Seahorse Bullying

[Joanna]

I noticed something disturbing this morning (when I finally got up). Two of my Seahorses were doing their courting ritual and another male was pecking at the male that was doing the courting (I think he was after the female). :( I have never seen him do this before but it's a little upsetting as this particular 'bully' lost his mate a while back to an evil crab that was hitching in our live rock (now in crab hell)! Has anyone else seen this happen as I know that Seahorses are usually peaceful creatures? :confused:

Joanna

[saltyell]

Uh -Oh! A love triangle!! [they never seem to work out :p]

Why don't you get him a new mate?? Or could you isolate the one for a little while?
I do not know much about this, in fact Ive never kept seahorses before! :p [but will do :)]
I would suggest keep an eye on them and consider getting him a 'bird' :lol: in order to content him.

Shame about your recent loss, did you find the evil crab ? :(

[Joanna]

Uh -Oh! A love triangle!! [they never seem to work out :p]

Why don't you get him a new mate?? Or could you isolate the one for a little while?
I do not know much about this, in fact Ive never kept seahorses before! :p [but will do :)]
I would suggest keep an eye on them and consider getting him a 'bird' :lol: in order to content him.

Shame about your recent loss, did you find the evil crab ? :(

There are enough females but he obviously wanted THAT one. Two of the females that are unattached are quite small so maybe not yet ready for the courtship thing. I really don't know. I'll be keeping an eye on him though! It's a bit tragic really. :rip:

Oh yes, we found the crab .... that's why I said that it's in crab hell! :hammer: I don't like to destroy anything but there's some things in life that are just pure evil. :mad:

Joanna

[saltyell]

HHmm... hopefully he'll take to the others eventually. :)
Good thing the crab has gone. How do you make sure your LR really is seahorse safe before you get the SHs?

[Joanna]

HHmm... hopefully he'll take to the others eventually. :)
Good thing the crab has gone. How do you make sure your LR really is seahorse safe before you get the SHs?

I hope so. Maybe he was having an 'off' day or really wants to have babies. :o

I don't know how you can make your LR safe apart from maybe setting up traps to see what you catch. Apparently RO water is supposed to flush out any critters but I haven't tried it so can't comment if it works or not. Crabs are stubborn critters though and can be hiding in the tunnels of the rocks and you might not even know they are there for months! :mad: If you happen to see any crabs (not hermits) get them out whatever! Little crabs grow!

Joanna

[saltyell]

KK. I hear clicking too, but I have a suspicion its just a pistol shrimp. So I'll add the neon goby first, and ...er... see what happens :blush:

[Joanna]

KK. I hear clicking too, but I have a suspicion its just a pistol shrimp. So I'll add the neon goby first, and ...er... see what happens :blush:

Yes, do that. Why don't you set up a trap too and see if you can catch anything before you put the Seahorses in? If you have hermits in there you might catch them but they can be released. :D

Joanna

[saltyell]

yeah. In fact I'll make a trap before I put the hermits in to make things easier. So, I have a trap I used to catch bristleworms (actually a sera snail trap for trop tanks) but it did work. I'll bait that tonight- but what with?

[Joanna]

yeah. In fact I'll make a trap before I put the hermits in to make things easier. So, I have a trap I used to catch bristleworms (actually a sera snail trap for trop tanks) but it did work. I'll bait that tonight- but what with?

Prawn? You might need to tie it with cotton to a bit of rock or something to stop it floating.

Joanna

[saltyell]

I used prawn last time but I do not have any in the house :lol: what else can I use?O shall I just wait till we go to the fishmongers :lol:?

[Joanna]

I don't know, I'd stick with prawn when you can get some. :whistling:

Joanna

[saltyell]

yeah, you know my thoughts on prawns lol :lol: Will steak work?? :p

[Joanna]

yeah, you know my thoughts on prawns lol :lol: Will steak work?? :p

Probably not a good idea. Since when have you known marine life get cow in the wild! :laugh:

Joanna

[saltyell]

:lol:
will get some prawn then [sigh...] :lol: :p

[rt456]

When the bristle worms get out of control i dip some of the rocks i see them in. I use some hypersaline RO water and add some lugols iodine, and leave for 15ish minutes, all the living stuff runs out of the rock, then rinse the rock in normal tank water then add it back to the tank. Seems to work well always gets a lots of worms and other bits out and doesn't cause any small cycling in the, if you don't have any fish in yet might be a preventative measure?

[saltyell]

hhmmm good idea.

I just baited a trap that Ive used to catch bristleworms, hopefully the "thing" (pistol shrimp - or mantis :eek) will take some interest.

[denise.gardner]

hi joanna i sometimes get this with my youngest male as the female that s supposed to be his mate is on the small side and hasnt mated yet.seahorses are supposed to be monogomus but sometimes when the female is gravid with eggs and the proper mate hasnt had his babies or is in labour it can send another male abit cuckoo especially since he has lost his mate.have ive never known them to cause any real injury to each other they tend to sulk for awhile.as soon as she lays her eggs he will calm down more then likely already has .how many pairs have you got?elliot try using a bit of mysis shrimp in your trap put it in unfrozen thats what i use for bristle worms.what kind of crab was t that you had joanna the only things i got in my live rock where bristle worms and brittle starfish oh and aiptasia

[Joanna]

hi joanna i sometimes get this with my youngest male as the female that s supposed to be his mate is on the small side and hasnt mated yet.seahorses are supposed to be monogomus but sometimes when the female is gravid with eggs and the proper mate hasnt had his babies or is in labour it can send another male abit cuckoo especially since he has lost his mate.have ive never known them to cause any real injury to each other they tend to sulk for awhile.as soon as she lays her eggs he will calm down more then likely already has .how many pairs have you got?elliot try using a bit of mysis shrimp in your trap put it in unfrozen thats what i use for bristle worms.what kind of crab was t that you had joanna the only things i got in my live rock where bristle worms and brittle starfish oh and aiptasia

Hi Denise

Thanks, Mercury has behaved himself for the rest of the day. I've got 4 males and 6 females. There are 2 definate pairs, maybe 3. There was one more until the female got murdered by the crab. :( We didn't know what crab it was but it got brave and started to show itself and we actually saw it try to snip another Seahorse's tail. We pulled a load of rocks out to get it as it was in a bottom one. We have a bit of aiptasia damn it too.

Joanna

[denise.gardner]

with the aiptasia have you got a true peppermint shrimp that should get rid of it ive tried aiptasiax but it doesnt work they come back.i thinktheres a film about something like that

[Joanna]

with the aiptasia have you got a true peppermint shrimp that should get rid of it ive tried aiptasiax but it doesnt work they come back.i thinktheres a film about something like that

We bought 2 but I rarely ever see them. I asked if they were true ones and the LFS said yes but the pictures in my book were so difficult to tell the difference that I can't be sure.

Joanna

[denise.gardner]

joes juice is supposed to work but i dont know if id use it with the seahorses.i went to southend on 31 and picked up two banded pipes and a manderine

[saltyell]

Im getting some pepps for my reef. Id also like a mandarin dragonet for the SH tank - is this possible?

[denise.gardner]

i would let the tank mature for another month wait until its stocked for a little while because they like mature tanks.

[saltyell]

KK thats cool.

Anyway LFS getting some stock today. They also got the books (thanks Joanna :D) . Hopefully they'll get my neon goby and reidi seahorse pair today :) If so then the neon goby will come in the my tank staright away - the LFS will hold te SHs for a bit to get them feeding well and to allow me to make sure my SH tank is mantis freee (sorry little neon goby :blush:)

:thumbsup:
Exciting this :)

[Sailfin]

Hya

It's actually quite common with captive seahorses for a bit of bullying to be going on. Although in the wild seahorses are generally monogamous this is usually not the case in tanks.

I have regularly seen either a frustrated male snicking at the courting male or a frustrated male/female snicking at the other half during mating. The funniest is when a male is doing his best and the female tries to go off after a mysis. The male will quite often snick the female as if to say OI I'm still here you know!

btw - Joes juice is fine with seahorses, peps can be hit and miss and will never actually rid the whole tank (they farm the aips so they never run out)

Personally I swear by Aipt X - love the stuff

I wouldn't worry too much about bristle worms either - I have half a dozen seahorses in one of my bristleworm tanks and no-one ever comes to any harm (apart from me when I grab them by accident)

[denise.gardner]

hi sailfin thanks for the advice about the aiptasa i nuked it with aiptasiax on friday night i just missed two little ones.i know what you mean when their on heat the poor female ends up hiding.i have to get rid of the bristle because i have a very bad reaction to their stings and am in agony and antibiotics for weeks.thanks for the advice......den

[Joanna]

Hya

It's actually quite common with captive seahorses for a bit of bullying to be going on. Although in the wild seahorses are generally monogamous this is usually not the case in tanks.

I have regularly seen either a frustrated male snicking at the courting male or a frustrated male/female snicking at the other half during mating. The funniest is when a male is doing his best and the female tries to go off after a mysis. The male will quite often snick the female as if to say OI I'm still here you know!

btw - Joes juice is fine with seahorses, peps can be hit and miss and will never actually rid the whole tank (they farm the aips so they never run out)

Personally I swear by Aipt X - love the stuff

I wouldn't worry too much about bristle worms either - I have half a dozen seahorses in one of my bristleworm tanks and no-one ever comes to any harm (apart from me when I grab them by accident)

Thanks for that. :D They seem to have settled again but I'm keeping my beady eye on them.

I've used Joe's Juice in the tank with the seahorses too but now I'm not convinced it's that good as some of the Aiptaisia came back eventually. I might buy some Aipt X at some point too.

Joanna