When it rains...it pours

[loans_n_fishes]

Well, as many of you know, my father died holding my hand Friday morning.

I just got home a couple of hours ago to a dead atlantic blue tang, a dead yellow mimic tang and a coral beauty with considerable ich.

Once I get everyone healthy, I SERIOUSLY may sell this tank and start over again later. :( We are going to the Bahamas in May, and I just can't bear to come home to any more disasters. (I will probably do a 180 gallon when I start over. This one is a 75 gallon.)

I will be keeping my seahorse tank--pray for this one! I love my horses!

The hedgehog is going to a friend's house
The dragon is going to a friend's house
The dog and cats will be taken care of by my mother-in-law (I think)
---she can probably handle the freshwater tank, too.

That leaves my seahorse tank and reef to be taken care of. Thought I might hit somebody up from here that could come feed, etc??

I really might sell the 75. I have loved it, but it may just be too much to deal with right now.

[mathias]

well hopefully someone in austin will help you out....

[mathias]

also sorry to hear about your father....

[demodiki]

Where are you located in Austin?

[loans_n_fishes]

Oak Hill/ SW austin

[erikharrison]

At least you were there, I am sure he loves you for that. We send our best wishes/prayers for you and yours. Keep the tank, at least for now, make slow decisions.
God Bless,
Erik

[Headless_donkey]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I hope everything turns around.
Do your horses eat twice a day? I could feed them in the evening on my way home. The morning would have to be extremely early(6:45-7am). I would be glad to do it though. How long are you out of town? May 13-19 I will be out of town, but another week I will do it.

[loans_n_fishes]

Wow, that is really nice of you. I do typically feed them twice a day, but thought they could probably do once a day if they were given a little extra so they could snick it up later. I think I will also do my hang in refugium and stock it with lots of pods. I don't mind the feeding being early, but I think it would probably be a pain in the neck to come twice a day.

I believe we will be gone the 26th of May through the 3rd of June. I thought I would try to divide the feeding between at least 2 people, so no one has to show up EVERY day.

My systems are super simple. Just top off and check the protein skimmer and pumps to make sure all is functioning, drop in a chunk of food and voila!

[Headless_donkey]

Ok just let me know when I need to come by.

[Jeff]

buy about 200 ghost shrimp then they can eat at will, and also someone has to show up only once a day.

[loans_n_fishes]

Great idea, Jeff! However, will this make them less likely to eat frozen later? Should I stick the ghost shrimp in the hang in fuge--or just let 'em run wild?

[Headless_donkey]

I have a brine shrimp feeder you cam borrow that lets brine shrimp into the water slowly. If someone filled it once a day that would sustain the horses. Our horse won't eat live food, but if yours will then these are both good options. I find ghost shrimp hard it keep alive for a week. Maybe we are doing something wrong.

[jkhunter]

I bought live "janitor" shrimp from livebrineshrimp.com They seem to live in salt water much better than normal ghost shrimp and my horses love them. Mine still actually prefer the frozen mysis over the live shrimp in the tank but it helps me not have to worry about them if I happen to skip a feeding.

[Headless_donkey]

Sweet info I will check it out!

[loans_n_fishes]

Don't brine shrimp have very little nutritional value for the horses?

[jkhunter]

Brine Shrimp do have very little nutritional value for the horses unless they are just hatched. The egg sack makes baby brine shrimp nutritional for the first 24 hours after hatching, but my adult seahorses don't even look at baby brine shrimp. I have had these janitor shrimp (which are close to ghost shrimp) in my tank for about a month now and those that have not been eaten actually help clean the algae off my rocks. I sprinkle vibrance from ocean rider in my water once a week and you can actually see the vitamin powder in the shrimps belly (vibrance is red). Once they lose the red color in their abdomen I add a little more powder to help make the ghost "janitor" shrimp more nutritional, and I also feed spirinula enriched mysis/brine cubes. I would think a full belly is better than starvation even if what you are feeding isn't perfectly nutritional. And the frozen food fed daily by someone near you will help keep them on their frozen diet and get them the vitamins the live food might be lacking. I would not suggest feeding your horses live food only during the period you are gone, but it would help to give your horses a tasty treat and help ensure they don't go hungry if for some reason someone can't make it to your house one night