Kat
Reefing newb
I have a small 14g nano and if I get the 75g I was thinking of moving my livestock to it and using the nano for just sea horses. any suggestions?
does anyone have sea horses?
- Thread starter Kat
- Start date
OurFishies
Reef-aholic
I want them! I don't have them though. :(
daugherty
part time reefer
i did have some but they need cooler water than a reef tank about 75 76. and many time they only eat live food some times you can get tank rasied ones the will eat frozen.
Piggy
Reef enthusiast
My sister has two in a 55 gallon. She's had them over three month now. Not really sure their type but I do know they are not the dwarf ones. Her's are tank raised. They eat mysis shrimp plus brine shrimp. She feeds them 2-3 times a day. She uses a turkey baster to feed them. Does a water change once a week.
cthegame
Reef enthusiast
I was going to get a few for my fuge but they are not easy to keep. They will eat all my pods and as mentioned before, they need cooler water so i decided against it.
Damseluver
Reefing newb
They are quite a bit of effort for a species with a short life span. If you are looking for a food training challenge you could try a mandarin. I have food trained quite a few with a pretty decent success rate.
First make sure you buy one that is not half starved to begin with and is on the large side.
Put it in your nano with a slow feeding tank mate. I use dart fish. Feed heavy with frozen mysis. The dart fish serves to show the mandarin that the mysis is indeed a food item. Be prepared with gut loaded live brine and commercial bags of pods. Most come around in a week or two to the frozen mysis. Make sure one feeding a day is exclusively frozen.
Dont be put off by people who tell you this is impossible. I have done it more than a few times and have a manadrin in a forty gal tank right now that has fed on nothing but frozen mysis for over two years now. Some can even be trained to take pellet. Check out melvs reef. I believe he has a article on one taking pellet from a small jar he places on the bottom of the tank.
First make sure you buy one that is not half starved to begin with and is on the large side.
Put it in your nano with a slow feeding tank mate. I use dart fish. Feed heavy with frozen mysis. The dart fish serves to show the mandarin that the mysis is indeed a food item. Be prepared with gut loaded live brine and commercial bags of pods. Most come around in a week or two to the frozen mysis. Make sure one feeding a day is exclusively frozen.
Dont be put off by people who tell you this is impossible. I have done it more than a few times and have a manadrin in a forty gal tank right now that has fed on nothing but frozen mysis for over two years now. Some can even be trained to take pellet. Check out melvs reef. I believe he has a article on one taking pellet from a small jar he places on the bottom of the tank.
Kat
Reefing newb
Wow that sounds cool, I would love to have a mandarin are you sure it would be happy in a 14g tank ? and if I feed heavy I'm afraid of making a big mess. they are such beautiful fish I would feel so bad if I couldnt get it to work. how long should I give it before taking it back to the LFS ? I really dont want to kill anything.
Damseluver
Reefing newb
IMO provided food training has been successful the nano will be fine for the mandarin. In fact preferable as there will be little to no competition from other fish for food. Even when food trained they are slow and methodical about taking there food.
Be prepared with knowledge on how to gut load live brine and make sure there is a local source for bagged pods. Heavy multiple feedings will only be necessary until the mandarin recognizes frozen mysis as a food item and then twice a day is plenty. Failure is a possibility but from my experience with a honest effort the majority can be trained to take prepared foods.
Choosing a good specimen is also important. Don't not buy a starving or small mandarin. You can not "save" it. You want one at least as large and thick as your pinkie finger.
I may get some flack for suggesting this to you but from my experience and give the fluctuating nature of pod population in even large systems food training should be considered mandatory if keeping this fish is the goal. Once food trained they can be kept in any size system preferably species specific or nearly species specific tanks eliminating food competition from other fish. Your nano would fit this description.
Be prepared with knowledge on how to gut load live brine and make sure there is a local source for bagged pods. Heavy multiple feedings will only be necessary until the mandarin recognizes frozen mysis as a food item and then twice a day is plenty. Failure is a possibility but from my experience with a honest effort the majority can be trained to take prepared foods.
Choosing a good specimen is also important. Don't not buy a starving or small mandarin. You can not "save" it. You want one at least as large and thick as your pinkie finger.
I may get some flack for suggesting this to you but from my experience and give the fluctuating nature of pod population in even large systems food training should be considered mandatory if keeping this fish is the goal. Once food trained they can be kept in any size system preferably species specific or nearly species specific tanks eliminating food competition from other fish. Your nano would fit this description.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Mandarins and seahorses alike, do not buy one unless the LFS can show you in the store that it is eating frozen food. If you put a mandarin in a new 14 gallon tank, and it's not already eating frozen food, it will starve to death. If you have one that's already eating frozen food, you are good to go. So in a tank that small, I would not recommend you try and train it to eat frozen, but instead just buy one that's eating frozen already.
Others are right about the seahorses, they can be challenging to keep because they require low water temperatures and are very susceptible to disease. If you do decide to get seahorses, be sure to only buy ones that are tank bred. Never buy wild caught.
Others are right about the seahorses, they can be challenging to keep because they require low water temperatures and are very susceptible to disease. If you do decide to get seahorses, be sure to only buy ones that are tank bred. Never buy wild caught.
Kat
Reefing newb
where would you purchase a trained mandarin? my LFS does not keep anything long enough to train, they only buy what they can sell quickly and its the only store within 100 miles. is there anywhere online that I can trust when they say " trained"
daugherty
part time reefer
no not that i know of it is really hit and miss with them eating frozen
Damseluver
Reefing newb
It is rare that you will find a mandarin unwilling to take live brine. It is even rarer that you will find one taking frozen food in a LFS.
The conventional logic you see on forums is 100 gallon tank with 100 pounds of live rock. Unfortunately this is generally a death sentence for many of these fish also as pod populations will fluctuate and other species in tanks this size are also actively feeding on this population.
If your lfs is the only one around for a hundred miles it is unlikely that many of these fish are ending up in a system that will sustain them on its pod population alone and a high percentage of them are most likely slowly starving to death. IMO the better advice when it come to this species would be; food training is mandatory in a species specific or nearly species specific tank.
Gut loaded live adult brine will sustain the fish for the short term and I can almost guarantee you its a better diet than the fish is receiving in its holding tank at the LFS. IMO this species ending up in the hands of a hobbyist that is going to make a honest effort at food training is the best the fish can hope for.
First make sure the mandarin is indeed taking live brine when at the lfs. Gut loading live brine is a simple thing. Take off the portion you intended to feed and add selcon or even completely dissolved flake food to that container and let the brine feed on it for 4 to 6 hours. Net it out rinse with fresh and add to tank. Other feeding should consist of a mixture of live brine and frozen or just frozen. You can keep up your efforts to food train the fish until you see success or return the fish to the LFS most likely in better nurtitional health then when you bought him but keep in mind this is likely a death sentence for the fish. Some one else will buy the fish and most likely starve it to death.
The conventional logic you see on forums is 100 gallon tank with 100 pounds of live rock. Unfortunately this is generally a death sentence for many of these fish also as pod populations will fluctuate and other species in tanks this size are also actively feeding on this population.
If your lfs is the only one around for a hundred miles it is unlikely that many of these fish are ending up in a system that will sustain them on its pod population alone and a high percentage of them are most likely slowly starving to death. IMO the better advice when it come to this species would be; food training is mandatory in a species specific or nearly species specific tank.
Gut loaded live adult brine will sustain the fish for the short term and I can almost guarantee you its a better diet than the fish is receiving in its holding tank at the LFS. IMO this species ending up in the hands of a hobbyist that is going to make a honest effort at food training is the best the fish can hope for.
First make sure the mandarin is indeed taking live brine when at the lfs. Gut loading live brine is a simple thing. Take off the portion you intended to feed and add selcon or even completely dissolved flake food to that container and let the brine feed on it for 4 to 6 hours. Net it out rinse with fresh and add to tank. Other feeding should consist of a mixture of live brine and frozen or just frozen. You can keep up your efforts to food train the fish until you see success or return the fish to the LFS most likely in better nurtitional health then when you bought him but keep in mind this is likely a death sentence for the fish. Some one else will buy the fish and most likely starve it to death.
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Kat
Reefing newb
That is so sad, I really want to try but I have no experiance with live food, do I need a seperate tank for the brine? I always thought that pods were the only live food they would eat
OurFishies
Reef-aholic
I use a live brine breeder for ours. I have been told that live copepods are the best for them though...
I think ours may have taken to frozen somehow though - I swear I saw him chasing down shrimp when I was feeding the tank today...
I think ours may have taken to frozen somehow though - I swear I saw him chasing down shrimp when I was feeding the tank today...
dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
the reason that copepods are better is because brine shrimp are junk food to fish
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Live brine is easy to raise though, and will work while you are trying to train your mandarin to frozen.
dustin_P74
Reef enthusiast
im not saying that they arent good for training, i was just saying thats why copepods are best for them
Bifferwine
I am a girl
You're right. I still occasionally hatch a soda bottle full of brine to feed to my fish as a treat once in a while. They LOVE chasing after the live food, I guess it makes them feel "wild" again ;).
Kat
Reefing newb
Where can I get more information about raising them?
RyanG
Reef enthusiast
Seahorses or brine shrimp? www.seahorses.org for the ponies or just go buy a thing of sea monkeys at the LFS for brine shrimp.
