How do i get my seahorse to eat frozen foods?
 

I've had a hippocampus capensis for about 3 months now and the only thing it will eat is live brine shrimp and live pods in the tank. It really loves the brine shrimp but i know it can b trained to eat frozen foods.

What is a good trick to get it to eat frozen foods?

I've put live brine and frozen mysis in at the same time and it only eats the live brine.

Thanks 4 any help?

Could you post a pic? I have never heard of a wild caught H. capensis; and a captive bred one should have been eating frozen foods from the beginning.

As for training to frozen, here is a good link [url]http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=30793&hl[/url]

Also, aside from training to frozen, I would get it onto a live shrimp diet (mysis, ghost, glass, etc.) as quickly as you can, since brine offers very little nutrition.

[quote]Also, aside from training to frozen, I would get it onto a live shrimp diet (mysis, ghost, glass, etc.) as quickly as you can, since brine offers very little nutrition.[/quote]
Until then, you should be gut loading your live brine with selco and or powdered spirulina.

Thanks for input.

The Capensis is a TR from OR, not WC.

Tonight for the first time It ate some frozen spirulina/vibrance enriched brine shrimp. Vibrance is the stuff OR enriches there horses with. I have offered enriched shrimp so many times and today was the first time it ate any.
This is good news.

Thanks

So this CB seahorse from Ocean Rider came to you without being trained to frozen foods? Did you try frozen mysis on it from the beginning? Or did you start it on live foods and only recently try frozen?

When we were training our fry to frozen, we would feed frozen along with the live, and just slowly start to decrease the amount of live & increase the amount of frozen. Good Luck!!!

Ann,
When i first got the capensis it would not eat frozen mysis, frozen brine or anything else frozen. the tank had alot of pods in it and it was eating them. Not sure why it wouldnt eat the frozen foods but it should have. It went after the live pods. It didnt really go after the live brine until it ate most of the pods.

Today it ate frozen cyclopeeze and wouldn't touch the frozen enriched brine.

I wouldn't even bother with frozen brine. It is worthless to him. Continue with the frozen cyclopeeze and try to get him onto frozen mysis. Have you been able to find live shrimp for him?

Also, what temperature are you keeping him at and where is the pH? These could both be factors in his pickiness about feeding. Low pH, of even a point or two, tends to affect seahorse appetites. Keeping capensis at high temperatures could also negatively impact their appetite and therefore hinder efforts at training to frozen.

Hi Reefbox,
I have always started training to frozen by offering only frozen foods for the first feed in the morning, when they are most hungry.
Give them about 30-45 minutes to try it. Then add live food to be sure they eat. Be sure to always observe them while training .

Next feed, mix frozen and live. Over time, as they become accustomed to the frozen, slowly decrease the live and increase the frozen until they are only eating the frozen foods.
Be patient and keep at it and before you know it , they will have converted to frozen.

As has already been mentioned, be sure you gut load(feed) the live brine something good , such as Spirolina before feeding out to the horses.
It's also very important to feed your horses a variety of foods to ensure good health and longevity.

HTH

The temp is at 62 deg. PH is at 8.3.

There is a local store that has adult ghost shrimp. Would that be to big for this 3-4" seahorse. I don't think the ghost shrimp will fit in it's mouth. No luck finding live mysis. Any other shrimp to pursue?

Thanks

You might try picking out the smallest of the live adult ghost shrimp. You'd be suprised how large a shrimp a seahorse can handle when it wants to. Any other shrimp sources, freshwater or salt, would be good options as well. Ordering online is another option; which will ultimately be necessary if the frozen training doesn't come along quickly. I like Jenny's suggestion of the frozen in the morning and the live in the evening. You may have better luck training it to frozen in a bare bottomed setup where you can control the food in the tank (no critters to hunt) and where you can see exactly what it is eating.