Shrimpfish & seamoth experience anyone?

[kris2001]

Anyone has had experience with :

Shrimpfish(look like razor fish almost) and
Sea moth?

Are they reef safe? Will they get caught in mp10?

Thx

 

[mort]

I've kept many shrimp fish but only ever in dedicated seahorse type systems. They can handle flow but are really delicate to begin with and take some work to get them going. They are more comfortable in larger groups and can be weaned onto frozen foods quite easily and after this can be quite hardy. They are reef safe with the exception of tiny shrimp like sexy shrimp.
I have seen them in a full coral tank but don't know about their longterm success in that tank. I don't think they would do very well with much competition for food and I'd be more worried about that than flow (although starting with a low flow and slowly ramping it up would help, plus I'd use the foam cover).

I've only ever looked after one seamoth and it didn't go well. I think it lasted a few weeks but I could never get it feeding on even live food. I think the key to success with them is in having a absolutely enormous live sand bed and I mean probably tens of metres square.

 

[Sorcha2]

I looked into seamoths at one point. They're very hard to source, even big public aquariums don't generally keep them, and even should you manage to procure a pair the amount of work and live food to keep them would be insane. They end up being like a mandarin crossed with a sea horse but with much larger open space and food requirements. Despite their beauty and coolness they just are not a species well suited to captivity.

 

[kris2001]

I've kept many shrimp fish but only ever in dedicated seahorse type systems. They can handle flow but are really delicate to begin with and take some work to get them going. They are more comfortable in larger groups and can be weaned onto frozen foods quite easily and after this can be quite hardy. They are reef safe with the exception of tiny shrimp like sexy shrimp.
I have seen them in a full coral tank but don't know about their longterm success in that tank. I don't think they would do very well with much competition for food and I'd be more worried about that than flow (although starting with a low flow and slowly ramping it up would help, plus I'd use the foam cover).

I've only ever looked after one seamoth and it didn't go well. I think it lasted a few weeks but I could never get it feeding on even live food. I think the key to success with them is in having a absolutely enormous live sand bed and I mean probably tens of metres square.

Thx.
I guess shrimpfish never take to pellets right?
I feed my DT frozen twice weekly that's all

 

[mort]

Thx.
I guess shrimpfish never take to pellets right?
I feed my DT frozen twice weekly that's all

I never tried feeding pellets because they were housed in a tank with seahorses but I'd be very surprised if they did take pellets or flake.
They take some weaning onto frozen as well so you will need a supply of live foods to begin with. I believe we used enriched live adult brine, mysis shrimp and river shrimp to get them going. Eventually they ate mysis (pe mysis and the smaller types), small krill, enriched brine and plenty of copepods. They need feeding frozen several times a day, I would add a few mysis or similar every time I passed the tank so probably feed 10 times a day or so but very small amounts. These are a species that takes some dedication.

I was lucky that we had access to lots of foods because I was breeding the seahorses and other species and the shrimp fish were simply an impulse buy from someone who did an import.