What's everyone feed their sea horses?

[Bperau]

Have 3 sea horses I acquired in a small QT tank and looking to see what other people feed them or if I put them in my reef tank if they will scavenge for food

 

[shornik]

Have 3 sea horses I acquired in a small QT tank and looking to see what other people feed them or if I put them in my reef tank if they will scavenge for food

Seahorse's do not scavenge for food and are best kept in a species only tank or a tank with peaceful fish. Depending on where the seahorses came from they will eat frozen mysis (if aquaculture and raised by breeders) or live pods (like amphipods) if they are wild.

Did you ask the LFS to feed them before you bought them, you always should?
I'm also about to get on my "soap box" so stop reading if you don't want to hear this. You should ALWAYS research fish/corals before buying them so you know if you have the proper setup for their care. For seahorses if you go to the Seahorse Forum on R2R you will find endless information on what is required. One of the best things to do is read @vlangel various threads. I have one too on my Seahorse build I'm just pretty bad and keeping that tank build thread up to date.

 

[Bperau]

I got them with a tank I bought and wasn't sure if I planned on keeping or selling them. If it's something easy such as frozen foods then I can manage

 

[vlangel]

I got them with a tank I bought and wasn't sure if I planned on keeping or selling them. If it's something easy such as frozen foods then I can manage

Hi Bperau,
Seahorses are not for everyone as they can be kind of high maintenance in some ways. Captive bred seahorses will eat frozen mysis if they are the greater seahorses. Wild caught or dwarf seahorses usually want enriched live food like mysis or pods. I would try frozen mysis first. If the seahorses are smaller than 3" I would try Hikari mysis as it is smaller.

As for their other needs, consider reading my article on 'Keeping seahorses in aquaria, part 1'. That will give you a good idea what you are up against with keeping ponies since their needs differ vastly from most other marine fish.

 

[Rotor head reef]

I feed mine mainly live brine

 

[vlangel]

I feed mine mainly live brine

Are your seahorses dwarf? And do you enrich the live brine shrimp? Live brine alone and un-enriched is pretty barren of nutrition.

Greater seahorse species need food with more substance. You can feed them ghost shrimp that are being gut loaded with enrichment. Also you can try to train them to eat frozen mysis by shaving it thin and small and mixing it in with the live brine shrimp. As they accidently eat some of the mysis it helps get them used to it. Offer it as their first meal of the day when they are the most hungry. Slowly add more mysis and less live brine. Eventually move to Hikari mysis which is the smallest.

 

[Rotor head reef]

I have tank raised Pygmy sea horses which is why I have to stick to live baby brine shrimp

 

[Rotor head reef]

I would love other ideas or things to feed them for sure though if anyone has ideas

 

[vlangel]

I would love other ideas or things to feed them for sure though if anyone has ideas

If they were my dwarf seahorses I would gut load the live brine with Dan's Feed (which you can order from Seahorse Source). That will make the live brine more nutritious.

 

[Hans Solo]

Mainly frozen mysis, regularly enriched with either selco or vita-chem. Rest of the food is live zooplankton and other crustaceans in the tank.

I'm going to buy Dan's Feed soon and try that.