vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2014
- Messages
- 5,794
- Reaction score
- 6,055
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
- What state or country do you live in
- Pennsylvania
When I first researched seahorses to learn about their specific needs, it quickly became apparent that they required more care than most other fish. I realized that getaways and vacations were going to pose some challenges. Since I was not willing to give up vacationing, I decided to research and enquire of other seahorse keepers how they dealt with the obstacles of going away. Here are some ideas I found.
Automating ones aquarium helps with some concerns. My system's lights and top off water are all automated. The only responsibility for a fish sitter concerning those is keeping the fresh water reservoir filled.
There are controllers for all sorts of aquarium functions. I have a controller that regulates temperature. It kicks on my chiller as soon as the temperature rises to 74 degrees and cools the water to 71 and then shuts the chiller off.
My 2 biggest concerns were feeding and keeping up water quality. First let's talk about feeding since it is the easier of the 2 to deal with. Seahorses have rather primitive stomachs and so in the wild, they eat continuously. Captive bred seahorses are trained to eat primarily frozen mysis with supplemental live food added in. Most keepers feed their ponies twice a day. Asking anyone to come twice a day, (when we are away) is not practical for most of us. What I decided to do was order live glass shrimp prior to the vacation. I kept these in a half filled 5 gallon aquarium with a lowered salinity, (0.017 or so) and a sponge filter. My fish sitter would feed the seahorses their pre-measured frozen mysis first. Then when the ponies were finished with that I had her net a certain amount of live shrimp to be dumped in the tank for the seahorses to hunt down for their second meal. She could drop in a few shrimp pellets to feed the live shrimp.
Water quality is my next concern. If the trip is a getaway of 5 days or less this should be as easy as a big water change the day before and another big water change the day after. I recently did just that and when I returned there was not even a lot of nuisance algae in the tank. I personally would not be comfortable doing this for a longer vacation. For that I will have a brute can filled with pre-made salt water with a small circulating pump. I have a lfs that I could pay to come once every 5 days to do a water change or a hobbyist friend. For my tank a 10 gallon change every 5 days should be sufficient to keep the ponies in a healthy enviroment. One full brute can would outlast any vacation I do.
With smart phones and tablets, face time can help you see your tank should their be a concern. There are even Web cams available that you can view your tank anytime. Although it requires pre-planning and money for most of us that keep seahorses, vacationing is doable.
I welcome hearing any other ideas that other keepers implement when they go away or out of town?
Automating ones aquarium helps with some concerns. My system's lights and top off water are all automated. The only responsibility for a fish sitter concerning those is keeping the fresh water reservoir filled.
There are controllers for all sorts of aquarium functions. I have a controller that regulates temperature. It kicks on my chiller as soon as the temperature rises to 74 degrees and cools the water to 71 and then shuts the chiller off.
My 2 biggest concerns were feeding and keeping up water quality. First let's talk about feeding since it is the easier of the 2 to deal with. Seahorses have rather primitive stomachs and so in the wild, they eat continuously. Captive bred seahorses are trained to eat primarily frozen mysis with supplemental live food added in. Most keepers feed their ponies twice a day. Asking anyone to come twice a day, (when we are away) is not practical for most of us. What I decided to do was order live glass shrimp prior to the vacation. I kept these in a half filled 5 gallon aquarium with a lowered salinity, (0.017 or so) and a sponge filter. My fish sitter would feed the seahorses their pre-measured frozen mysis first. Then when the ponies were finished with that I had her net a certain amount of live shrimp to be dumped in the tank for the seahorses to hunt down for their second meal. She could drop in a few shrimp pellets to feed the live shrimp.
Water quality is my next concern. If the trip is a getaway of 5 days or less this should be as easy as a big water change the day before and another big water change the day after. I recently did just that and when I returned there was not even a lot of nuisance algae in the tank. I personally would not be comfortable doing this for a longer vacation. For that I will have a brute can filled with pre-made salt water with a small circulating pump. I have a lfs that I could pay to come once every 5 days to do a water change or a hobbyist friend. For my tank a 10 gallon change every 5 days should be sufficient to keep the ponies in a healthy enviroment. One full brute can would outlast any vacation I do.
With smart phones and tablets, face time can help you see your tank should their be a concern. There are even Web cams available that you can view your tank anytime. Although it requires pre-planning and money for most of us that keep seahorses, vacationing is doable.
I welcome hearing any other ideas that other keepers implement when they go away or out of town?
Currently, I am away from my tanks. I did a water change on it before I left and the tank sitter has been given strict instructions as to what to do for both tanks.
