Ill keep this short and brief. Since im going to be buying a new tank my wife wants to take my old 30 gal nano cube and put sea horses in it. Heres the thing, we vaction yearly and there is noone we trust to watch them. I am military so we move. Are there any auto feeders or alternatives or anything like that? When we vacation we tend to go away for up to ten days at a time.
Vacationing and keeping seahorses?
- Thread starter leon1972
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tyler1503
2500 Club Member
There are some half decent auto feeders out there, but there only really good for large pellets which isn't really a suitable diet for seahorses.
I recon have a spare 5 gal tank laying around and when you plan the holiday start up a copepod culture. When you leave, add as many pods as possible to the seahorse tank and a filter sponge for them to live in (add the sponge to a breeding net to stop the seahorses eating directly from it). This should sustain them for more than enough time as long as the pod culture is big enough. Plus it's a great nutritious meal for them.
I recon have a spare 5 gal tank laying around and when you plan the holiday start up a copepod culture. When you leave, add as many pods as possible to the seahorse tank and a filter sponge for them to live in (add the sponge to a breeding net to stop the seahorses eating directly from it). This should sustain them for more than enough time as long as the pod culture is big enough. Plus it's a great nutritious meal for them.
SeahorseKeeper
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That could work, but you would need to culture amphipods for larger seahorses like h. erectus.
Swine
Well-Known Member
You could set up your own auto feeder cheap if you want to feed something in liquid form. Get a wall timer that will go down to the minute (at least, seconds are better) and an aqualifter. This would work with live food but wouldn't guarantee that they are fed x number of pods a day. Calculate the mL per minute/second the aqualifter will deliver and you'll be able to figure out how long your timer should be on depending on the solution you make.
Oh its a good idea to either have a air pump or small power head in the jug with food to keep it in suspension.
If you are a baller you can just get a dosing pump system to do this and can be much more accurate.
Oh its a good idea to either have a air pump or small power head in the jug with food to keep it in suspension.
If you are a baller you can just get a dosing pump system to do this and can be much more accurate.
tyler1503
2500 Club Member
You could definitely do it. A refugium is best, but if you can get a large population breeding in a separate tank, then put them all in a breeding net inside the seahorse tank with a few filter sponges for a home, they'll eventually reproduce and continually feed the sea horses. You need ridiculously huge population though, as a seahorse will quickly eat them.
You may not be able to get a large enough population in a 30gal, it would all be trial and error.
The liquid feeder on a timer idea is a great one.
MechEngineer
Community Member
Im sorry but there is very little chance of survival leaving a seahorse tank alone for 10 days on just pods and there is no food you can use in an autofeeder unless you make a new contraption that takes frozen mysis cubes out of a freezer somehow on a timer. You would need to hire someone to make at LEAST three visits to properly feed and ensure the tank is operating properly. I have a marine biologist take care of my tanks when Im on vacation and even that is stressful for me.
tjdouglas
Community Member
If y0u have larger seahorses, you could throw in a bunch of the live red volcano shrimp from Hawaii...but they are not cheap. Seahorses definitely love them and they will hunt them out through your rockwork, etc. You can find them sold on eBay in batches of 20, 40, 100, etc. But unfotunately they are pricey.
SantaMonicaHelp
Valuable Member
Setting up an autofeeder contraption, or hoping that a pod population in a net will keep your tank alive sounds like a hassle, and risky.
Maybe you should find someone truly experienced and trustworthy to babysit your tank, it seems like the easiest solution..
Maybe you should find someone truly experienced and trustworthy to babysit your tank, it seems like the easiest solution..
JLynn
Active Member
I don't think that a copepod population would last long, though. However, there was an article on Advanced Aquarist(?) a while ago about the DIY automatic feeding system some guy had set up for his seahorses. It fed them mysis and involved a mini-fridge, a blow dryer, a rotating shelf-type-thing, and sieves. Sorry I don't remember much more than that! Still, if you have a bit of extra money, you could do that. Also, you might try going on some other forums like seahorse.org and fusedjaw.com to see if there are any seahorse keepers who live near you who might be willing to take care of them. If all else fails, you may be able to hire one of those aquarium maintenance companies to take care of them for the vacation. You would need to leave them detailed instructions on how and when and how many times to do the various maintenance tasks, but I think they would do a good job of it.
SeahorseKeeper
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I forgot when I went to MACNA last year that I had a friend come over to feed my seahorses. He was not experienced in reef keeping so I kept it simple. He just had to feed the seahorses their frozen food. I had him feed a little heavier than I would, but it worked out well.
