Dwarf Seahorse Tank Talk

[TheKleinReef]

Harder IMO. Takes more space to get enough pods, as they have a strictly pod diet.

 

i'm not sure what you mean?

[MeepNand]

i'm not sure what you mean?

Like, you can hatch 100k BBS easily in 24 hours or less. But pods take a lot longer to breed and reproduce. And dwarves are nonmotile, so you have to get free-swimming pods so the dwarves don't need to move. And free-swimming pods are much harder to get ahold of and breed.

[lkoechle]

Been following since I would like a dwarf tank in the future. Would it be more beneficial to feed both enriched BS and copepods? Or a waste of effort? It doesn't seem like it'd be too much work to have a five gallon or something breeding pods. But I've never done it so I have no idea what I'm talking. lol

[TheKleinReef]

Been following since I would like a dwarf tank in the future. Would it be more beneficial to feed both enriched BS and copepods? Or a waste of effort? It doesn't seem like it'd be too much work to have a five gallon or something breeding pods. But I've never done it so I have no idea what I'm talking. lol

 

copepods are their natural diet so a mixture would be beneficial. i've been reading that its better to feed copepods because they're easier for the seahorses to catch versus brine shrimp.

 

Like, you can hatch 100k BBS easily in 24 hours or less. But pods take a lot longer to breed and reproduce. And dwarves are nonmotile, so you have to get free-swimming pods so the dwarves don't need to move. And free-swimming pods are much harder to get ahold of and breed.

 

i'm sure if you had a big enough culture 20-30g + a phyto culture, you could do it. and it wouldn't have to worry about enriching them. If i ever do DSs i'll do copepod cultures and brine shrimp hatching vs brine shrimp hatching alone.

[MeepNand]

copepods are their natural diet so a mixture would be beneficial. i've been reading that its better to feed copepods because they're easier for the seahorses to catch versus brine shrimp.

 

 

i'm sure if you had a big enough culture 20-30g + a phyto culture, you could do it. and it wouldn't have to worry about enriching them. If i ever do DSs i'll do copepod cultures and brine shrimp hatching vs brine shrimp hatching alone.

I'm not saying pod cultures are bad; they're fantastic! I'm just saying that they take a lot more space to achieve a stable supply. But the thing I don't get is the difference between dwarves and other horses. Dwarf don't scavenge for food; they wait in one place due to "high" flow (I.E. any flow at all). Whereas other larger seahorses sometimes actively look for pods to eat because they can swim better. Dwarves probably get some enrichment from a diet with pods in it, but as a stable food supply it seems risky.

[TheKleinReef]

I'm not saying pod cultures are bad; they're fantastic! I'm just saying that they take a lot more space to achieve a stable supply. But the thing I don't get is the difference between dwarves and other horses. Dwarf don't scavenge for food; they wait in one place due to "high" flow (I.E. any flow at all). Whereas other larger seahorses sometimes actively look for pods to eat because they can swim better. Dwarves probably get some enrichment from a diet with pods in it, but as a stable food supply it seems risky.

 

i gotcha. but i think it would be more of a benefit than anything else since copepods are dwarf seahorses natural diet. plus having the DSs in such a small tank (2-5g) means there will be a high density od whatever you feed so they don't have to move much to catch the pods/brine

[MeepNand]

i gotcha. but i think it would be more of a benefit than anything else since copepods are dwarf seahorses natural diet. plus having the DSs in such a small tank (2-5g) means there will be a high density od whatever you feed so they don't have to move much to catch the pods/brine

Oh yeah. Small size probably does make a difference.

I need to look more closely at my water column to see if I can find pods there.

[sillycupid]

To ziareefer: here is an in depth link to a website one of our searhose veterans created. Just turn off the sound, I think the music is distracting. You can not buy a complete system (open market right now) since most set ups are made of upside down soda bottles, air line, and an air pump.

 

To ZephNYC: I've always used deionized table salt for my brine shrimp hatcheries. I never thought about it, but I guess it is a secret of veteran brine shrimp hatchers. It is just assumed everyone knows, and we forget to mention it. I never raised brine shrimp to adult hood because I always feed them out right after enriching. I've always wanted to have adult brine shrimp at my beckoning call, but than I stumbled upon live mysis and my world caved in on itself.

 

To TheKleinReef: If you are serious about culturing copepods like I am, simply follow this thread on our website. Raising copepods is ridiculously simple. If you are reading too much into it, and have plugged anything into the wall your over doing it. I set up my tisbe copepod cultures and 10-15 days later I have thousands of copepods in an 8 oz cup that started from 4 copepods. I am going to start tigger pods once I get my phtyoplankton up and running. It DOES take up a lot of space. I have a 29 gallon cube dedicated to just tisbe copepods, but I am also turning out millions of copepods in a 10-15 day span.

 

To MeepNand: Yes, brine shrimp are easier to hatch out any time you please. That is why I have a 1lb tub of eggs in my freezer, lol. I hope I will never have to use them in my future set up because it will take 3 days to feed them to my dwarfs (hatching, waiting for them to develop mouths, enriching), but I will always have them nearby incase of an emergency. They are always reliable, assuming there is no human error. I have also had my wild caught dwarf seahorses actively hunt copepods. I've seen a female leave her hitch and literally hover over the ground chasing a pod. She would have never chased a brine shrimp, but the jerky movements of the copepod jump started her instincts to hunt. Tisbe copepods will cling to the glass unless they get spooked, while tigger copepods will actively swim in the water column and cling to the glass to rest.

[TheKleinReef]

Thanks for the info Cupid. I looked at Copepod culturing all of 20 minutes before bed. But I'm still undecided in what I want to do. Therefore I m not gonna start any time soon. I tend to read for months/year before I dive into something. Thanks for the advice!

[lkoechle]

Awesome info Cupid. Thanks!

[sillycupid]

Your welcome guys. Research is the best thing you can do before commiting to dwarf seahorses. Very proud of you guys for asking questions before starting. Once I'm done with finals and clean up my room I'll start a thread here on nano-reefs about my new dwarf seahorse build and I'll post pictures of my copepod set up.

[MeepNand]

Thanks cupid! I am planning on WC horses too, so I might set up a pod culture station then.

[TheKleinReef]

Your welcome guys. Research is the best thing you can do before commiting to dwarf seahorses. Very proud of you guys for asking questions before starting. Once I'm done with finals and clean up my room I'll start a thread here on nano-reefs about my new dwarf seahorse build and I'll post pictures of my copepod set up.

That would be awesome, thanks again for the help!

[Nivloc]

Hi from UK

I did not want to double up on posts so thought I would post here..

 

In the past I have breed Clear Water Goldfish and Tropical Angel Fish,

 

A spot of ill health leaves me more times housebound and I am unable to work right now, I have tons of time on my hands and feel that I really could look after the needs of the Dwarf Seahorse.

 

I hear a lot of negative comments about new peoples bad experience breeding Dwarfs, not wanting to sound pig headed but are not a lot of the mistakes made by us noobs from rushing thngs and not asking proper advice ?

 

I am a very methodical person and will do all the research I can and then more on top I have square eys I have been reading so much over the past two weeks,

 

Scrapped my original idea as I felt a 4ft ank of H.Erectus would be a huge take on for somebody new, I dont want to visit my LFS and be swayed by ppl who have amotive to sell me there stuff

 

i live in the UK near Liverpool as stated, I don't think that dwrfs would survive being shipped from the US to the UK and would seem cruel to put them through that amount of stress.

 

I want to set up a tank as if I am going to put Hippocampus Zosterae , 10G - ish but will start with something a little less fragile.

 

I really want to move on to Dwarf Seahorses as soon as possible but reckon should give myself 6 0r 7 months with something more freely avilable.

 

I have enough time to hath the brine shrimp feet them with a Turkey Baster I am watching endless hours of you tube vids, some seem awful and even though I dont even own a tank yet I am starting to see some ppls basic mistakes

 

I am not the type to just rush put up the tank in an hour and throw the fish in.

 

My plan was to set up 19g with one Clown fish in it but that seems cruel to the 1 little fish,

 

Wow, sorry for long post have tons of questions and some people wont seem willing to sell a Dwarf Seahorses to somebody new even though I am willing to take the risk of cost.

 

So I highly doubt shipping to the UK from the US would work but would be interested if anybody has experience of this, I know the mail costs would be higher but I am not just intted in it to make a bit of extre beer money,

 

Didnt want to double post so posted here.

[vlangel]

Hi from UK

I did not want to double up on posts so thought I would post here..

 

In the past I have breed Clear Water Goldfish and Tropical Angel Fish,

 

A spot of ill health leaves me more times housebound and I am unable to work right now, I have tons of time on my hands and feel that I really could look after the needs of the Dwarf Seahorse.

 

I hear a lot of negative comments about new peoples bad experience breeding Dwarfs, not wanting to sound pig headed but are not a lot of the mistakes made by us noobs from rushing thngs and not asking proper advice ?

 

I am a very methodical person and will do all the research I can and then more on top I have square eys I have been reading so much over the past two weeks,

 

Scrapped my original idea as I felt a 4ft ank of H.Erectus would be a huge take on for somebody new, I dont want to visit my LFS and be swayed by ppl who have amotive to sell me there stuff

 

i live in the UK near Liverpool as stated, I don't think that dwrfs would survive being shipped from the US to the UK and would seem cruel to put them through that amount of stress.

 

I want to set up a tank as if I am going to put Hippocampus Zosterae , 10G - ish but will start with something a little less fragile.

 

I really want to move on to Dwarf Seahorses as soon as possible but reckon should give myself 6 0r 7 months with something more freely avilable.

 

I have enough time to hath the brine shrimp feet them with a Turkey Baster I am watching endless hours of you tube vids, some seem awful and even though I dont even own a tank yet I am starting to see some ppls basic mistakes

 

I am not the type to just rush put up the tank in an hour and throw the fish in.

 

My plan was to set up 19g with one Clown fish in it but that seems cruel to the 1 little fish,

 

Wow, sorry for long post have tons of questions and some people wont seem willing to sell a Dwarf Seahorses to somebody new even though I am willing to take the risk of cost.

 

So I highly doubt shipping to the UK from the US would work but would be interested if anybody has experience of this, I know the mail costs would be higher but I am not just intted in it to make a bit of extre beer money,

 

Didnt want to double post so posted here.

Hi Nivloc and welcome to NR! I seriously considered dwarf SH a year or so ago. I already had experience hatching live bb from raising baby clown fish. The big percentage water change didn't seem too bad to me considering they are in 2.5g tanks or so. I could make up a 5g bucket and do almost a 100% change twice a week. Because of the hydroid threat I was going to go bare bottom with fake plants. What I couldn't work out was vacations though. Even the lfs I used to work at didn't want to risk boarding them. So I decided to research h erectus seahorses instead. That is what I got and have never been sorry. Check out the forum on seahorse.org. There is a guy named Chuck who has kept dwarfs and another guy, Oden who is successfully raising them now.

[cjm3fl]

Hiya there Nivloc.

How appropriate that my first post on nano-reef is about my favorite saltwater fish, the Dwarf Seahorse!.

 

I don't recall the supplier off-hand but there are DSH (Dwarf Seahorses) available in Europe. I'm pretty sure they are CB (captive bred) and would be much easier to get then trying to get some shipped from the U.S.

 

There are many ways to cycle a marine aquarium without having to go "old school" by using a 'cheap' saltwater fish to start it. You can do a little searching around here and on other sites and get some ideas.

 

A 10g tank is a very good size for DSH. I personally don't recommend anything less then a 5g tank and anything larger then a 10g one should only be considered by the more experienced DSH keepers.

 

A 10g tank could house a large number of DSH. An online friend has several dozen living in an 8g tank.

 

One "newer" thing that some DSH keepers are doing is adding some mysid shrimp to the tank. Besides being an active part of a CUC (clean-up crew) they have been reproducing in the tanks. The baby shrimp make a wonderful food for the DSH.

 

Having those baby mysid shrimp and newly hatched brine shrimp should be a good diet. A good thing to do is also seeding your tank with a few different species of copepods near the end of the cycling period. They will help with tank cleaning and offer additional food for the DSH.

 

 

I hope this helps you with your plans.

Chuck

[cjm3fl]

I would also add that an appropriate CUC should be considered during the cycling period, and then added a little while before you get the DSH.

Once your tank's cycle is complete the CUC will help keeping the cycle going until you get the DSH.

 

I have kept several tanks of DSH over the past few decades and there are some things to be aware of that could cause your DSH harm.

 

The biggest is has been hydroids.

In almost every tank I've had, or heard about, we have had to deal with hydroids. While these are not considered a bad issue with many tanks in a DSH they can become a huge problem.

By feeding newly hatched brine shrimp we (DSH keepers) are feeding the first few hydroids that alwasy seem to find their way into a tank. Those few hydroids gorge on bbs until there is a population explosion.

 

Hydroids are a small anemone-like animal that can irritate DSH adults and fry with their stinging tentacle.

Their life-cycle (of most commonly found hydroid species) include a 'meduda' stage. At this point in their life they look like tiny, transparent, jellyfish.

 

There is a product, in the U.S. it's called Panacur, that has been every effective in removing (killing) hydroids in our tanks.

The issue with Panacur is that it can be deadly to some CUC animals and can be absorbed by the substrate and rock in the tank where it will leach back into the tank for a long period of time...months, sometimes.

 

I'm still looking for that European source of CB DSH.

Once I find it I'll post you a link.

 

Chuck

[cjm3fl]

I found one source that's in England.

Unfortunately they are presently out of DSH, their seems to be a lengthy waiting list, and they appear to be very pricey.

http://seahorsebreeder.co.uk/

 

I kinda remember that there's another source in Europe but I can't remember offhand.

If/When I find that one I'll also link it.

 

You might want to start looking for online bidding sites or local aquarium/reef clubs.

Could be you'll have some luck look at these.

 

Chuck

 

p.s.: it is HUGELY expensive to have DSH shipped out of the U.S. I know of one company but they require minimum orders of 100 DSH. Plus there are CITES documents, shipping costs, and other possible expenses which were pretty high, and that was just to have them sent to Canada.