Baby seahorse not eating

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

Ghostshrimp55

AC Members
Sep 30, 2005
382
4
0
Hey all. Okay, don't get all upset but............I'm not a saltwater guy........sorry. However, a friend at work owns something of a mini reef. I believe she has something like a 10 gallon tank with a bunch of live rock, about 3 inches of live sand, some live corals, an anemone or two, a clown fish a hawkfish (which she is desperately trying to catch and return since it killed her clam and one other fish). I guess her lighting is fine and she has a filter that apparently provides a decent current and filtration. She also has 2 seahorses. One of them, the smaller of the two, is about 3 inches in length and has stopped eating. She says that it's been kind of sluggish and won't take any food. she also had a small problem with red hair algae starting to develop.

I'm not sure what she has been feeding the horses. I think maybe some kind of baby shrimp or something like that. She has to wrangle them up in a net to isolate them from everyone else, otherwise they won't get any food.

I know I've been kind of vague but that's all the info I have right now. I actually wasn't even going to post this but I figured I'd give it a go and see what comes up. Anybody have any ideas as to what could be wrong? She really loves her seahorses and would hate to lose one. As far as I know, she's had the tank for a long time and everyone else is doing fine.

Thanks a lot!
 

mogurnda

vaguely present
Apr 29, 2003
5,383
0
0
DC
Visit site
I see a few problems. Having horses in a reef tank is generally not a good idea, for several reasons. Aside from the feeding problem and too much current, the temperature of a reef is too warm for any commonly available SH species.

I can't say anything useful about the SH not eating, but there is an excellent crowd over at seahorse.org who may be able to help.

Good luck.
 

Ghostshrimp55

AC Members
Sep 30, 2005
382
4
0
Thanks for the reply. I quess it's a moot point now anyway. Apparently, the seahorse was dead when my friend got home yesterday. She has another larger one, as I have said before. If she sees any problems with that one I'll tell her to got to seahorse.org.

Thanks again
 

Dangerdoll

Global Moderator
Aug 27, 2002
11,765
5
89
54
Roselle Park, NJ
aquariacentral.com
Real Name
Cori
I would tell her about the site anyway being as she has a SH. She may know alot about them but it's pretty cool to go somewhere to talk about them, share your experiences, help others out as well and learn some new stuff herself.
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store