Ponies!!!

[Teresa]

Hi All,

Here are my new dwarf sea horses (5 in total). They are in a two gallon nano with a shrimp/goby pair. Everyone doing great so far . I've got fake plants right now but I'm getting some real macro algae from our wonderful ARC members later today.

Thanks for looking!

T

[+KimP]

Beautiful! Your tank looked way bigger than 2 gallons until I noticed the reef plug in the rock . That really put things in perspective. They're so teeny. It looks great!

[Teresa]

LOL Thanks

Cause I'm a dork - I've been researching the live food I'm feeding the dwarfs. Seahorsesource.com (where I purchased the ponies) was really helpful. They claim they have the best rate of success with 48 hour artemias that have been enriched for 24 hours on their special blend of food - which I purchased. In my research I came across the attached study that I am actually able to understand - good stuff. Now I'm debating about raising rotifers as well. Saltwater is so addicting!!!

T

afs468bba6c1491c.pdf

[Brooks]

Awesome tank!! I love Dwarves!

So you are feeding them enriched artemia, correct?

[+KimP]

LOL Thanks

Cause I'm a dork - I've been researching the live food I'm feeding the dwarfs. Seahorsesource.com (where I purchased the ponies) was really helpful. They claim they have the best rate of success with 48 hour artemias that have been enriched for 24 hours on their special blend of food - which I purchased. In my research I came across the attached study that I am actually able to understand - good stuff. Now I'm debating about raising rotifers as well. Saltwater is so addicting!!!

T

I've gotten all of my seahorses through them too. Really great operation they run, and the owners are incredibly nice and helpful. I agree - saltwater IS so addicting!

[Teresa]

Awesome tank!! I love Dwarves!

So you are feeding them enriched artemia, correct?

Yes, on the recommendation of Abby at seahorsesource.com, I am blending their Dan's feed to enrich the brine shrimp. Right now I have two hatcheries - one a DIY soda bottle, the other a hatchery dish from brineshrimpdirect.com. The soda bottle is actually producing more, but it's not every nice looking or incredibly stable so I might purchase an incubator. Here's the plan for two daily feedings:

In the morning (when I'm always in a rush out the door), I will feed the sea horses newly hatched brine shrimp (i.e. they still have the yoke sack) from the hatchery dish to the sea horses. The hatchery dish has an "automatic sieve" collection cup I just lift out and can then place only the baby brine in the tank.

In the evening (where I have been spending three hours after work feeding everyone - not just sea horses - I think this will get faster) I will take the enriched 48 hour old brine shrimp and run them through a 52 mircon sieve. Then I will scoop out the babies put these into the tank. I then rinse out this container and fill with new salt water. I take the soda bottle hatchery that has newly hatched shrimp (24h since eggs placed in hatchery) and drain contents into the 52 micron sieve (careful to stop before the cysts drain). The caught babies are placed into the enrichment container. Then I blend the enrichment food, run that through the sieve. The enriched the water is run directly into the container with shrimp and the larger pieces stay behind in the sieve to be rinsed down the drain. I place the enrichment container back in my cultivating cabinet (made the setup myself using an under cabinet light, I've got Artemis hatcheries, enrichment container, phyto cultures and a copepod culture - all needing aeration and light). Then repeat next day. I'm thinking about blending enough food for the week tonight and keeping it in a water bottle in the fringe to cut down on time.

Didn't know if you wanted this entire explanation - but I figure it might help someone out. I know I did a ton of searching on different forums to figure this all out.

[Brooks]

Awesome tank!! I love Dwarves!

So you are feeding them enriched artemia, correct?

Yes, on the recommendation of Abby at seahorsesource.com, I am blending their Dan's feed to enrich the brine shrimp. Right now I have two hatcheries - one a DIY soda bottle, the other a hatchery dish from brineshrimpdirect.com. The soda bottle is actually producing more, but it's not every nice looking or incredibly stable so I might purchase an incubator. Here's the plan for two daily feedings:

In the morning (when I'm always in a rush out the door), I will feed the sea horses newly hatched brine shrimp (i.e. they still have the yoke sack) from the hatchery dish to the sea horses. The hatchery dish has an "automatic sieve" collection cup I just lift out and can then place only the baby brine in the tank.

In the evening (where I have been spending three hours after work feeding everyone - not just sea horses - I think this will get faster) I will take the enriched 48 hour old brine shrimp and run them through a 52 mircon sieve. Then I will scoop out the babies put these into the tank. I then rinse out this container and fill with new salt water. I take the soda bottle hatchery that has newly hatched shrimp (24h since eggs placed in hatchery) and drain contents into the 52 micron sieve (careful to stop before the cysts drain). The caught babies are placed into the enrichment container. Then I blend the enrichment food, run that through the sieve. The enriched the water is run directly into the container with shrimp and the larger pieces stay behind in the sieve to be rinsed down the drain. I place the enrichment container back in my cultivating cabinet (made the setup myself using an under cabinet light, I've got Artemis hatcheries, enrichment container, phyto cultures and a copepod culture - all needing aeration and light). Then repeat next day. I'm thinking about blending enough food for the week tonight and keeping it in a water bottle in the fringe to cut down on time.

Didn't know if you wanted this entire explanation - but I figure it might help someone out. I know I did a ton of searching on different forums to figure this all out.

SO glad you did your research!! That is a perfect plan, and it really sounds like you know exactly what you're doing. I am wishing you the best of luck (as if you need it)!

Just keep us updated with pictures.

[Teresa]

Ok first the problem:

I'm feeding the dwarfs the baby shrimp, but they are not eating all of them. I've noticed some older shrimp (3 + days old) still living in the tank - but the nutrition value of these guys goes down by a ton if they are not enriched. I don't want the sea horses eating the older shrimp instead of my new ones. I know the bioload will be a problem eventually too. I ordered a nano canister to help with that and can do more water changes - but the tank is so tiny I don't want to do that many fluctuations.

Here's my proposed solution - I read about this somewhere in my research - can't find the site now of course but here's the jist: A guy made a sea horse feeding station out of mesh so that the shrimp cannot escape, but the sea horse would come over and "suck" out the shrimp.

Here's the question: What size mesh should I buy for the baby shrimp (48 hrs old). Right now I am filtering the hatching water with 53micron sieve. This allows me to separate out the babies, but I don't think it's big enough for the sea horse to suck out the shrimp. I tried this experiment already with a fine mesh media bag and all the baby brine escaped. They recommend 120 microns for separating out adult brine shrimp - is this too big for the babies or too small still for them to escape?? I'm not even sure where to look for this info. Any ideas/advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Teresa

[Teresa]

oh - and yes, I will try to figure out how many they eat within a certain amount of time and only harvest that many shrimp - of course, I have no idea how to figure that out either. Right now I'd rather they have more food than less.

[Teresa]

had my first casualty . found hanging upside down. I'm down to four. I'm gonna test the water and such - but the rest are eating ok. I think (I hope) it was just the stress of shipping. He didn't look bloated or anything - just stiff . If anyone has any idea or recommendations to support the remaining sea horses - advice is always welcome.

[+KimP]

Sorry to hear about that Did you contact Dan or Abbie? They are very nice and easy to talk to, and can help. Also, are you on the dwarf board on seahorse.org? You will certainly get good advice there. Wish I could help, but I have no experience with a nano, nor dwarf seahorses. Sounds like you are well researched and know what you're doing though!

[Teresa]

Here's a video of three of my four sea horses eating 48hr enriched baby brine shrimp. It's from the phone so I apologize it's not cooler with music and such. They do move a tiny bit if you watch the entire two minutes I filmed.

BTW: I love these guys . It's like "where's waldo?" - remember they are only an inch tall and super skinny - literally the size of a paper clip.

Enjoy!

T

[+ACampbell]

Fixed that video for you. Enter it like this:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPzdiQwFNwo[/media]

[Teresa]

Thanks

[JamesL]

Cool video of them eating

[Teresa]

Here are some planted tank photos from my other post, but I figured I should put everything together . The tang heaven red and caulerpa prolifera have since "hit the hay". I figure that's what I get for trying to add everything at once . It still looks cool though

[Teresa]

So 2 of my 4 dwarfs have decided to change color (I'm assuming this is normal?) . . . they are now black/dark green. So I have two white and two black sea horses . I would post pics but they are now truly hidden since they completely match the dark green codium.

[JamesL]

Isn't the color changing natural, in order to blend in with their surroundings?

I had read on a different forum about a person keeping frogfish, and having to put bright colored items in the tank so it would keep its bright yellow color.

[Teresa]

I think so. I like that I now have different colored horses. I just hope my white ones stay white - anyone know of a white macro aglae .

[JamesL]

anyone know of a white macro aglae .

Just bleach some

[Teresa]

Where's waldo is not fun if I can find only 3 out of 4 sea horses !

[JamesL]

I have heard/ready that is a common problem with the dwarf seahorses ... is that they are hard to see.

[+KimP]

I bet it's even harder when they're changing color on ya! I love the pics btw!

[Teresa]

Found him! Now it's your turn to play where's waldo

(sorry all pics are from camera phone)

[Teresa]

Here's two side by side so you can see the color change. All four started out white. Now two are dark green/black, one white, the 4th seems to be changing to a darker shade. Hence the addition of the feather duster cluster. I'm hoping it lightens the tank up a bit.