FFE seahorses, can I believe their instructions?

[jimhobbs]

Good morning all!:)
The following is from the FFE webpage on their 35dollar tank raised seahorses...Comments from the board would be welcome

Farm-raised in Kona, Hawaii, these seahorses are so well adapted to the aquarium environment that they feed easily on frozen mysis shrimp.

We recommend enriching their food with a vitamin supplement such as Zoecon or HUFA. This diet will ensure long term survivability, high health, high mating frequency and beautiful, vibrant colors! There is no need to offer live food except as an occasional treat.


Social Behavior:
Mustang Seahorses are social, vertically oriented animals that do best in groups and in a dedicated tank (no other fish) with plenty of comfortable hitching posts and low currents.

They do pair bond, but will court and mate with others when in a group situation, which means you will have the opportunity to witness this magnificent mating dance frequently! With proper care and set up, your Mustangs will mate every 25 to 30 days. The males are not territorial but will spend a lot of time showing off!

Color:
These seahorses are like chameleon and will change colors frequently according to their mood and environment. Typical color patterns range from rust to black to green to beige. “Spikey� protrusions are common!!

Water Quality:
Always check that the water quality parameters are within acceptable ranges before introducing any seahorses. New saltwater systems usually take at least 2 weeks to “cycle� - about 6 weeks if no live rock is used..

Acceptable parameters are:

Temperature: Range 70F to 82F Optimum: 75
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-10ppm
pH: 8.2- 8.4
Specific Gravity: Range: 1.022 – 1.026 Optimum: 1.0245
Tank set up: Height: 20 inches minimum
Stocking capacity:
10 gallons - 2 to 4 seahorses
25 gallons - 4 to 10 seahorses
55 gallons - 10 to 15 seahorses
100 gallons - 15 to 25 seahorses
150 gallons - 20 to 30 seahorses
Filtration: Protein Skimmer recommended, avoid strong currents and bubbles
Our 12 gallon Desktop Aquarium is an ideal aquarium for housing up to 4 Mustangs.

Aquarium Setup:
Seahorses use their prehensile tails to attach themselves to objects in the aquarium. Be sure to provide them with plants (real or plastic), rocks (2-3" size) and several upright objects to which they can attach themselves.

Feeding:
Being farm-raised, these seahorses are pre-trained to feed on frozen mysis shrimp (be sure to enhance their food with vitamin supplements). Our recommended feeding regime is: 2-5 frozen enriched mysis shrimp per seahorse (depending on the size of the seahorse) twice a day for 6 days. They should fast one day per week.

Soak the mysis shrimp overnight in Zoecon or HUFA. The seahorses will quickly recognize this food and will even take the mysis off the tank bottom. Due to the richness of the food, it is recommended that the fish be fasted one day per week

Don’t worry about feeding the seahorses immediately upon arrival. Give them 24 hours to adjust to their new home before introducing the thawed mysis shrimp. They can easily go a day or two without food..

Feeding of live food is not necessary and should not be offered more than once a month.

Sexing Seahorses:
Males will have a smooth soft pouch-like area at the base of their stomaches, in the area between where the stomach meets the tail on the front side. The fin in the area is considerably smaller than the female's fin. They will point their trunks down and blow up this pouch during the mating display. Males may show off like this to each other, but will not harm each other in the process.

The female will have more of a pointed stomach with a very obvious fin at the base of the stomach.

Size & Life Span:
The fish are 3-5" in length at time of purchase and will grow to 8" at maturity. LIfe span is typically 4-5 years.



According to them, 20inchs is minimum and they say I can put up to 4 in a 10gallon tank...True, False, or downright wrong?:)

Thanks for any and all help:)
jim

[India]

Jim, they are selling horses from Ocean Rider...here is the site address. What they say is true...as horses go, these are hardy, and feed easy. The offspring are spoken for by Ocean Rider...I don'y know how FFE handles it, but typically you will be advised that you may not sell the offspring except back to Ocean Rider. Unless you are interested in breeding, these are the way to go...I would just compare the deal you are getting from each company, and remember that from FFE, they have already endured an extra shipping and aclimatization.
India

[Airel]

Hi Jim,
Yup, OceanRider Horses are all of this and more! I agree with most of what FFE has stated. They are fantastic horses being hearty and healthy. I do recommend using the PE brand of mysis. Fantastic food. You can visit the OR (OceanRider) site at http://www.oceanrider.com I will disagree with the 20" and 10gal tank size. I'm certainly not saying it's not possible to keep the OR horses in this size tank, but shorter tanks can lead to pouch problems for the males. I belive OR states a 28" tank but Carol herself recommends 30". If you are interested in keeping Seahorses, OR is definitely the way to go!!

HTH,
DeAnne :)

See my Seahorse Corral: http://community.webshots.com/user/deannel1

[SeaNemesis]

I have to add my 2 cents in and agree with the others. As for the 10 and 20 gal, I have done the 20 gal and did OK, but I would NEVER keep them in a ten gal unless it was from Ocean Rider. They have a special 10 gal.

[thereefer]

I bought the 2 pair special from Ocean Rider and have been extremely happy. Their horses are everything they claim and then some. They easily eat the frozen PE (brand) of mysis shrimp. Mine will eat the Sally's brand but like the PE better. Also, the PE brand is 65% protein and Sally's is something like 5 or 6% protein.

I have kept a variety of fresh and marine creatures over about 23 years but never kept seahorses due to issues of wild caught animals, feeding and basically not understanding their needs. Ocean Rider raises basically domesticated seashores that are not wild caught. They are bred and raised at their facilities in Hawaii. I just do not know what specie they are yet. I really love these little guys and gals though. They spend a lot of time looking for food but they are happy to see you come over to visit them. (I think it is just a food excitement thing but I like to think they are happy to see me). ;)

They do like to go up and down vertically. I kept mine in a well-established 10 gal tank with copepods, live sand, rock and caluerpa for two weeks when I first got them. I wanted to make sure they could eat. Their colors were pretty blah and they did not seem happy.

I had a 42 gal high hex that I rearranged to accommodate our new pets. When I moved them to their new home, they were immediately happy exploring all the new space they had in which to swim. I later added some fake red sponge coral and their colors really took off. Orange, yellow, beige, brown and combinations of these. But I think the space was the primary reason they were so happy.

Ocean Rider is the way to go if you are going to do ponies. I asked the same questions not too long ago. There are some extremely knowledgeable and nice people over on the Seahorse.org board, http://www.seahorse.org/. DeAnne, Leslie and Chris are 3 very knowledgeable people over there and they are very helpful and willing to help. Good luck!

-steve

[chico815]

Hi - just joined the forum..

I'm in Scotland, so obviously I don't have any Ocean Rider seahorses, but I can tell you from my own research and experience that seahorses should be fed more than twice a day - at least 3 or 4 times. Because they don't have a stomach as such, they need to have an almost constant intake of food, so the more often you make it available to them the better.

I have one H. Kuda, one H. Fuscus and one young H. Hippocampus in my 22 gallon tank (tall). I'm planning on having one, possibly two more depending on the species, but you might want to bear in mind that in the wild, seahorses have territories of almost a square metre each, so you have to find the balance between too many that they become cramped, or so few that they can't find food easily.

Hope this helps,

Laila

[Rays]

Hi Jim,
I got on the seahorse bandwagon a year ago. I couldn't get any answers on the reef and marine board, but was directed to the seahorse.org group. I have learned a wealth of info there. I've got a 27 hex for my Ocean Riders(which I've had since 6/15/2000. They are on they're 4th successive breeding now. I've also been fortunate enough to get 2 wild caught horses weaned over to the frozen mysis thanks to the OR's. They are the only way to go.

Ray

[SeaNemesis]

I really do not like to contradict anyone, but Seahorses do not need to be fed multiples times a day. Once is actually plenty. If you are feeding with frozen PE mysis you would feed once a day and fast them one day a week.
I do on occassions like to treat my seahorses and offer them food more than once. Vital key information is by looking at the seahorse front on. If the seahorse is concave then it needs more food. If it is flat or rounded then it is getting adequate feed. I hope noone uses brine as a staple though. (just thought I would throw thatin)