sea horses

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Some good tank mates for sea horses [...]

Brandonb wrote on Mon, 04 Sep 2006:
My local shop also keeps Rainsford's Gobies AKA Court Jester Gobies in with
them and seem to be fine.

This actually isn't a good way to tell. Most local fish stores have high
turnover in livestock, plus a good fraction of in-store mortality.

Just as an example, have you ever seen a mandarin dragonet ("goby") in your
local store? They're almost always kept in clear bottomless tanks. Yet we
know, to keep a mandarin alive long term, you need a mature tank with lots of
live rock. Mandarins will generally not eat prepared/frozen food, only live
'pods (which grow in your live rock). Net result: the mandarins in the stores
are generally all slowly starving to death, but may be purchased by a consumer
before they die. If the consumer has a large mature tank, they may find food
there later. If the consumer has a tank that looks like the fish store tank,
they'll die soon enough.

As to your suggestion: peaceful gobies can indeed be good tankmates for
sea horses. But I just wanted to caution that you can't learn much just
because you see that pairing in the store. Those sea horses could well be
slowly starving to death.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
The human spirit is a very hard thing to kill. Even with a chainsaw.

Brandonb wrote on Mon, 04 Sep 2006:
My local shop has some tank-bred seahorses that I've throught
about getting that just get fed regular Spectrum pellet food.

I have to say, I'm not sure I believe this. How long have they kept a
seahorse alive on pellet food? What is the species of the seahorse?
Does the tank have live rock?

This is so unusual as to be unlikely to be true.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.

Don Geddis wrote:

Just as an example, have you ever seen a mandarin dragonet ("goby") in your
local store? They're almost always kept in clear bottomless tanks. Yet we
know, to keep a mandarin alive long term, you need a mature tank with lots of
live rock.

The store where I buy fish keeps them in small reef tanks. They're pretty much
adamant about not selling them to people who don't have reef tanks. On of
several reasons I buy my stuff there.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Don Geddis wrote:

This actually isn't a good way to tell. Most local fish stores have high
turnover in livestock, plus a good fraction of in-store mortality.

Agreed. In this case the store owner is as consciencious as he can be.
He always keeps the same types together also.

Just as an example, have you ever seen a mandarin dragonet ("goby") in your
local store? They're almost always kept in clear bottomless tanks. Yet we
know, to keep a mandarin alive long term, you need a mature tank with lots of
live rock. Mandarins will generally not eat prepared/frozen food, only live
'pods (which grow in your live rock). Net result: the mandarins in the stores
are generally all slowly starving to death, but may be purchased by a consumer
before they die. If the consumer has a large mature tank, they may find food
there later. If the consumer has a tank that looks like the fish store tank,
they'll die soon enough.

He usually has 1 or 2 mandarins, but no, he doesn't have any bottomless
tanks. They are always kept in established systems and supplemented with
some copepod-in-a-bottle thing. This, I believe:
http://www.reed-mariculture.com/copepod/

You're right though. Many places aren't as consciencious in caring for
their livestock.

As to your suggestion: peaceful gobies can indeed be good tankmates for
sea horses. But I just wanted to caution that you can't learn much just
because you see that pairing in the store. Those sea horses could well be
slowly starving to death.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Don Geddis http://reef.geddis.org/
The human spirit is a very hard thing to kill. Even with a chainsaw.

Don Geddis wrote:
I have to say, I'm not sure I believe this. How long have they kept a
seahorse alive on pellet food? What is the species of the seahorse?
Does the tank have live rock?

This is so unusual as to be unlikely to be true.

-- Don

I may be mistaken about the pellet food vs another type. Its been a
while since I was looking at em.

Brandonb

He is not going to be buying bottles of live pods to
supplement his mandarin.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Brandonb wrote on 9/5/2006 9:34 PM:
Don Geddis wrote:

This actually isn't a good way to tell. Most local fish stores have high
turnover in livestock, plus a good fraction of in-store mortality.

Agreed. In this case the store owner is as consciencious as he can be.
He always keeps the same types together also.

Just as an example, have you ever seen a mandarin dragonet ("goby") in
your
local store? They're almost always kept in clear bottomless tanks.
Yet we
know, to keep a mandarin alive long term, you need a mature tank with
lots of
live rock. Mandarins will generally not eat prepared/frozen food,
only live
'pods (which grow in your live rock). Net result: the mandarins in
the stores
are generally all slowly starving to death, but may be purchased by a
consumer
before they die. If the consumer has a large mature tank, they may
find food
there later. If the consumer has a tank that looks like the fish
store tank,
they'll die soon enough.

He usually has 1 or 2 mandarins, but no, he doesn't have any bottomless
tanks. They are always kept in established systems and supplemented with
some copepod-in-a-bottle thing. This, I believe:
http://www.reed-mariculture.com/copepod/

You're right though. Many places aren't as consciencious in caring for
their livestock.

As to your suggestion: peaceful gobies can indeed be good tankmates for
sea horses. But I just wanted to caution that you can't learn much just
because you see that pairing in the store. Those sea horses could
well be
slowly starving to death.

-- Don
__________________________________________________ _____________________________

Don Geddis
http://reef.geddis.org/
The human spirit is a very hard thing to kill. Even with a chainsaw.

I was very peaceful, and often slow-moving and eating. If something disturbed him, although he has gone, like lightning. I usually let him out of my more aggressive, feeding fish, to ensure that he will not get some food before are gone. I do not have any problems, particle or flake food or frozen. Seems to love it all, including Mysis.