Here are the ponies !!!!

[Roly0217]

Originally Posted by Junebug

They're so beautiful. Do you feed them brine shrimp? I've heard they're heavy feeders. The owner of a local marine aquarium shop once told me that if you raise seahorses then you must also raise copius amounts of brine shrimp just to keep the little guys fed. He also mentioned turning off the filtration system during feed time so the shrimp wouldn't get sucked up before they could be devoured.

My home is about 35 minutes North of Sebastian Inlet on the East Coast of Central Florida. Years ago, my family went to a camping facility very near Sebastian. We took a 2 person sein net with us. We drug our net through the shallows catching and releasing seahorses, sea dragons and a variety of juvenile sea creatures. That was a wonderful day.

They eat live enriched brine shrimp that I keep in a small fish tank with an air pump going to keep them alive. I get fresh brine every 3 days or so. They also eat mysis shrimp. I will have to wean them into it as it has a high nutritional value.

Originally Posted by Gin

Pretty ponies ! no stalls to clean the kind to have Gin

Well momma I still have to clean the tank.

Originally Posted by Lorraine

Roly how are you going to find time to work after taking care of all your chids and now 2 horses?? I do admit they are really cute!! The colors are great. What fun to have another unique hobby.

Thanks Lorraine. It is fun to have weird hobbies

[isurus79]

Roly,
Your horses look great! What species is it? I have 10 at home right now as well. I should mention that these animals typically need multiple feedings every day, so I don't know how long they will last if you only feed every third day. They have very short and inefficient digestive systems, thus the need for constant feeding. Such heavy feeding requires a decent filtration system as well as constant water changes. I hope you are able to see them have babies, though raising them is pretty tricky! Good luck!

[Roly0217]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Roly,
Your horses look great! What species is it? I have 10 at home right now as well. I should mention that these animals typically need multiple feedings every day, so I don't know how long they will last if you only feed every third day. They have very short and inefficient digestive systems, thus the need for constant feeding. Such heavy feeding requires a decent filtration system as well as constant water changes. I hope you are able to see them have babies, though raising them is pretty tricky! Good luck!

These are Hippocampus reidi. I know about the feeding. I feed mines 3 to 4 times a day and do a 20% water change every 2 days or so. This and the macro algae in the tank help me a lot to keep the nitrate and amonia levels in check. By the way which ones do you have??? If you said 10 I imagine it might be H. zosterae??? The dwarf seahorse or a big system with larger species. Anyways they are fascinating. Ohhh make sure to post some pictures !!!!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Roly0217

These are Hippocampus reidi. I know about the feeding. I feed mines 3 to 4 times a day and do a 20% water change every 2 days or so. This and the macro algae in the tank help me a lot to keep the nitrate and amonia levels in check. By the way which ones do you have??? If you said 10 I imagine it might be H. zosterae??? The dwarf seahorse or a big system with larger species. Anyways they are fascinating. Ohhh make sure to post some pictures !!!!

My guess was reidi! Those guys are pretty big. Mine are small, but are not zosterae. They are actually fisheri, the pelagic seahorse. No one in the world is growing these guys commercially and since I have a solid source, I'm gonna be line breeding these critters because of the great coloration the wild ones have. I think there is a lot of potential for a really great new species in the industry. The fisheri's are really small and will eat newly hatched brine shrimp, but they prefer the adults. Here are some pics I loaded up to flickr.

This is a pic of a female in her dark phase on a standard tank thermometer for size reference.
fisheri female thermometer on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Another dark phase pic: fisheri female- plant on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I say her 'dark phase' cause these guys change color instantly to suite their background colors. In fact, every morning the males will show off to the females by flashing white-red to brick red all morning. Very cool.

Here is what they can look like on a light background with the 'frosting' look, though the body can get much lighter in color: fisher white on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Finally, here is a dark phase female with an orange male in the background:fisheri male-female closeup on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
fisheri male-female med on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

These guys are the wild form and so their colors are not as robust as what their progeny will look like in a few generations. I think their zosterae size and chameleon color changes coupled with some nice color enhancements (through line breeding) will be really cool, though we won't know until it happens!

[Roly0217]

That is an awesome looking seahorse. I will be keep in touch with you so that when you get some fry I will be able to get some from you and hopefully care for them. But I'm guessing it will be a while before you will be reproducing these guys. By being pelagic don't they need a bigger aquarium or do they still hitch like the other horses??

[Chubidubi]

SOOOOOOO CUTE. I LOVE THEM!!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Roly0217

That is an awesome looking seahorse. I will be keep in touch with you so that when you get some fry I will be able to get some from you and hopefully care for them. But I'm guessing it will be a while before you will be reproducing these guys. By being pelagic don't they need a bigger aquarium or do they still hitch like the other horses??

Thanks! These guys actually hitch just like normal horses. The thought is that these guys live at the bottom of the ocean (like normal horses), but at around 500ft deep. Then they swim to surface at night, thus giving the impression that they are actually pelagic. I have 6 comfortably living in a 10 gal and 4 in another 10 gal tall. Those are my breeders. Ill be looking for pics of your guys when they breed. Since yours are a larger variety, you should be able to raise the young with newly hatched brine shrimp. The colors on yours are really nice! Congrats!