How to feed seahorses in a dish???

[saltyell]

I found this pictureon the net, and underneath it said
If the seahorse will take frozen food, a feeding tray can be used, mainly to cut down on the amount of organic waste in the tank. A feeding tray can come in many sizes and forms, but overall is a small dish with a tube attached to lower the food into the dish. The seahorses will eventually learn to come to the dish to get their meal. Seahorses need to be fed at least one time a day, if not two. Seahorses have no stomach, only an intestinal tract. This causes the seahorse to eat on a more frequent basis since they are not absorbing as much of the nutrient at each feed.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/images/dec2004/seahorse3.jpg

It does not explain fully however how to use a feeding dish??? What does it mean "a tube to lower the food in"????

I would like to use this method when I get my ponies to cut down on the waste, but can anyone explain (in detail if pos) the procedure to feed these beutiful animals in this way???

:thanks:
Elliot :)

[ceg56]

Hi,
Hope you had a good christmas firstly.

Secondly I don't have seahorses, so hopefully someone else will be able to give you proper details (free bump).

I should imagine that the dish is left on the bottom of the tank (or put there for each feeding session) and the tube could be a piece of airline/or other tubing and the food is put in this to guide it to the dish and not allowed to disperse within the tank (target feeding as such - the dish??).

Hope you get the help you need - good luck!!

[saltyell]

Thanks mate for the input, it is puzzling me so i hope some SH keepers come on here quick! :D

[Sailfin]

Hya Salty

I use this method in some of my seahorse tanks and not others. Some seahorses just completely ignore the dish and go charging off after the escaped bits instead.

Even though there is flow in the tank there will be areas where the flow is less and the food, if just lobbed in, will settle in this area. Find that area first by throwing some mysis in and watching. Ideally there should be some hitching posts at that place so the seahorses don't have to cross a big open space to get their dinner.

When you have identified the spot where the food settles put a glass dish, deep scallop shell or whatever to act as the food trough (I happen to use two of my mums old crystal avocado dishes, its amazing what you find when they go on holiday, two weeks after them being in the tanks she didn't want them back!)

This is where the tube comes into it. If there are other fish in the tank throw some food in for them first to keep them occupied. Get your tube (I use some rigid 1" diameter tube begged from the lfs) and make sure its long enough to go from the top of the food dish to outside the top of the tank. Hold it in place so its just above the food dish. Suck some food up into a turkey baster and squeeze the food out of the baster into the tube. It will take a bit of time but hold the tube in place and the mysis will fall down the tube and into the dish. Then carefully remove the tube.

All the tube is doing is guiding the mysis into the dish so it doesn't float off anywhere. It could take a few days for the seahorses to realize whats going on but they'll cotton on eventually. Mine now see the tube and grab it with their tails, then slide down it following the mysis as it goes to the dish.

hope that helps - let me know if there's anything you're still not clear on.

I would have put some pics up for you but my camera didn't make it through Christmas :(

[Allan59]

Try pm'ing Sailfin - she's very good on seahorses or ring Simply Seahorses they are more than willing to give good advice to beginners as well as experts - HTH
Looks like she bet me to it :laugh:

[ceg56]

Thanks mate for the input, it is puzzling me so i hope some SH keepers come on here quick! :D

Your very welcome and good luck with the seahose tank.
Happy New Year!!

[saltyell]

Thanks guys! :D
I am very excited, in fact TOMORROW I am getting Live rock and maybe the first fish (a neon goby) in the SH tank . :D
So it must be in an area of little to no flow, so the food must not move, and the SHs need hitching posts near the dish?
:thanks:

[Sailfin]

Hya Salty

You're quite right - the dish should be in an area of little flow so the food doesn't get blown out. It doesn't matter if it moves around in the dish as long as it doesn't get blown out. Yes the seahorses will feel mush more secure if there are hitching posts near the dish.

Forgive me, I have lost track of where you are with this tank now, is it already cycled? I'm just a bit confused with you saying your adding live rock and a fish at the same time?

[saltyell]

well I cycled the tank a year ago. It had sponges ceramics and bioballs. I put the water in. 1 year later its brought me to now (it has had fish go in and out -qt)
So lfs say just add live rock and then livestock just after. Water is filtered and all, I am just going to need to do a big water change before i add anything.
The new filter will be LR, sponges, carbon (on an infrequent basis) rowaphos and sometimes purigen. :)

[Sailfin]

Ah yes - sorry mate I remember now! (Old age setting in - memory goes!)

Just be careful you don't get a mini ammonia/nitrite spike with the live rock as depending on how long its out of the water for there may be a little bit of die off.

Good luck with it mate :)

[saltyell]

Thanks, pics soon to go on the seahorse tank thread :)
I added 25 kilos to my 40 gal tank when previously it just had ocean rock, it wwas A-OK (tho itwas a risk) I will be testing all perams oh h oh i am so excited this one is even more exciting than when i did m ref because I have a bit more knack & hopefully it wont all go peaar shaped :clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap: