mogurnda October 26, 2014 Share October 26, 2014 The Box of Slugs in my office has been doing fine, and they are starting to produce egg masses more regularly. One problem with a fishless tank that contains a lot of algae and debris is the proliferation of small arthropods. The tank is jammed with isopods and swarming with copepods, to the point that I was a bit worried that they would eat slug eggs and veligers. What can a person add to reduce the population of small invertebrates, but not cause additional headaches? What about dwarf seahorses? The biggest pain about seahorses is keeping a steady supply of food available. If I don't add too many, they should be able to feast on 'pods and be happy. Seemed like a good idea, so I ordered 2 males and 3 females from Seahorse Corral. They arrived last week, and I have totally fallen in love with them. They are tiny and slow and dumb, and I worry every night whether I will see them in the morning, but they have been chowing on the bugs and made the Box of Slugs their home. The two males are a bit heftier: One of the females is a little plain, but heftier. At least as hefty as a little seahorse can be. The other two are still pretty small and skinny, but much more colorful. She is the prettiest of all. This photo is OK, but she is a lot more vivid green than this. The main purpose of the tank is for the slugs, but these guys have spiced it up a lot. Amazing how much more interested people are in seahorses than slugs. At some point, I will get a shot of both in the same frame, to give a sense of how much bigger the Elysia are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef October 26, 2014 Share October 26, 2014 Very cute! And yes..most of us will find the seahorses more interesting than your slugs...but there will be those out there that will not...call them kindred spirits or what you will,lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 26, 2014 Author Share October 26, 2014 I hate to say it, but they are really more interesting to watch than the slugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuffyGeos October 26, 2014 Share October 26, 2014 I hate to say it, but they are really more interesting to watch than the slugs. :laugh: :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 26, 2014 Author Share October 26, 2014 A few more pix. The grey male, with a little columbellid snail for scale. The little green female. Shows her color better. She has put on a little weight since she arrived. Do the copepods make me look fat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 October 26, 2014 Share October 26, 2014 You had to go and add spines to your system... Very cool, I have always wanted to try a bunch of pygmies but never felt I could adequately provide for them given all of e other fish I want to have in my systems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 27, 2014 Author Share October 27, 2014 You had to go and add spines to your system... Very cool, I have always wanted to try a bunch of pygmies but never felt I could adequately provide for them given all of e other fish I want to have in my systems... Yep, there are now vertebrae in the tank; whole chains of them. Limiting the vertebrate fauna to a single species should keep disease transmission to near zero, I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTricia October 27, 2014 Share October 27, 2014 I've had pygmies before. We used to rescue them from marinas when they would wash up with the tide covered in oil and struggling to breathe. I absolutely LOVE them. I'm so happy to see them in your slug tank! Their ability to change color and exhibit some kind of personality is amazing. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTricia October 27, 2014 Share October 27, 2014 I also had success getting them to eat a dead copepod supplement. I cannot remember what it was for the life of me, but the supplement contained pink copepods probably for corals. You could see the dwarfs eating it. I just added it in in small doses with some live stuff, and they eventually went after it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 27, 2014 Author Share October 27, 2014 I've had pygmies before. We used to rescue them from marinas when they would wash up with the tide covered in oil and struggling to breathe. I absolutely LOVE them. I'm so happy to see them in your slug tank! Their ability to change color and exhibit some kind of personality is amazing. Good luck! How did you keep them when you had them in Florida? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueTricia October 27, 2014 Share October 27, 2014 How did you keep them when you had them in Florida? I had a little 20g tank I kept them and a few regular h. erectus in. I didn't LOVE my system at all, so I am not advocating for it in the least. I had a little HOB canister filter with spray bars to limit the flow in the tank. I had a few planted algaes (I never got good at keeping them alive and constantly switched them out on the beach) and a few fake corals. I made baby brine every day, which I definitely don't recommend as efficient. I would also catch my own copepods on the beach and make frozen cope-cubes, and got the ponies to eat those too. I think my biggest recommendation would be to create an in-tank refugium where your copepod population can reproduce without predation. It doesn't have to be anythign big. You can take come small clear plastic container, drill holes in it for light and flow, and set it in a corner of the tank. Make sure some algae or LR is in there, and you're set. I've got a dwarf seahorses book you're welcome to borrow if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt LeBaron October 27, 2014 Share October 27, 2014 There's just something about seahorses that makes people like them, despite their "dumpiness". They just have a lot of personality but my wife and I both agree that they act like the stoners of the sea, they just hang out looking semi clueless eating all day. One day I'd like to setup a small tank for pygmy horses just so that I could have a bunch of them all in a single tank. I limit myself to 3-4 right now with the other fish I have so that I can keep my water parameters under control in my 90G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 27, 2014 Author Share October 27, 2014 I think my biggest recommendation would be to create an in-tank refugium where your copepod population can reproduce without predation. It doesn't have to be anythign big. You can take come small clear plastic container, drill holes in it for light and flow, and set it in a corner of the tank. Make sure some algae or LR is in there, and you're set. I've got a dwarf seahorses book you're welcome to borrow if you want. A nano with a little pod pile like that would be great. With the right combination of flow and inhabitants, it seems like it would be straightforward to have a nice little tank with some easy corals, macros and dwarf seahorses. Maybe add one of paulb's automatic feeders as a supplement. There's just something about seahorses that makes people like them, despite their "dumpiness". They just have a lot of personality but my wife and I both agree that they act like the stoners of the sea, they just hang out looking semi clueless eating all day. It is interesting that these funny looking little fish that mostly sit in one place can be so fascinating. I had a tank of erectus for a few years, and was amazed at how little they did. Not an exciting pet, but I was still crushed when a kalk overdose wiped them all out. It's kind of fun to watch the dwarves in the slug tank. Mostly they just sit motionless at funny angles, while copepods swarm around their heads like popcorn. Then, every once in a while, SNICK, the pony eats a bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toastiireefs October 28, 2014 Share October 28, 2014 I used to have a herd of these guys!!! i love tem LOADS i hatched brine every day and had a copepod culture going Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 October 28, 2014 Share October 28, 2014 They are totally adorable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 29, 2014 Author Share October 29, 2014 I used to have a herd of these guys!!! i love tem LOADS i hatched brine every day and had a copepod culture going I am lucky that the copepod supply seems to be inexhaustible at this point, so no hatching sea monkeys yet. Did you get babies? I am thinking that I will have to actually start raising food if the population goes up. Trying to figure out how to make it into a student project They are totally adorable. Yes, they are. Hard to believe little suction feeders can be so cute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OcalaReefGirl October 30, 2014 Share October 30, 2014 Oh I love them! How adorable! Now I want to put all my slugs in a tank with seahorses! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda October 30, 2014 Author Share October 30, 2014 Oh I love them! How adorable! Now I want to put all my slugs in a tank with seahorses! Go for it! They do compliment the slugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahorseconservancy December 3, 2014 Share December 3, 2014 seahorses are not dumb, the way most people keep them makes them seem that way, but they are hunters and should be hunting not begging for food all day so the planted tank is good, hey where do you get the slugs? lots of mail order but who is good, and the macro? i use 4 types but looking for more can you tell us? that shaving brush is it old or new will it die soon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda December 4, 2014 Author Share December 4, 2014 seahorses are not dumb, the way most people keep them makes them seem that way, but they are hunters and should be hunting not begging for food all day so the planted tank is good, hey where do you get the slugs? lots of mail order but who is good, and the macro? i use 4 types but looking for more can you tell us? that shaving brush is it old or new will it die soon? What I find interesting about their behavior is that they will sit in one place for hours hunting 'pods, then suddenly be across the tank without seeming to move. I think they can teleport. The slugs are from Carolina Biological. They are the least expensive, and extremely reliable. The shaving brush is from Gulf Coast Ecosystems. They don't normally sell it as a separate item, but I always get a good number when I order the "Halimeda sampler," It sprouts new plants pretty regularly, so could probably sustain itself with a small number of slugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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