Lynn's 90 gallons of Sunshine

[lcstorc]

Well it is getting close to that time. I am almost ready for my first ponies to go into the tank.
Matt, I forget what type you recommended that I get. I know we were talking about 3 pair in the tank but there was a specific breed that you thought would be better for me. I would love to have the option of attempting to raise fry though not soon. I remember you said one species the fry can't hitch so they are harder to raise. Of course I will be getting them from Seahorse Source and my timeline will be determined by when he has what I want but at this point you have convinced me to trust him so I am afraid to go anywhere else. ) I want the best most healthy ponies possible to start out with.
I will call him after the new year since that is when I will be ready. I can wait though for the right animals. This has been a long build anyway so waiting a few more months if necessary is no problem.

[michael_cb_125]

Awesome!!! I cant wait to see that tank full of little ponies. Now all you need are some little sea peoples to ride them sea ponies.

[lcstorc]

Please no! My husband has talked about putting saddles on them since I first got seahorses. I told him he could photoshop away but leave my ponies alone.
Maybe the skimmerpeople can ride them. My cleaner shrimp used to. Never did get a pic of that.

[panmanmatt]

Lynn.

The tank is looking great. Your patience is paying off, things are coming together nicely. It will be well worth the wait I am sure. The species I recommended was H. erectus of the southern variety.

[ayef12]

I didn't know you could get starfire on an off the shelf tank... I recently did a 700G 10" custom freshwater african cichlid tank for a school lobby that was 3/4" starfire. But that baby cost over 10k.

[lcstorc]

Mine sure wasn't that much. It is an Oceanic 90g Tech tank. I believe they all come with Starfire for the front glass. I am not sure but I think the sides are regular glass or my eyes playing tricks on me.

[Dentoid]

Great new additions! It's good to see some life! Can't wait to see the new ponies and blue spot!

[lcstorc]

As the time gets closer I have more and more questions. LOL I thought I had done my research and I have but questions keep coming up.
First, has anyone tried a feeding station?
I have read about them and love the idea but when I tried with my previous ponies the mysis just floated out of the station. How do you keep the food in so they can eat from it throughout the day while I am at work.
Also I am confused about mysis and mysid shrimp. The only ones that are available locally are Hikari mysis which is what I used previously. Now I found PE Mysis and they look a lot better and have a much better protein content but I hear they are freshwater and not salt. Any suggestion on what their primary diet should be? I want to be sure to be ready when my babies come home. Ok I swear only one more in this post. I know I need to quarrantine and have a 10g tank to do so. Do I need to treat them with anything during the QT or just observe and monitor.
Thanks for all of your help.

[panmanmatt]

1). Soak the food in saltwater before feeding. This will make the food sink. Freshwater will cause it to float. You will have to train the horses to eat from the feeding dish, QT is a great time for this then just transfer the dish to the display tank with them. You really don't want the food laying in the dish all day as it will start to break down and rot.

2). I feed Hikari myself as that is what my horses eat the best. PE is larger and is a FW shrimp. I know Dan uses both but is slowly converting over to Hikari as the price of PE is going up again. I would personally stick with the Hikari.

3) Just observe and feed. QT is the time to doing any food training and makw sure they are eating and healthy. It will also give you and your horses time to get acquainted without the distractions of other fish.


You will hopefully always have questions so don't worry abut asking them.

[lcstorc]

I know I said that was the last question but here I am with one more.
The return for this tank is not very strong at all which is great for the ponies. I do however have a number of dead spots behind the rocks and low down on the substrate. I am leary of powerheads since the tails or even ponies can get sucked in. Is there anything else I can try? I was thinking maybe another pump in the sump but this one feeding a manifold or spraybar. Not sure that will get down to the bottom though.
Any ideas?

[panmanmatt]

You can go with either a closed loop, Melev has one on his site for use on a non-drilled tank.
Melevsreef.com - Closed Loop

Or you can up the size of your return pump and add more outlets and a spray bar to reach those dead spots.

[kathywithbirds]

ponies ponies ponies!!! Matt lent me a book... there's more species than you see in LFSs and they're COOL. For some reason I'm drawn to the pipefish. Are you considering any pipefish/horses for tankmates Lynn?

[lcstorc]

No I am not considering pipefish. From what I understand they are allmost all wild caught and can bring in parasites that the Captive Bred ponies are succeptible to.
I am very excited today. Progress is finally happening. I spoke with a really nice lady at Seahorsesource.com about getting my first ponies. Sine I will be out of town at the end of Jan she is going to hold my order until early Feb when I will be here to pay more attention. Hubby is fine for maintenance and feeding but I want to be here in case something goes wrong.
Now for the help I need. I know I need to QT these guys and have a 10g tank that I am about to start cycling for that purpose. Hubby keeps telling me it is unnecessary since they are the first ones in the tank and are coming from a very reputable source.
I've explained to him about watching to be sure they eat but can't at the moment think of other ways to convince him. I am going to do it regardless but it would be easier if I have him onboard with the plan.

[panmanmatt]

The lady you spoke with was most likely Abby, she is one of the owners, along with her husband Dan and his sister Debbie. Abby handles most of the orders right now.

Yes they are the first and yes they are coming from a reputable source but should still be quarantined for a short period of time for the reasons you stated.

Also these guys are going to be fairly small when you get them, probably in the 4 inch range. You will wan to make sure the are eating in a smaller tank before they go into the 90. That is a lot of real estate to try and watch a couple small ponies in.

Besides it will be much easier training them to use a feeding dish in the QT tank. This will lead to less wasted food and better water quality in the 90. I will try to come up with a more convincing argument if you need me to.

Are you picking them up or having them shipped?

[Terri]

Matt we should let them know always have a sponge over the intake . That's how i lost my pony. And i want you to know i love the BS i got from you. they all hatched. Thanks again