cyclopceez (sorry if sp is wrong)

[oceanhighz]

so I was wondering if anyone here had tried feeding their dwarf seahorses cyclopeez, because I know that bbs aren't the most nutritious things in the world. I work at an LFS, and we feed this to our baby fish, and thin fish that we get in, and even other small fish. We don't get in dwarf seahorses like we do the giant brazilians and others, but I was going to order, and wondered what you experienced dwarf ranch keepers think. Thanks in advance.


Brandon

[Leslie]

Dwarf seahorses do not typically eat frozen. That said there have been a few folks I know of who have successfully trained them to eat cyclopse eze and even Hakari mysis.

Most folks that keep Dwarf seahorses enrich the bs.

Just be prepared to hatch bbs long term in case they do not cooperate.

Leslie

[luvabunny]

Brandon,
I recently asked that exact same question on seahorse.org. The responses varied, but none were totally favorable to feeding dwarf seahorses a sole diet of cyclop-eeze. There was actually only 1 person who said his dwarfs ate it with any regularity, and he couldn't verify they ALL were eating it, and he only fed it 2-3 times per week, and used BBS as a normal feed.
That said, the responses I received were mostly "I don't know, I've not actually tried training them to it." Some said it was snicked then spit out, others said they had tried it once or twice and it was ignored, so they never tried it again.
I do not have dwarfs, but I am seriously considering them, and you can bet I will actively try to train them to it when I do.

[oceanhighz]

thanks for the replies, I think I am going to go ahead and get them in a few weeks. I was wondering if there was a cheap place where I could get a large amount of BBS eggs, so I can actually keep them without spending caboodles on small amounts of BBS eggs at the store. Also, any little critters you would put in there with them as far as inverts? I'm sure there are a few small things I could put in, maybe sexy shrimp, tiny blue legs, small sandbed serpant stars, etc? Any suggestions? I am taking down the refugium I have above my 20 gallon tank and putting this tank in it's place. I've heard mixed opinions about live rock in the tank, what do you think? Thanks in advance again, and I'm gonna do some more searching.

Brandon

[Tracie74]

The only dwarves that are available right now are WC. They do not recognize frozen food as "food". I am not saying it is impossible, but I would plan on having brine shrimp on hand and enriching it. It is important when purchasing wild caught seahorses that you plan on supplying them with live food. There is a good possibility that you will not be able to train them to frozen. food.

A good place for brine shrimp cysts is livebrineshrimp.com.

Hope this helps
Tracie

[LisaD]

I think Ocean Rider has CB dwarf seahorses, sold as "Pixies". They are pricey, but they ARE CB. www.oceanrider.com . Last I saw on their web site, they ARE available.

If you look at the site, ever OR does not advocate feeding their CB dwarfs a diet based on frozen food, though all their larger seahorses are trained to eat frozen. This suggests to me that a primarily frozen diet is just not sufficient for dwarf seahorses. They are such lazy feeders it is possible they need the food to swim past their mouths!

LisaD

[Tracie74]

oceanhighz,

Do a search on OR(Ocean Rider) at seahorse.org, and you will find that while they may list certain species as available, they are way behind in shipping, and many people have had extensive problems with customer service, being charged for the order and the order being received months later and they are much more expensive. LisaD didn't you have problems with OR?

As far as dwarves being lazy feeders, I am not sure if that has been proven or in fact is even true. They are small and weak swimmers and most likely it is self preservation that they are not aggressive feeders. My dwarves do actively hunt, and will swim all over the tank for food and courting.

Tracie

[LisaD]

Tracie,

I personally am not a fan of Ocean Rider, but it seems like about half the people that deal with them love them and half hate them. I was not endorsing them, they are just the only regular source I know of that can supply CB dwarf seahorses, and even THEY don't recommend a diet based on frozen foods. I have not heard of anyone NOT getting dwarf seahorses from OR, it has been the Mustangs and other large seahorses that seem to be delayed and also kind of small.

My dwarves have been pretty lazy in their feeding, though they did move around the tank pretty well. But they were never all that interested in any frozen I have offered. However, I hadn't tried hard to train them to frozen either, since BBS is not hard to hatch.

Do you ever try to feed your dwarves or their babies frozen food?

LisaD

[luvabunny]

Brandon,
To get back to your original question, there are very few things that will live in harmony with dwarves. Again, I have never had any, but have done extensive research, and I would advise against keeping them with live rock, live sand, and any kind of starfish. Apparently you can get hydroids very easily from live rock and live sand, even snails put in the tank without a bath, and I think the little sand sifting stars would probably starve without live sand to feed on. Also, they eat the same little pods the horses would eat, so they compete for food.
Very tiny blue legs, maybe sexy shrimp (I don't know what they eat) and small snails which have been bathed for parasites might be OK. I have heard of some people adding dwarfs to a nano reef. I don't know if this would be a good idea or not.

[oceanhighz]

thanks everyone for your input, I am going to slowly get the stuff together for my tank while in the process of taking one of my 20 gallon salts down. Do any of you have experience with the florida collectors sea horse corral?

[oceanhighz]

another question I just thought of...........how long would a 20 gram container of BBS eggs last me for a 5 gallon 10 seahorse aquarium?

[luvabunny]

I have an outstanding order with Florida Collector, and there is a 5 gal corral on it. It is not mine, I placed several orders for the club, but I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival to see how it comes in.

[oceanhighz]

let me know when the order comes in, I wanna here what condition everything is in, so I can decided whether or not to order them. I do plan on it, but if people are dissatisfied, then I won't.

[NFed16]

Inland Aqutics has CB dwarves available.

[NFed16]

woops, double post.