimp right out of the tweezers. Luckily they've gotten super easy to feed now that they have their appetites back after shipping :)
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How long does that take?
 
rygh said:
Hmm, perhaps that is why I enjoy reading this thread ... and not having seahorses.
:)
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Haha! Its honestly not that bad at all. They just get handed like 5-6 shrimp each and they eat quickly since they just basically inhale them. Its actually kind of fun. The little one chases after the tweezers now. Its super cute :)
 
The seahorses are eating like crazy! They don't even wait for me to let go of the mysis. They actually snick them right out of the tweezers. Each of them ate about 8-9 mysis tonight, which is a lot for small seahorses. They have definitely gotten settled into their new home and aren't shy at all anymore. I plan to take new photos of the tank and the ponies tomorrow evening for you guys. I may also try to do a video of feeding time soon :)
 
DeeAnnMG said:
Not bad at all. And it must be super cool that they are so up close and personal.
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Yeah, its not very time consuming and it really is neat to get to interact with them. I have read that some people actually hold the mysis in their hand and feed the seahorses straight out of their hand. Once the seahorses are used to your hands in the tank, they will come up and hitch on your fingers to get food. I may have to try that once the seahorses are more used to me :)
 
New photos from tonight:

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Coral reefer said:
Nice job with feeding! Glad they have good appetites. I bet a third feeding if and when you have time would be good even.
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Yep, they just had to get all settled in and now they're little piggies! I was thinking about adding a third feeding, but most of the breeders seem to recommend feedings twice a day. The aquaculture facility my seahorses are from feeds the tanks once at 10:30 am and then once at 4:30 pm. So they're used to just getting fed twice a day. I think I will stick to that for now in an effort to not overfeed the tank and cause water quality issues.

I've got a video of the seahorses eating their dinner uploading to Youtube right now, so I'll post that link in a few minutes.
 
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