How do you feed your seahorses?

vlangel · Jan 29, 2015

I am mostly just curious what folks do in regards to feeding their ponies. There is the broad cast method of just dumping the mysis in the tank and letting the ponies find it in the water column. There is the turkey baster, bulb syringe method of squirting the mysis out 1 by 1 in front of their noses. Finally there is the feeding station method.
My adult seahorses in my display fuge eat from a clam she'll feeding dish. It's in a shelter area where the flow is weak so I don't turn the pumps off. Recently I have begun using a feeding tube to put the mysis in the shell. When they see the tube, they come a runnin'!
My juvie seahorses get their mysis from a turkey baster. I squirt a bit into the water column and watch to make sure the most of it is eaten quickly. I keep doing that until the juvies slow down in how fast they eat it.

sabeypets · Jan 30, 2015

I use a feeding station for adults and broadcast for juveniles. Juveniles are kept in bare bottom tanks so its easy to siphon out any uneaten mysis.

vlangel · Jan 30, 2015

Waiting at the empty food shell.

shayna123 · Jan 30, 2015

I use a clump of cheato. I put the mysis on the cheato & it holds it there so they can eat at their leisure. It also attracts pods so they can grab a little fresh food too.

SeahorseKeeper · Jan 30, 2015

Right now, I am using the turkey baster method. My seahorses are not too keen on their feeding dish.

vlangel · Jan 30, 2015

sabeypets said:
I use a feeding station for adults and broadcast for juveniles. Juveniles are kept in bare bottom tanks so its easy to siphon out any uneaten mysis.

My juvies are also in a bb tank although I have some live rock in it too.

vlangel · Jan 30, 2015

SeahorseKeeper said:
Right now, I am using the turkey baster method. My seahorses are not too keen on their feeding dish.

It took my pair a little while to use the dish as well and I was using a turkey baster before they used their feeding shell.

vlangel · Jan 30, 2015

shayna123 said:
I use a clump of cheato. I put the mysis on the cheato & it holds it there so they can eat at their leisure. It also attracts pods so they can grab a little fresh food too.

I had tried that but I was having, (and still am ) a bit of a nitrate problem so I didn't do that very long as I worried that it might contribute to nitrates and detritus in the cheato. Even now I give my cheato a weekly shake.

shayna123 · Jan 30, 2015

Its amazing how much gunk algaes can hold on to, even the smooth ones! I used to feed out of a rock too, it had a nice bowl shape in it so it worked out well. They learn really fast where the food is going. And of course the rock/shell is easier to clean!

vlangel · Jan 30, 2015

shayna123 said:
Its amazing how much gunk algaes can hold on to, even the smooth ones! I used to feed out of a rock too, it had a nice bowl shape in it so it worked out well. They learn really fast where the food is going. And of course the rock/shell is easier to clean!

I can periodically give it a soak in bleach solution so that is good.

FinzAquatics · Mar 23, 2015

I'll be honest... I don't do anything special when feeding my seahorses... I defrost 2-3 cubes of mysis and dump it in.. My seahorses tend to be very good eaters and readily chase the good.

vlangel · Apr 15, 2015

FinzAquatics said:
I'll be honest... I don't do anything special when feeding my seahorses... I defrost 2-3 cubes of mysis and dump it in.. My seahorses tend to be very good eaters and readily chase the good.

I am glad that works for you. I can't risk overfeeding my tank because I kept 2 of the babies I raised so am fully stocked. Everything I do in regards to maintenance is overkill to guard against bacteria and disease.

Daniel@R2R · Apr 17, 2015

This was one of the coolest methods I've ever seen: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/se...y-$2-49-prop-without-stopping-your-pumps.html

vlangel · Apr 17, 2015

mdbannister said:
This was one of the coolest methods I've ever seen: https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/se...y-$2-49-prop-without-stopping-your-pumps.html

Yes, I remember reading that too and being impressed.

sbmarvin · Apr 17, 2015

I use a pipette that I feed according to the preferences of my seahorses. I don't stop my pumps or anything.
2 prefer the broadcast method so I let a few go in the water the few fish that i have eat at this time.
1 prefers it straight from the pipette as fresh as it gets.
1 likes to pick them up from the rocks and corals.
And sometimes they want to eat on the urchin.