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Greetings, The day after Thanksgiving, a kind hearted neighbor gave me a seahorse she purchased from a shop outside our local area. She knew I was feeling down from a recent loss. Concerned about introducing parisites and other nastys to my established tank, I placed it in the small tank I sort of have set up like a refugium but, it\’s not linked directly to any tank. He/she is very young but, is already eating frozen mysis enriched with vibrance. Hooray!!!
My question is how long should I keep this little cutie separated? The shop keeper told my neighbor that these were tank raised and not wild. I verified that with him. He said that about once a year, his distributer has these. I also found out that all the seahorses in the group are pretty much the same size.
I\’m not sure what too do. Anybody have any idea how long of a quarantine time I would need to impose to play it safe? Since the whole group is about the same size, could that be an indicator that they were tank raised ?Hi Dusty_rider,
Congratulations on your new seahorse.
There are captive bred seahorses showing up more and more these days at the wholesalers, so there is a good chance she is captive bred. The fact that she is eating frozen mysis is also a good indicator that she is captive bred. Most wild caughts will not without quite a bit of effort.
You will see quarantine times of anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks depending on where you are reading. I personally like and use 6 weeks myself.
Best of luck with your newest addition.
HTH,
Leslie
Dear Dusty Rider:
First of all, let me say it was very thoughtful of your friend to provide you with a gift seahorse!
I agree with Leslie that the chances are good that your new seahorse is actually captive-bred if that’s what he was represented as and he is eating frozen foods well.
Nevertheless, it was very astute of you to quarantine the newcomer before introducing him to your herd. Regardless of whether it is captive-bred or wild caught, any seahorse that is obtained from a retail or wholesale outlet should be rigorously quarantine. During their stay at the retailers/wholesalers, seahorses are very likely to have been exposed to a wide range of pathogens and parasites from wild-caught fishes from around the world in the dealer’s holding tanks, making them potential disease vectors for a long laundry list of problems.
I recommend a 6-week quarantine period in such cases. Some of the deadly diseases that afflict seahorses, such as Glugea and Mycobacteriosis, often spread internally, slowly and inexorably, and it can take that long before any external signs of these conditions appear.
Best of luck with your newcomer, Dusty!
Respectfully,
Pete GiwojnaThank you the info. So far so good. I added a piece of faux coral to the tank for a hitching post but he/she seems to prefer the natural grasses and algae.
He/she is almost invisable when hitching in it. Thanx again!
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Ocean Rider, Inc. is an Organic Hawaiian-Based Seahorse Aqua-Farm & Aquarium that Follows Strict Good Farming Practices in Raising Seahorses and Other Aquatic Life.
