Anyone keep seahorses?
- Thread starter Miss Lily
- Start date
elrojo
New Member
I've produced Kellogi and Kuda, but the babies were problematic. They aren't too terribly tough to raise, but need slow water flow, very clean water, and preferably a tall tank to a long one for breeding. They do best in species tanks, tank mates make everything more difficult. Also, once you get them feeding on frozen foods, NEVER give them live! I've had many that would sooner starve than eat frozen once given a live "treat." Raising babies is much tougher than larger ones. If it's your first seahorse, pay the extra $ for a tank-raised juvie at least 2.5 inches snout to tip. Look for white blotches on any in a pet shop tank, and avoid those. Baby Kellogi are generally dark brown when doing well, though will fade with mood. This species has done best for me.
elrojo
New Member
Thanks! No surprise folks who like chameleons would gravitate towards these. Slow moving, color and pattern can change, challenging and different! If anyone interested in the species has an MP3 player, Talkingreef.com has one of the best overviews to seahorse husbandry you'll find. Pretty sure they are free in Itunes, but if anyone has a hard time finding it, let me know and I'll dig up a link.
krbshappy71
Member
I have always wanted to get into salt water/sea horses etc. but the startup is so intimidating for me. Thanks for the info.
asianer
New Member
They do take a bit of care and time as they need to be fed 2x a day with supplements. Mine were trained to eat frozen Mysis shrimp but I did occasionally give them live treats with no issues of them rejecting the frozen afterwards. The babies were nearly impossible to raise as you need to basically feed them food that is one step removed from phytoplankton. I had a pretty crazy laboratory in my small NYC condo - In one corner I had phytoplankton brewing, next to the stove I had a few rotifer and baby brimp shrimp hatcheries going on and a couple of 10g nurseries running simultaneously. To top this all off the parents were producing every 16 days (Hundreds of babies). Needless to say this was very time-consuming but also extremely fun and rewarding!
elrojo
New Member
Nice work, Asianer! What food source did you start them on? I was trying to cultivate copepods, but they consumed them faster than I could even produce prolific reef bugs! My final trick to get any to live was just to focus on a few and keep throwing the food at them. They sure are a labor of love. How big did your Reidi get before breeding? (Oh, I don't need another labor intensive project!)
PantherVeileD
Avid Member
I used to have dwarf seahorses.
http://www.seahorseworld.com/category_s/1.htm
They were really tiny and from what I remember and will have to agree chameleons are a lot easier to care for then seahorses.
http://www.seahorseworld.com/category_s/1.htm
They were really tiny and from what I remember and will have to agree chameleons are a lot easier to care for then seahorses.
asianer
New Member
Elrojo, I initially used baby brine shrimp as a first food but had better survival rates using rotifers. That trick you used is known as culling where the smaller/weaker runts are discarded and enabling you to concentrate on the ones with better chances of survival - I don't like killing anything so I just tried raising them all. The Reidi's were about 8 months old when they started breeding - The male was about 6" from snout to tail-tip and the female was about 5".
James L. - Thanks
Miss Lily - I have to admit that the initial setup was a bit intimidating but retrospect my love and appreciation for seahorses was worth the effort, as I'm sure many of the chameleon keepers on here can relate.
Pantherveiled - Dwarf seahorses are a different story altogether - I believe they only eat live food but are very cool nonetheless. I give you credit for trying to raise them!
General Question - Are prices usually better at reptile shows than online or at the local pet shop? I'm just not sure I can wait until the next NY show in September. If anyone has a setup for sale please PM me.
elrojo
New Member
What type set-up are you looking for? Forgive me if I missed that post. Outside of glass tanks, gravel, too heavy to ship stuff etc., I feel sure I (or someone else/sponsor here) could offer you a better deal than pet shop retail.
Back to seahorses! As for hatchling brine shrimp, those were WAY too big for the two species I worked with out of the pouch. They'd eat them, but it took a lot of work on their part. And I'm a BIG fan of culling, even with reptiles. Anyway 'pods seemed perfect, but the commercially available tiger pods were too fast-moving to be reliable (unless you dumped a whole $15 bottle 3X daily), and it was 2-3 weeks before newly hatched brine was a staple, to memory. PE Mysis shrimp were the ideal food once they would accept frozen, even though I had to chop them for juvies. It seemed to put on growth like nothing else. I'm really surprised to hear you took reliable frozen eaters and gave them "live treats" with no issues. It was few and far between when I would get normal feeding repsonses from mine after switching them over and then offering live adult brine shrimp, etc. Enough that I made it a rule to never do it again, anyway! If I could only hit the lottery, oh the hobbies I would have...
Back to seahorses! As for hatchling brine shrimp, those were WAY too big for the two species I worked with out of the pouch. They'd eat them, but it took a lot of work on their part. And I'm a BIG fan of culling, even with reptiles. Anyway 'pods seemed perfect, but the commercially available tiger pods were too fast-moving to be reliable (unless you dumped a whole $15 bottle 3X daily), and it was 2-3 weeks before newly hatched brine was a staple, to memory. PE Mysis shrimp were the ideal food once they would accept frozen, even though I had to chop them for juvies. It seemed to put on growth like nothing else. I'm really surprised to hear you took reliable frozen eaters and gave them "live treats" with no issues. It was few and far between when I would get normal feeding repsonses from mine after switching them over and then offering live adult brine shrimp, etc. Enough that I made it a rule to never do it again, anyway! If I could only hit the lottery, oh the hobbies I would have...
PantherVeileD
Avid Member
I think asianer is looking for a chameleon setup not sea horses.
All this talk about sea horses makes me want to try them again!
Yeah from what I recall those drawf indeed ONLY eat live food. They gave live birth and I had some babies.
All this talk about sea horses makes me want to try them again!
Yeah from what I recall those drawf indeed ONLY eat live food. They gave live birth and I had some babies.
asianer
New Member
Looking for something around a 16 x 16 x 36 setup including lighting for a live plant. And maybe a chameleon or two
In the 3rd pic that I posted you can actually see the baby brine shrimp (BBS) being digested by the babies. I never got far enough to be able to wean the seahorses to frozen but I hear the growth rate is exponentially faster then the first few weeks on live food. Isn't it strange how the seahorses become finicky with the brand of mysis shrimp you use? Mine would not eat anything besides San Francisco Brand, but the PE mysis is typically larger so I guess that makes a little sense. The only issue I had when I fed them gut-loaded adult brine shrimp was that they would temporarily forget where their feeding station was but in a day or two they would be dancing and greeting me right by the clamshell I used as their feeding trough.
Deja vu - I just had a conversation with someone today that if I hit the lottery I would just pursue all of my hobbies.
Also, if you ever want to sell any of your runt chameleons I'm sure people would be willing to take them off your hands, myself included.
asianer
New Member
You are correct, I should have been more clear, thanks!
If you ever want to get back in I am friendly with some fish dealers and a breeder or two Perhaps you might want to go with a larger breed as they are easier to maintain.
If you ever want to get back in I am friendly with some fish dealers and a breeder or two
Perhaps you might want to go with a larger breed as they are easier to maintain.I think asianer is looking for a chameleon setup not sea horses.
All this talk about sea horses makes me want to try them again!
Yeah from what I recall those drawf indeed ONLY eat live food. They gave live birth and I had some babies.
elrojo
New Member
Looking for something around a 16 x 16 x 36 setup including lighting for a live plant. And maybe a chameleon or two
Probably best to order from a site sponsor. I sell the stuff, but seldom ship and wouldn't want to step on any toes. As for chameleons, all I produce are veileds, and all are pretty tiny right now.
PantherVeileD
Avid Member
Yeah try LLLreptile.com I get most of my cages from them.
