What you have there is a pair of Hippocampus Reidi. The pictures (seahorse1 and seahorse 7) are that of an adolescent male. His pouch is still developing. The image seahorse 6 is a female. The female has a more pronounced "P" shape to their abdomen while the male's tapers slowly to the tail. Eventually, you will easily note his pouch.
I'm not going to banter on about "rescuing" fish from the LFS, but it is probably NOT a good idea. Not only may you have poor luck with the fish, but you encourage them to bring in more, hard to care for, fish and create a wicked cycle. In any case, I think you got lucky here..and here's why....
The Brazilian Seahorse, H. Reidi is also sometimes called the "Slender Seahorse". They are, by nature, a thinner looking sygnathid. Yours do not look malnourished at all. They actually look quite healthy. Being captive bred or raised is a bonus too. Typically, they are not released from the distributor unless they eat frozen foods. The LFS may not have known what to feed them. It seems as if you do.
It may take a couple days before they eat like the pigs they are :D They are a little nervous about their travels and will settle in soon. You've already seen good signs in that they will take frozen mysid. I also feed mine frozen adult brine from time to time, but don't make it a major part of their diet because they are nutritionally deficient and could cause starvation in the fish.
I would NOT add any live foods for now. See just how much frozen they eat first. If they are trained on frozen, and you introduce live, you may make them 'food snobs' and they could, in turn, refuse the frozen again.
If you notice that they will NOT eat frozen, then try to use live adult brine and mix some frozen in during the feeding. Increase the ammount of frozen and reduce the live foods over time to train them on frozen entirely. Again, if they are already eating frozen, don't mess with it.
Feed them frozen mysid (PEI is a good choice though I use a product called Gamma, they are true saltwater mysid, PEI is freshwater) twice a day. Each fish should get about 1/2 dozen per feeding. If you feed once a day, increase the portions, but not by too much. It is also a good idea to 'fast' them once a week. Go a day without food. It has been proven to reduce common liver problems in seahorses. NEVER overfeed. They will eat until the food is gone and this is a big problem. Seahorses do NOT have a belly! They will eat and push the food through their track and NEVER get any nutrients from it. You will see this in that they will literally poop out whole shrimp!
Finally, please do read up at seahorse.org. The library there is great. The folks there are kind, and answer any and all questions without flaming.
Thank you so much for the information. Both of my children are SO excited that we have a male and a female. I am not. I do not want babies. (I know I couldn't raise them so they will die)
I will not give them live foods. I will keep trying the frozen. I have been to seahorse.org. I've been reading a lot and trying to do the best I can for them.
The tank is an all glass 20G (24x12x17) Sandbed = 1inch Taken from 125G reef and 40G FOWLR. 15 lbs Liverock from reef tank , Chaeto, Green star polyps, purple star polyps, Purple / blue mushrooms, 4 different zoanthids, LG Feather Duster and Purple Sinularia (sp?) . I use oceanic Salt and I mixed 10G freshly made SW and 10G from the reef tank. I also added some fake plants for the horses to hitch to.
I plan to build a small sump / fuge for the tank when time permits.
I had a large biowheel filter on the tank for 24 hrs to clean the sandstorm. This was made for a 55G tank so the flow was a little much for the seahorses in the 20G. I have since shut the powerfilter off and I am only using a Protien skimmer. The pump on the skimmer does 2000 l/h. The horses seem to like it better with only that one pump running.
When the power filter was on they were always hitched to something ans still getting blown around. Since the switch, they have been swimming all over the tank and look like they are playing.
I tested the water and everything tested fine. (nitrates at 10ppm)
Temp is at 76
If there is anything else you need to know just ask.
Color changes H.Redi...Help Please
Is it normal for H Redi to get darker after lights out? During the day they are light yellow to white. But at night they turn black all the way around the outside edges of their bodies. Their tails are all black. I've read that they turn black / dark if they are stressed. If this is true, why are they only stressed after lights out? If this is not normal, what can I do for them at this point?
Water chem. ( as of 1:00 am 1/10/06)
nitrate 5
nitrite 0
ph 8.4
ammonia 0
alk 11.5 dkh
phosphate 0
Awesome job there Angie! Even after what others may call an "impulse purchase", you had the knowledge and forethought to use established rock, sand and water in setting up a quick pony tank. Hats off to you!
Yes, the flow rate in the tank MUST be much lower than that of a reef. My old reef had in and around 15X turnover rate. My H. Reidi tank has just 6X turnover. The ponies like that much better. While they are used to short periods (tide crests and ebbs) of faster moving water, they typically see short, erratic, rolling wave type of motion in the grassbeds and reef edges that they inhabit.
Personally, I'd try to keep the water at 78F during the warmest part of the day, allowing it to roll back a couple few at night when the lights go out. H. Reidi is one species that borders the tropical and temperate zones. While they would not appreciate temps in the low to mid 80's like a reef, they are not used to temperate waters in the low to mid 70's. H. Erectus on the other hand, would love cooler waters.
Finally, in re: possible breeding. While H. Reidi is one of the smaller of the seahorses, maxing out at no more than 8 inches in length, more often than not, they will stay in and around 6-7 inches. With that said, they prefer 3X their total lenghth (with tail extended) in tank height for courting and egg transfer. In that 20 gallon tank, they will be comfortable in a "day to day" manner, but may not have the right conditions to breed. Only time will tell. It is not impossible, but statistically, a shorter tank reduces the chances of a successful egg transfer. You may not have to worry about raising fry. In the end, if they do mate, you could probably find a local hobbiest who may want to try and raise them. I'd try to identify such a person well before hand so the both of you are ready in case the marine storks do arrive at your door
H. Reidi are masters at disguise. They WILL change colors to match their environ. At night, when things are dark, a yellow pony advertizes "Eat Here" :D So, with that said, they "shadow" to match the rocks and such and keep a low profile.
Your ponies are NOT stressed. Yes, the reason they are all black in the LFS (for the most part) is that they are stressed. But in your case, they are just matching their environment.
Keep in mind that the male will always have a black edge to its "keel". That is, their breast area. It is common. All of the H. Reidi will have areas that are darker and lighter. It is natural.
In my tank, I had ONLY tonga branch as hitches. My ponies were silver, grey, with black and white spotting and SOME signs of yellow. I put in fake corals (orange octopus coral from That Fishy Place) and they immediately yellowed up to match the hitches.
Also, my females (who spend most of their time in the open -vs- males who hunt in rocks and have 'territories') will collect algae as camouflage. They literally pick small bits of macro and stick them to their backsides. They also tend to grow natural alga on their backs as they spend more time in the light than do my males. This is yet another form of camoflage used by this incredibly wonderful fish.
Ok, now that I'm fairly certain they will survive......Time to get them a "Proper Home"
I have a 45G High (L36 x W12 xH24)
Would this be more suitable for them? I'm so into the seahorses right now that I feel like I'm neglecting my reef How long can I keep them in the 20 G ? I hate to switch their home again so soon, especially since they are doing well and learning where the food will be. The last thing I want to do is stress them out again. Do you think I should wait till I see them courting to move them?
Sorry for all of the questions.......but this is the best place for accurate and quick information. Please bare with me for a little longer. I was having problems with seahorse.org......I kept getting a 404 error ????
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How long can I keep them in the 20 G ? I hate to switch their home again so soon, especially since they are doing well and learning where the food will be. The last thing I want to do is stress them out again. Do you think I should wait till I see them courting to move them?
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