Dawn's pony garden.

[deetu]

18 hours ago, vlangel said:

Thanks Sharbuckle.  My husband Dave calls the little dwarf Jr even though she is a girl, ha ha!  Anyway here is a short clip of Jr.

I am keeping her in the 5.5 gallon AIO.  I have a tank divider partitioning her off so I can feed her bbs in a thick density.  Then when I feel she has eaten enough I turn the return pump on and the prizm pro skimmer.  They pull the bbs through the screen divider where ghost shrimp are waiting to feed on them.  It's not the best situation having a dwarf seahorse in a shrimp tank but it is what it is.

I have 2 hatcheries going under the seahorses display.  I had to get them off my kitchen counter, Uhhg!

Sounds like it works great doing it that way... no waste and shrimp are fed.

thumbs up

[vlangel]

Yes, in some ways it was a good system but I found it tough to keep clean so Jr is back in a vase.😕

[yoshii]

She is so cute! I'm glad the tank sitter and vacation went well, that's always a stressful time.

 

Haha I'm surprised your hubby didn't have you move the bbs off the counter sooner!

[vlangel]

29 minutes ago, yoshii said:

She is so cute! I'm glad the tank sitter and vacation went well, that's always a stressful time.

 

Haha I'm surprised your hubby didn't have you move the bbs off the counter sooner!

My hubby is super supportive and never fusses about anything I do with the fish.  I was the one who couldn't take everything being on my counter any longer.  Dave actually thought I should get her some friends.  Not a chance, there is a reason I never got dwarfs! LOL

[yoshii]

17 minutes ago, vlangel said:

My hubby is super supportive and never fusses about anything I do with the fish.  I was the one who couldn't take everything being on my counter any longer.  Dave actually thought I should get her some friends.  Not a chance, there is a reason I never got dwarfs! LOL

They can be quite a pain, but are so cute! My friend had dwarfs and always had to have a lot of bbs cultures going, but they had baby ponies like crazy!

[Roachant]

I’m glad the dwarf is doing well! I had some many years ago but they didn’t last much past 6 months. I didn’t cycle the tank properly at the times nd didn’t really know what I was doing but they were such a cool fish to keep. I would love to try some again but I’ll probably have to wait until I’m retired as they need so much time to take care of. 

[vlangel]

43 minutes ago, yoshii said:

They can be quite a pain, but are so cute! My friend had dwarfs and always had to have a lot of bbs cultures going, but they had baby ponies like crazy!

She is adorable.  She has decided to be yellow with white and black saddle markings.  My 50 something eyes need a magnifying glass to see all the beautiful markings.  Ha ha, I won't have the baby problem!

[vlangel]

14 minutes ago, Roachant said:

I’m glad the dwarf is doing well! I had some many years ago but they didn’t last much past 6 months. I didn’t cycle the tank properly at the times nd didn’t really know what I was doing but they were such a cool fish to keep. I would love to try some again but I’ll probably have to wait until I’m retired as they need so much time to take care of. 

I almost did dwarfs when I first researched seahorses but the feeding while I went away stopped me.  I felt like I couldn't ask someone to feed 3Xs a day live food that needed cultured and enriched.  I really did not know if she could live on live bbs kept in the fridge for 3 days or not.  I knew they would not lose nutrition as fast in the fridge since they kind of hibernate but I just did not know how it would go.  I am glad she made it and she is a cutie.  All the same, she is all I want, no dwarf friends.

[Wingy]

Did you look into that magnetic feeder for dwarf sea horses that PJReefs has?  

[vlangel]

13 hours ago, Wingy said:

Did you look into that magnetic feeder for dwarf sea horses that PJReefs has?  

I have not but that would certainly help a lot.  When I first read about it I thought to myself that I would get dwarfs if it works like they say.  Thank you for reminding me about that. 😊

[vlangel]

On 12/1/2018 at 8:08 PM, Wingy said:

Did you look into that magnetic feeder for dwarf sea horses that PJReefs has?  

I decided to look into it and they are unavailable. 😕

[Wingy]

My inner MacGyver wonders if you could use a dosing system.   I know nothing about the feeding process so forgive me if it sounds foolish.  

[vlangel]

36 minutes ago, Wingy said:

My inner MacGyver wonders if you could use a dosing system.   I know nothing about the feeding process so forgive me if it sounds foolish.  

If I had a whole herd of dwarf seahorses a dosing system might be a good idea.  The tricky part however is the bbs need to be rinsed in tap water to remove any bacterias that might be building up in the hatchery culture.  I don't have enough inner McGyver to figure how to get past that, ha ha!

[William]

8 hours ago, vlangel said:

If I had a whole herd of dwarf seahorses a dosing system might be a good idea.  The tricky part however is the bbs need to be rinsed in tap water to remove any bacterias that might be building up in the hatchery culture.  I don't have enough inner McGyver to figure how to get past that, ha ha!

I’m pretty sure that if you set up a system that replaced the total water volume of the shrimp culture daily, you prob would not have as much issues with bacteria. You could have a dosing pulp that feeds in fresh saltwater slowly into the gadgety and then have the overflow from the hatchery flow into the tank. 

[vlangel]

16 minutes ago, William said:

I’m pretty sure that if you set up a system that replaced the total water volume of the shrimp culture daily, you prob would not have as much issues with bacteria. You could have a dosing pulp that feeds in fresh saltwater slowly into the gadgety and then have the overflow from the hatchery flow into the tank. 

That is a good idea and I believe that could work.  I will have to think on that awhile.

[JBM]

impeccably clean tanks as always. One day when im older and retired, I'd love to have some sort of pony tank. such beautiful and mystical creatures

[vlangel]

16 minutes ago, JBM said:

impeccably clean tanks as always. One day when im older and retired, I'd love to have some sort of pony tank. such beautiful and mystical creatures

Thank JBM, ha ha I only take pics when the tanks look respectable.  They are not always impeccably clean!

 

Some days I am so charmed by the ponies that I think I can't ever live without seahorses and other days I long for the freedom of not being tied down by them.  It's a double edged sword.

[vlangel]

All the seahorses have been doing great, including Jr, the dwarf seahorse.  I have developed a pretty good system for her.  She is in a vase, I would guess it to be a qt and half volume.  Its got a few macro algaes for hitches.  Every morning I syphone most of the water, artemia and debris on the bottom out of the vase.  (That mixture goes into the fish fortress to feed the coral, macro algaes and fish). Then I refill it with newly made saltwater and I add a batch of artemia that has been enriched or newly hatched.  She can hunt all day.  She looks fat and seems to be doing well with the regiment.  I will try and get a pic of her and her vase.

 

 

These pics should give you some idea just how tiny she is and also how much artemia I need to put in her vase so that I know she is getting enough to eat.

[vlangel]

Here's looking at you, kid!

 

[deetu]

Fastastic pictures!  Makes me miss my ponies all the more though lol

What is that growing in bottom left of second picture?  It looks interesting

[vlangel]

4 hours ago, deetu said:

Fastastic pictures!  Makes me miss my ponies all the more though lol

What is that growing in bottom left of second picture?  It looks interesting

I think it's pagoda cup with red grape caulerpa attached.

[Sharbuckle]

On 12/5/2018 at 9:40 AM, vlangel said:

All the seahorses have been doing great, including Jr, the dwarf seahorse.  I have developed a pretty good system for her.  She is in a vase, I would guess it to be a qt and half volume.  Its got a few macro algaes for hitches.  Every morning I syphone most of the water, artemia and debris on the bottom out of the vase.  (That mixture goes into the fish fortress to feed the coral, macro algaes and fish). Then I refill it with newly made saltwater and I add a batch of artemia that has been enriched or newly hatched.  She can hunt all day.  She looks fat and seems to be doing well with the regiment.  I will try and get a pic of her and her vase.

 

 

These pics should give you some idea just how tiny she is and also how much artemia I need to put in her vase so that I know she is getting enough to eat.

Your dedication is so impressive and inspiring. 

[vlangel]

8 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

Your dedication is so impressive and inspiring. 

Thanks Sharbuckle.  I feel responsible for Jr ending up here, so I feel it's my job to take as good care of her as I can from this point forth.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I second what Sharbuckle said. It's not easy looking after the ponies, and you're going above and beyond for them. It's amazing. 

[vlangel]

5 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

I second what Sharbuckle said. It's not easy looking after the ponies, and you're going above and beyond for them. It's amazing. 

Thank you Snow, I don't deny the need for diligence but they sure are cute and can be very gratifying.😊