Draco Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 hey all, I've been doing tons of research on dwarf seahorses which I think will be a good fit for my 9 gal nanocube. the only thing that's holding me back is the feeding. I am still trying to figure out if it will be right for me in the end. Please bear with me with some of my questions below: 1. I saw PJ Reef kickstarter had a magnetic brine shrimp hatcher thingy: https://www.pjreefs.com/pages/pj-reefs-2-0-how-to-feed-your-seahorse Is there anything like this on the market? I know PJ's will be out in a few months or so, but looking at all options, Mostly to feed them while I am away on vacation. 2. Can you share your easiest hatching/feeding method, please? I want to practice different ways before getting the pony's to see which would work best for me. Quote Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=10692 Quote Link to comment
Draco Posted November 10, 2017 Author Share Posted November 10, 2017 awesome! Gotta research more on this to see if its one I want Quote Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 They are butt ugly, but work like a charm. If you are gone on vacation, the butt ugly doesn't matter much. However, after 3 to 4 days, they seem spent. Perhaps hatching out a huge amount and leaving them in the tank would be a better solution... Quote Link to comment
Draco Posted November 10, 2017 Author Share Posted November 10, 2017 I am pretty sure I won't be daily hatching them. I know I'll forget or get lazy. but if I can spread it to a few times a week, it'll be better for me. It's something I need to seriously consider before making the jump. I like the idea of hatching and feeding at the same time, so I won't have to hatch, then catch and release. I had scrapped the dreams of owning dwarf ponies long ago, until I saw the auto hatcher from PJ and decided to revisit and see if anything else came out since then. Quote Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 thats kinda why I brought up hatching a massive amount and just dumping them in the tank. Dwarfs are low flow, so I'd imagine brine shrimp wouldn't have a problem. Given enough live rock as cover, and an occasional dosing of phyto, I imagine brine shrimp would easily reproduce. The biggest hurdle would be getting the right amount of phyto. Not enough to pollute, yet enough to feed a significant population. 1 Quote Link to comment
Draco Posted November 11, 2017 Author Share Posted November 11, 2017 very encouraging! I am breaking down my 9 gal tank, presently FW tank this weekend and will set it up with sand and rock from my 75g tank. Then I will order some macro and such that they'll like and take it from there! Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Draco, I don't want to be a downer but neither the in tank hatchery nor putting a huge amount of brine shrimp to last multiple days will work with dwarf seahorses. I have never kept dwarfs but just like their larger cousins they are extremely prone to infection and disease due to lack of immunity that other fish have. The in tank hatchery is not just a breeding area for baby brine shrimp but also for pathogenic bacteria. Using that is eventually going to allow pathogenic bacteria to take hold and wipe out your herd. The other problem is that bbs is not nutritious enough to be a solitary food, even when it is newly hatched. It should be enriched 12 hours after it has been hatched with Dan's Feed or Vibrance. It is even better if the dwarfs are being supplemented with copepods but that requires a separate culture. The nutrition problem is one of the reasons dumping a lot of bbs wont work for multiple days. After the bbs use up their egg sacs they are nutrtionally barren and that is in about 12 hours. That many bbs give off wastes plus what the dwarf seahorses are giving off is going to degrade the water quality and ALL seahorses need excellant water quality. There just is no easy way to address this which is why I do not have them. Feeding them is rigorous and I know I can't do it long term. 22 minutes ago, Draco said: very encouraging! I am breaking down my 9 gal tank, presently FW tank this weekend and will set it up with sand and rock from my 75g tank. Then I will order some macro and such that they'll like and take it from there! Oops I meant your quote to be for my above comment. Quote Link to comment
Draco Posted November 11, 2017 Author Share Posted November 11, 2017 Hmm thanks for sharing that! Discouraged again but if you are right then it’s a direction I should not go in im going to read more. Regardless my tank will be marine related if not ponies 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted November 11, 2017 Share Posted November 11, 2017 Fusejaw.com and seahorse.org are 2 good sites to read about all things seahorse related. 1 Quote Link to comment
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