seahorses not eating

MRETTIN283

MRETTIN283

New Member
I have 5 seahorses and 3 of them will not eat the mysis. They eat the copepods in the tank. Ive had them for about a month now and they still wont eat. They are pritty skinny and im woried about them. Two of them are doing great but I dont know how I can get the others too eat. any suggestions?
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Are they captive bred or wild caught? What kind of seahorses and how is your tank set up. What are the parameters and age of the tank as well as temp ranges?
Hopefully we can figure it out with you.
 
MRETTIN283

MRETTIN283

New Member
they are wild caught I got them in florida. The tank is a reef tank but I dont have much in there. The water is good and the tank is about 8 months old. I know your not suppose to have them in reef tanks but they were doing pritty good. Seems they have plenty of copepods to eat but it doesnt seem to be anough.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Wild caught is tough. You are going to need to get some live food for them and try to train them to eat the mysis.
Hopefully Matt will pop in and give you details on how or when I get home I have links for it.
What is the temp and parameters of the tank. Anything else in the tank? What kind of flow and filtration do you have?
All of these are very important for seahorses.
 
MRETTIN283

MRETTIN283

New Member
I have top to bottom live rock in a 125 gal. Some softies and shrooms. Water flow looks good no major current, they do not seem to be stressed or sick they just hang out. I hear them at night eating the tiny shrimp but it doesnt seem to be enough. There is plenty of live in the tank for them to eat but it seem like the ones that eat the mysis are more full.
 
Varga

Varga

Well-Known Member
try live brine mixed with frozen brine, gradually decrease the amount of live and increase the amount of frozen. works for dragnets :)
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Brine can get them started eating but it has very little nutrition so you don't want to use it long term.
What other livestock is in the tank and what temp is it?
Meanwhile I will try to find some links here.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
They can and likely will eat live brine but there is little to no nutrition in brine so it is not a long term diet. It could help short term though.
 
panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Well-Known Member
If they are wild caught out of Florida then they are Hippocampus erectus. Looking at the pics in your gallery I am positive of that ID. You need to get them some live foods such as grass shrimp or live mysis. They will quickly destroy the pod population that you have.

My suggestion would be to get them into a separate tank and get them eating. Do this in a bare bottom QT tank so that you can keep track of how much they are eating.

While they are in the QT tank I would also suggest setting up a tank just for them once they come out of QT. The tank you have them in now is a death trap with the clowns, clams and anemones. Those 3 things alone can/will either kill the seahorses directly or stress them so much they will not eat and either starve or develop a bacterial infection due to the increased stress levels.

If you already know a reef tank is not a proper environment for them why keep them in there?
 
panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Well-Known Member
Varga said:
they dont eat live brine ???!!!! I have yet to see anything that doesnt eat them
Click to expand...

It is very common for seahorses to not eat live brine. They are picky eaters to begin with and normally don't recognize brine as a food source.
 
MRETTIN283

MRETTIN283

New Member
Water is 82. I do have a maroon clown but it is a tiny male that doesnt mess with the seahorses. I know he shouldnt be in there but he is not aggressive at all. I will try the brine and i guess if they get hungry enough they will eat. I think i am breaking all the rules for keeping seahorses such as a reef tank, and clown fish but I thought it was working.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
82 is way to hot for seahorses. They need water 72-76. If not they are very likely to get a bacterial infection. (Mine did and died)
Even if we don't count the clown the anemone can easily sting the horses and the clam can close up on their tail. The other problem is food competition. The seahorses eat so slowly that the rest of the tank gets all of the food and the horses never get a chance. Matt is a very good seahorse expert. Your horses will have a much better chance if you follow his direction. He has saved horses for many of us by telling us what we were doing wrong so we could fix it.
 
panmanmatt

panmanmatt

Well-Known Member
MRETTIN283 said:
I will try the brine and i guess if they get hungry enough they will eat.
Click to expand...

This couldn't be farther from the truth. They would sooner starve then eat something they are not used to.

Just an FYI, seahorses can only go 3-4 days without food before their internal organs start shutting down and they waste away. If you do not get them some appropriate foods today they may never start eating again and will die. From the looks of the pics in your gallery it may already be too late for some of them.
 
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