New here and SH trouble

[Marinababy]

Hey all I've recently bought a couple of female barbouri horses. My main concern is that they are not interested in the frozen mytsis shrimp we are feeding them. Mum is really worried that they are going to starve to death if they aren't going to get anything in them.

The shop we got them from had live brine in the tank just swimming around till they got hungry but the assistant told us this was a once in awhile thing and they mostly eat frozen. I'm thinking that they are only happy eating live as when we put the frozen right in front of them the horses just watch it fall to the bottom and swims away.

What should we do? Go out and buy live or let the frozen fall.

Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are 0. salanity is 1.024 and PH is 8.2

[Loverotties]

Get some live and get them eatting!

[aquawolf]

Welcome to TRT!!!

Sorry, but this is not very good news at all. You do need to get them eating as soon as possible. You may need to try some of the live brine from the store. It may also help to soak the mysis shrimp in some Selcon and see if they will take it then.

How much flow do you have in the tank? If you have enough to keep the mysis shrimp suspended in the water column for a little while when you dump them in that may help as well. The seahorses may actually think they are swimming even though they are not.

I wish you the best in getting them to eat and am hoping you will be able to keep them going.

[Siberman]

1) What size are your seahorses?

2) What temperature is your tank?

3) Are they captive-bred (tank raised) or wild caught?

Go ahead and buy the live brine shrimp if they were indeed eating them. One thing I've learned in this hobby is that never buy a fish until you've seen them eat.

[Siberman]

http://seahorse.org

[Marinababy]

We have some good news and bad. One is eating now she had heaps for breakfast, the bad news one watches the food fall and then goes hunting but don't think she's eating the food we gave her. We're placing the food right in front of them out of a eye dropper Finley (the one eating) knows when the dropper comes it means food which is great. We're hoping Marina will follow and start eating very shortly.

The horses are a few months old I'd say about 7-8cm.
Tank temp is 23.5C and are captive bred.

We have a filter that we have minimized to a trickle and 2 airlines that produce large bubbles that Finley has fun in that we turn off while feeding.

[Marinababy]

Ok guys just a update mum is feeding them right now and as i hoped Marina is eating from the eye dropper she is more of a bottom feeder but is eating them as they come out of the dropper so was just letting you all know they are happy and both eating . Thanks for all your help

[aquawolf]

Congrats! I am very glad to hear that both of them are eating for you now. I wish you the best with keeping them for the long term.

[Marinababy]

Thank you aquawolf. They are just graceful animals Mum and I just sit there and watch them and sometimes they do a little dance for us. I'm glad they are eating and are very happy.

[HD Fatboy®]

Glad to hear things are working out.....I was always afraid of horses.....I read where they are hard to keep.....maybe its time for me to set up another tank (small) ...just to try it....I have seen orange ones that are amazing....BTW....time for you to send some pics our way....especialy when they dance....

[aquawolf]

Pictures are always appreciated on this site.

You cannot post pictures directly in your thread until you have 20 posts, but you can attach them. Click on the Go Advanced button for a reply and then click on Manage Attachments and it will let you upload some pictures to share.

[Marinababy]

sorry about the pics being blurry but here they are first one is Marina and the second is Finley.

[aquawolf]

Cool.

[Marinababy]

We had to put some clean up crew in today as theres a lot of brown algae spesh on the LR so the snails and baby crabs have some food to eat and should get rid of some. Pet shop told me this is normal in a new tank which is true but less to clean during the weekly clean and they are cute.

[Newbie-Reefer]

If my wife had her way she would toss out all of my fish and add in sea horses....... I am glad she doesn't visit this forum.