Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm and Tours | Kona Hawaii › Forums › Seahorse Life and Care › Seahorse Training Program — get certified now!
- This topic has 269 replies, 47 voices, and was last updated 2 months ago by Pete Giwojna.
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April 13, 2022 at 8:44 am #74908info.soikeo88Participant
thanks pete
September 29, 2022 at 12:29 pm #83084hwlongParticipantHi Pete,
I wasn’t sure where to start so I’m glad you have this course! I sent you an email to get it started. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Hannah LongSeptember 29, 2022 at 12:30 pm #83088Pete GiwojnaModeratorDear Hannah:
I received your message off list at my personal e-mail address, and I would be very happy to help you get started off on the right foot with your seahorse project. In fact, you should already have received your copy of the Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Manual, and I am ready to respond whenever you have any questions or concerns.
Best wishes with all your fishes, Hannah! Please let me know if I can be of any further service in the meantime.
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech SupportNovember 21, 2022 at 2:29 pm #85146wayland.aliciaParticipantHello, I would very much like to take your training program. How would I go about signing up. Thank you so much, Alicia
December 2, 2022 at 11:50 am #85742Pete GiwojnaModeratorDear Alicia:
Excellent! I would be very happy to enroll you in the Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Program!
However, the seahorse training program is a correspondence course that is conducted entirely via e-mail, so I will need you to contact me off list with your e-mail address so that we can begin the training lessons. You can reach me at the following e-mail address any time:I will be looking for your reply so that we can begin the training without any further delay, Alicia. Best wishes with all your fishes in the meantime!
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech SupportJanuary 6, 2023 at 2:12 pm #87269txcherakee1ParticipantHi. Would it be possible for me to enroll in your seahorse training program? I very much look forward to it! Thank you, Lesli 💕
January 6, 2023 at 2:22 pm #87302Pete GiwojnaModeratorDear Lesli:
Yes, of course! The training is always available for Ocean Rider clients and customers, and I would be very happy to enroll you in the Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Program!
However, the seahorse training program is a correspondence course that is conducted entirely via e-mail, so I will need you to contact me off list with your e-mail address so that we can begin the training lessons. You can reach me at the following e-mail address any time:
Just send me a brief e-mail expressing your interest in the seahorse training program, and I will get you started immediately. I will be looking for your reply so that we can begin the training without any further delay, Lesli. Best wishes with all your fishes in the meantime!
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech SupportMay 11, 2023 at 2:22 pm #93282bshapiro4911ParticipantHi Pete,
Hope you got my email expressing interesting in signing up for the certification program.
Excited to begin this adventure.
BethMay 12, 2023 at 5:16 am #93322Pete GiwojnaModeratorDear Beth:
Yes, I received your message and I sent you your own personal copy of the Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Manual promptly thereafter. You should have received it several days ago.
Perhaps it was misdirected to your spam folder, or some such issue, but to be on the safe side, I will resend it again today. Please let me know if the new copy of the Training Manual does not arrive as an attachment to a separate e-mail today, Beth.
In the meantime, I want to thank you for your vitally important work as a trauma therapist! God bless all your efforts in that regard, Beth!
Respectfully,
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech SupportSeptember 25, 2023 at 12:11 pm #99052carola.vidalParticipantHello
Im super interested inn this program. I’ll send you and email.Thanks
Carolina
November 20, 2023 at 8:54 am #100792faolynnfairyParticipantHi Pete! I’d like to start the 10 session certification please. Let me know what needs to be done. Thanks!
November 20, 2023 at 9:04 am #101012Pete GiwojnaModeratorDear faolynnfairy:
Excellent! All you need to do is to contact me via e-mail at the following address, and we will get started on the training right away:
The Ocean Rider Seahorse Training Program is a correspondence course that is conducted entirely via e-mail, and as soon as I hear from you, I will send you your free copy of the training Manual and we can go over any questions or concerns you may have. The training is very comprehensive and will explain everything you need to know in order to keep Ocean Rider seahorses happy and healthy in a home aquarium for years to come.
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Training Program AdvisorJanuary 26, 2024 at 11:22 am #103977lilatbarnesParticipantPete,
I was wondering if this seahorse training course would be for dwarf seahorses also. I’m trying to decide on keeping either dwarfs or normal sized seahorses, so I’m trying to get as much info as possible. Just wanted to know if this info could be for dwarfs also. Thanks
January 26, 2024 at 11:22 am #103978skills_07judgesParticipantPete,
I was wondering if this seahorse training course would be for dwarf seahorses also. I’m trying to decide on keeping either dwarfs or normal sized seahorses, so I’m trying to get as much info as possible. Just wanted to know if this info could be for dwarfs also. Thanks
January 26, 2024 at 12:08 pm #104375Pete GiwojnaModeratorDear Barnes:
The Ocean Rider seahorse training Manual covers the care and aquarium requirements of the larger breeds of seahorses such as Hippocampus erectus, and we no longer offer dwarf seahorses (Hippocampus zosterae) for sale to the public.
The reason for this is that the greater seahorses are much easier to feed and care for, accepting frozen Mysis as their staple, everyday diet.
Three factors make Pixies or dwarf seahorses (H. zosterae) somewhat more demanding to keep than the larger breeds of seahorses such as Mustangs and Sunbursts (Hippocampus erectus):
(1) Their need for live foods.
(2) The small water volume of typical dwarf seahorse setups.
(3) Their susceptibility to aquarium hitchhikers and stinging animals (e.g., hydroids, Aiptasia).Because of their small size and sedentary lifestyle, dwarf seahorses cannot be consistently trained to eat frozen foods without risking polluting the aquarium with uneaten food. As a result, the adults must be provided with copious amounts of newly-hatched brine shrimp (Artemia nauplii) at least twice a day and the fry must have access to bbs throughout the day.
This means maintaining a battery of brine shrimp hatcheries and hatching out large quantities of brine shrimp on a daily basis. If you are not proficient at hatching out brine shrimp or consider that to be too much of a hassle, then dwarf seahorses are not for you!
Because they are so terribly tiny — adult H. zosterae are only about the size of your thumbnail and half of that is tail — dwarf seahorses do best in small aquaria of 2 to 5 gallons to facilitate maintaining an adequate feeding density of bbs. Such a small volume of water is more susceptible to fluctuations in temperature, pH, and specific gravity than larger aquariums, and the water quality can also go downhill much faster in such small tanks than in large setups.
This means that dwarf seahorse keepers must practice diligent aquarium practices and an accelerated maintenance schedule in order to stay on top of water quality. As an example, water changes should be made weekly or biweekly, rather than monthly or bimonthly. This is not really onerous at all, since the water changes are so small (a fraction of a gallon to 1 or 2 gallons at most, depending on the size of the dwarf tank). It’s an easy matter to prepare and store a month’s worth of freshly mixed saltwater in advance, and I then find that I can perform a water change, vacuum of the bottom of my dwarf seahorse tank, and clean the sponge filters in no more than 5-10 minutes tops. But if the aquarist is not diligent about water changes and aquarium maintenance, dwarf seahorse setups can “crash” more easily than bigger, more stable aquariums with a larger volume of water.
The need for an accelerated maintenance schedule and daily feedings of live foods thus makes dwarf seahorses a bit more demanding to keep than the greater seahorses.
In addition, because of their diminutive dimensions, dwarf seahorses are susceptible to the stings from hydroids and Aiptasia rock anemones, which normally do not present a risk to the larger breeds of seahorses. Hydroids in particular are especially problematic for dwarves because once they find their way into a dwarf seahorse setup or nursery tank, the dreaded droids can explode to plague proportions very quickly because conditions are ideal for their growth: perfect temperatures, an abundance of planktonic prey that is renewed every few hours, and a complete absence of predators. As they proliferate and spread, they will soon begin to take a toll on the seahorse fry and even adult dwarfs can succumb to multiple stings or secondary infections that can set in at the site of a sting (Abbott, 2003).
The type of substrate — aragonite, black sand, crushed shell, coral sand, or a bare glass bottom — doesn’t seem to make much difference at all. It’s just that nursery tanks and dwarf seahorse tanks are perfect environments for culturing hydroids, and once they find their way into such a system they go forth and multiply with a vengeance. So unless dwarf seahorse keepers take special precautions, they can find themselves waging a losing battle with an infestation of hydroids, and that’s something that hobbyists who keep larger seahorses simply never need to be concerned about.
However, dwarf seahorses are widely considered by far the easiest seahorses of all to raise. They are prolific, breed readily in groups, and produce large, benthic fry that accept newly-hatched brine shrimp as their first food and reach maturity in as little as three months. They are the least expensive of all the seahorses to own and a dwarf seahorse aquarium can be set up far more economically than a system for keeping the larger seahorse species.
Dwarf seahorses are therefore ideal for breeders and anyone operating on a shoestring budget. Pint-sized and prolific, these pigmy ponies are the perfect pick for anyone primarily interested in rearing or for any seahorse keepers who can’t afford to devote too much money or space to their hobby. Hippocampus zosterae is the best choice for the novice who wants to learn more about keeping and breeding seahorses before moving on to the big boys. More budding seahorse keepers have cut their teeth on dwarves than all the other seahorses put together. H. zosterae is the right pick for newbies who would like to try their hand with seahorses for a modest investment, or for hobbyists with a tight budget, or aquarists looking for captive-bred seahorses that are a snap to breed and a breeze to raise, or anyone captivated by keeping tiny elfin creatures no bigger than your thumbnail.
In short, the seahorse training program is devoted to larger seahorse species and does not cover dwarf seahorses.
However, I have a great deal of useful information about dwarf seahorses that I would be happy to provide for you if you contact me offlist at the following e-mail address:
Best wishes with all your fishes!
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support -
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