View Full Version : Feeding problem
Hi all,
Ok, well I posted a thread a week or so back saying my horses won't eat their food.
Now moved them to a bigger tank and can observe 'em better. Squirted mix of mysis, krill and brine shrimp enriched with vitamins.
They seem intersted, but cannot seem to 'catch' the food in their mouths.
What can this be? :(
Hi I see you are having problems getting your seahorses to eat. I suspect the problem is with the high flow rate of your Tunze stream pumps. Seahorses need slow moving water so they can catch the food as it passes by them. They are renowned for being poor swimmers and need hitching posts ie tonga living rock or caulerpas. This will make them feel secure when feeding as they cannot chase around to catch the food. You dont mention what other fish you have as tank mates to the seahorses. They do much better in a species tanks with pipe fish and gobies. My seahorses are fed on frozen mysis and frozen red plankton enriched with vitamins. Just check that the flow rate in the tank could be causing you this problem.
I don't have a tunze streaming over the tank.
The water is fed from a refugium. The water from the seahorse tank then flows back into the main display tank.
Please look at my stats pal!
Hi Viv,
Do you have anything else in the tank with them? Can you get hold of any live brine shrimp or even better small live ghost / river shrimp if possible as you can gut load these prior to feeding,
I would try this as my next move and see what kind of responce you get, I've yet to see a seahorse that wont eat live food when its offerd, unless ofcoarse theres an underlying problem in which case this is one way to ascertain this.
Si
Hi mate are you saying your pair of seahorses are in the 14"cube tank which is only 10gal/45 litres. What species are they.You said you had moved them to a larger tank what size tank are they in now.
Hi Viv,
Do you have anything else in the tank with them? Can you get hold of any live brine shrimp or even better small live ghost / river shrimp if possible as you can gut load these prior to feeding,
I would try this as my next move and see what kind of responce you get, I've yet to see a seahorse that wont eat live food when its offerd, unless ofcoarse theres an underlying problem in which case this is one way to ascertain this.
Si
Thanks again Si.
I'll go and grab some live shrimp and see how they react. Will of course keep you updated.
Hi mate are you saying your pair of seahorses are in the 14"cube tank which is only 10gal/45 litres. What species are they.You said you had moved them to a larger tank what size tank are they in now.
They are Hippocampus kuda- Common seahorses. They are 1.5" in length. no other stock in the nano other than a couple of small crabs, some tongan rock, mushroom, ricordia and pussey coral.
The main tank is 350 litres, with a sump.The main tank houses the tunze, eheim etc. The water from the sump is pumped through a refugoum which in turn flows into the seahorse nano and eventually into the main tank.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q4/DSCN0920.jpg
The main tank. Poor pics- sorry guys, but under actinics and a crap camera!
Hi viv
Do you realise that Kudas grow to 9 inches in height so a 14 inch cube will stress the hell out of them even when they are only youngsters. Height of the tank is the main factor in a seahorse tank as if you watch them they swim mainly up and down. They need a much larger tank. Maybe then they will settle and start feeding. It is not a good idea to feed live foods as they can come dependant on it and then will refuse to take frozen food. You cannot always get live food throughout the whole year apart from brine shrimp which has no nutritional value. I bought my pair from Swallow Aquatics who had 200 seahorses 6 months ago and they were fed exclusively on frozen food. Dylan the manager does not recommend the use of live food for the reason above.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q4/DSCN0921_1.jpg
This is their home. Note the white pipe on the right which flows back into the main display.
Hi viv
Do you realise that Kudas grow to 9 inches in height so a 14 inch cube will stress the hell out of them even when they are only youngsters. Height of the tank is the main factor in a seahorse tank as if you watch them they swim mainly up and down. They need a much larger tank. Maybe then they will settle and start feeding. It is not a good idea to feed live foods as they can come dependant on it and then will refuse to take frozen food. You cannot always get live food throughout the whole year apart from brine shrimp which has no nutritional value. I bought my pair from Swallow Aquatics who had 200 seahorses 6 months ago and they were fed exclusively on frozen food. Dylan the manager does not recommend the use of live food for the reason above.
Yes, I know they grow to 9", but mine are only 1.5"
As per my early post, I had them in the small refugium before moving them to the nano.
Thanks for the advice, but I'm going to tank a punt on Simon's advice. He's succesfully kept his for ages and I have followed many of his tips/advice which touchwood, today have yet to fail me.
My horses gantly gobbled evry mysis in the tank, but they haven't fed for a while now.
I suspect it maybe something more than just the tank move.
It is not a good idea to feed live foods as they can come dependant on it and then will refuse to take frozen food. You cannot always get live food throughout the whole year apart from brine shrimp which has no nutritional value. I bought my pair from Swallow Aquatics who had 200 seahorses 6 months ago and they were fed exclusively on frozen food. Dylan the manager does not recommend the use of live food for the reason above.
I'm not suggesting that he start feeding the horses on live foods :confused:
What we are trying to do here is to ascertain wether or not they can actualy eat anything at all!
IMO offering them live food periodically is not going to stop them from eating frozen ever again - I have done this many many times past and present without a single problem, infact saying that i feed live foods everyday for my two pipefish which share the same tank, my horses still eat the frozen :)
I have a rocking horse for sale for £50 if you want viv, much easier to care for then seahorses :) just needs a little oil once a year and a brush now and again
RIGHT.
I have come back tonight to find that my female seahorse is dead. Absolutely gutted. I've had her for several months. And as mentioned, I have never seen them eat the mysis.
The tank params all see fine. There was no visible sign of disease at all.
I am baffled and pis*ed off. What could have caused the death? Like I said, I have not seen them eat for ages. Whereas when I first got them and plonked mysis in front of them, they gobbled it like mad.
An expensive lesson, but would be good to know for future what happened.
PS I fear the male may go soon. I have just stuck a mix of mysis/brine/small krill. He goes after the food, but cannot seem to 'bite' at it????
Really sorry to hear this Viv,
I dont know why they would both suddenly stop eating the mysis, its quite unusual for a pair to stop eating at the same time, my "guess" would be stress related, perhaps caused from being kept in the refugium, its very difficult to be more specific to be honest,
My thoughts...
At one and a half inches i would estimate the age to be somewhere around six to nine months old for kuda, Imo this is far too young an age to be sold off at LFS's, unfortunately though its becoming quite a common sight nowdays, my LFS has four tiny horses in at the moment - their so small we can't even work out the species!!
These little juvenile ponys will require a far greater level of care compared to their larger siblings, that together with poor advice given at the time of purchase and many of the buyers being new to seahorse keeping means a very bleak outlook for many of these little fellows.
(Just my thoughts no offence intended to anybody)
How's the remaining pony doing, did you manage to get any live?
Thanks SImon. Almost like bearevement counselling! Whilst I have been pead off with fish dieing, I seem more gutted about the ponies.
The Male pony is swimming after the mysis, but seems to have difficulty 'chomping' at the shrimps.
Defintely no offence tanken Si, just good to hear what advice you may have!
Just my quick tuppence worth
Firstly very sorry to hear of the loss
At that size yes - Simons absolutely right they sound like very young seahorses however, have you completely ruled out the possibility they are the Kuda hybrids? Even at adult size these are 2". The main issue with these though is they are increadibly difficult to keep long term and very suceptable to disease, weak snick, vibro etc, (Ironically the young are quite easy to raise).
If, as you say they are having difficulty chomping then sounds like weak snick to me which can be brought on by a number of things, low calcium, stress, pulled muscle, parasite, bacterial infection. You have never mentioned whether they lost weight was she very pinched when she died? If not it sounds quite stress related (these kuda hybrids are very suceptable to stress)
Sorry mate, doesn't help much but something might ring a bell.
Hi Fin,
I cannot confess to be a species expert like you and Si, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were hybrids.
And yes, the female did look rather empacipated and thin. And she looked as she was losing weight/lost weight.
I appreciate that there is no such thing as an easy pony to keep, but for next time, what would you suggest?
And any more clues to why the lack of apetite and ultimately her death?
Just my quick tuppence worth
Firstly very sorry to hear of the loss
At that size yes - Simons absolutely right they sound like very young seahorses however, have you completely ruled out the possibility they are the Kuda hybrids? Even at adult size these are 2". The main issue with these though is they are increadibly difficult to keep long term and very suceptable to disease, weak snick, vibro etc, (Ironically the young are quite easy to raise).
If, as you say they are having difficulty chomping then sounds like weak snick to me which can be brought on by a number of things, low calcium, stress, pulled muscle, parasite, bacterial infection. You have never mentioned whether they lost weight was she very pinched when she died? If not it sounds quite stress related (these kuda hybrids are very suceptable to stress)
Sorry mate, doesn't help much but something might ring a bell.
Hya Viv
I'm starting to think parasite, bacteria or stress - so difficult to tell. There have been some tiny Kuda in the Country lately and so far (as far as I know) most people have been struggling with them. TMC Reidi are a bit hit and miss but on the whole are generally quite robust. I'm having real joy with comes at the moment who seem fine (although the books state they are quite fragile) - oh and nocturnal so pretty boring as well!
Thanks Fin.
Well next call is for Reidi ponies!
The Male pony is swimming after the mysis, but seems to have difficulty 'chomping' at the shrimps.
Sorry late reply,
Unfortunately imo the outlook is'nt very good for the male either i'm afraid, after not eating for several days a seahorses digestive system starts to shut down, once it reaches a certain stage it can never recover again and ultimately the pony starves to death, tube-feeding can be carried out in some cases to keep the digestive system going, Imo, I dont feel this pony would benifit from this intrusive procedure at this point (the time span here is too long) however if you feel different let me know and i'll post the instructions,
With seahorses in general, its important to monitor them closely and act immediately as soon as a problem is suspected, they usually go downhill very quickly,
My thoughts here are Weak-Snick which can often be treated successfully with a FW dip if spotted early enough, weak-snick can be caused by high levels of ammonia, bacterial / parasitic infections, damage to the inner snout or a stuck trigger, the latter one being visible.
Not much help now i know but always good to know for the future,
Thanks Fin.
Well next call is for Reidi ponies!
Not the best time i know but maybe able to help there Viv, I know of someone shutting down their tank at present, I believe there are three Reidi which are now in need of a good home, not too far from you either, let me know if their of interest and i'll pass the details on.
Not the best time i know but maybe able to help there Viv, I know of someone shutting down their tank at present, I believe there are three Reidi which are now in need of a good home, not too far from you either, let me know if their of interest and i'll pass the details on.
PM'd you Simon.
Hi i have just found this post.Sorry to hear about your seahorses not eating.Most of these small kuda seahorses in the shops are raised in the uk and are very interbred so they are quite weak and easerly become ill.They are Kuda Fuscus crosses .So its an uphill battle to keep them alive.I no sailfin has done really well with them but most people seem to loose them.There are alot of other seahorses which are alot stronger and easyer to keep.Allso if you are feeding the seahorse tank from a reef tank it may be worth while runing the water through a uv to be on the safe sideYes, I know they grow to 9", but mine are only 1.5"
As per my early post, I had them in the small refugium before moving them to the nano.
Thanks for the advice, but I'm going to tank a punt on Simon's advice. He's succesfully kept his for ages and I have followed many of his tips/advice which touchwood, today have yet to fail me.
My horses gantly gobbled evry mysis in the tank, but they haven't fed for a while now.
I suspect it maybe something more than just the tank move.
My whole tank is uv'd
The tank in general is in great shape- to the point where the clowns are now spawning.
The horse is in its own nano with no other occupants apart from simple soft corals which is fed from the main tank (see page 1-2 for photos)
Yes, you may be right. The snicking problem is due to crap breeding.
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