Feeding the ponies...

[Picasso]

I've been having a wicked time trying to get these ponies to eat. I've ordered a live hatching brine shrimp thing and a vitamin supplement to add to the eggs so the brine will be super nutritious. Even though these ponies were advertised to take frozen mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze, they turn their snouts up at it. unless the critter is wiggling, they don't want it. My tank makes pods like crazy. If you look into the seaweed stuff, you can see all kinds of wiggling things. My nitrates are starting to rise because I'm throwing all kinds of stuff in there for them to eat. Yesterday, I didn't add much because I ran out of salt. The ponies spend most their time tangled up in the seaweed and they are nibbling a bit.

Heres the questions: 1. Could it be that my tank makes food for these ponies and I don't need to add frozen stuff? I mean, I'll do the hatching thing when it gets here but I haven't noticed any of the signs of starvation (concaved tummy) that the books tell me to look for. 2. Is tangled up in seaweed normal behavior for ponies or am I forcing them to go to extremes just to eat? 3. I've got some pretty big bristle worms that hang out in the seaweed, I should pull them out because they might try to get at the ponies, right?

I'm going to post this on Seahorse.org as soon as I can get approved (a lengthy process)

As always, Thanks for the help...
Catherine

 

[dustin_P74]

i dont think its abnormal for seahorses to wrap there tail around seaweed to eat

 

[Picasso]

i dont think its abnormal for seahorses to wrap there tail around seaweed to eat

Oh, sure, I'm sorry I worded my question wrong. I've got two patches of this seaweed. Near the base of the seaweed it's really tangled up. The seahorses have to kind of wiggle through the seaweed and often they'll spend an hour or so in one spot, kind of like a fisherman. I've tried to spread out the seaweed to make it swimmable but then I don't get the pod production that I do when it's all tangled together. I think the stagnant water makes the pods hatch better?

Catherine

 

[daugherty]

they are feeding off the live pods in the tank i bet. if they werent they would prob be dead by now. i am betting that they sit in the seaweed to get at the pods in there

 

[stagofdoom]

haha you said wicked...(sorry im from the south)

looks like they have ya covered, and hope that they eat the brine stuff you got.

 

[Teixeira29]

Yes my guess is they are getting some sourse of food otherwise they would look starving or even dead, they are in the seaweed to get the pods in there.

 

[Picasso]

haha you said wicked...(sorry im from the south)

looks like they have ya covered, and hope that they eat the brine stuff you got.

Is wicked a special word in the south? Florida was my home for the first 40 years of my life and I didn't know it was a special term?

Catherine

 

[Picasso]

Yes my guess is they are getting some sourse of food otherwise they would look starving or even dead, they are in the seaweed to get the pods in there.

Is it normal behavior for them to wiggle through seaweed? Should i keep adding the frozen stuff?

thanks,
Catherine

 

[dustin_P74]

Is it normal behavior for them to wiggle through seaweed? Should i keep adding the frozen stuff?

thanks,
Catherine

the wiggling could be them knocking pods off, but dont quote me on that, its just a guess

 

[stagofdoom]

ahh ive only heard one person say wicked down here....and he is from boston. You just never hear it down here.

 

[cthegame]

i agree. They are feeding on live food (pods). I would make sure you keep up your pod population. That was actually why i didnt get sea horses because of how fast they can go through the pod population.

 

[Picasso]

ahh ive only heard one person say wicked down here....and he is from boston. You just never hear it down here.

Well, I guess we were all raised by the same TV! The great cultural equalizer.

Catherine

 

[yote]

Is it normal behavior for them to wiggle through seaweed? Should i keep adding the frozen stuff?

thanks,
Catherine

Think about where the wild sea horses call home.They live in the grass and sea weed beds.Where the water currents not as strong.So they'll wiggle their way through that stuff quiet a bit looking for pods to eat.
Judging from what I've at my LFS and the pony I had,it sounds like yours are perfectly healthy and doing great.The reason their not eating the frozen foods,is because there no need for them to eat it.Their lil bellies are full of pods,their natural food source.:D