I am pleased to announce that a comprehensive training program for new seahorse keepers is now available to all interested parties from Ocean Rider!
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Pete Giwojna and I provide tech support for Ocean Rider (seahorse.com). One of my duties in that regard now includes providing a quick training course for new Ocean Rider customers and first-time buyers to get them up to speed on the aquarium care and requirements of seahorses. All newbies are required to complete the training program to my satisfaction before they can be certified and authorized to purchase seahorses, but the training lessons are available to anyone who cares to participate.
The purpose of this training is twofold: (1) to assure that the home hobbyist has a suitable aquarium, completely cycled and with the biofiltration fully established, ready and waiting when his seahorses arrive, and (2) to assure that the hobbyist has a good understanding of the aquarium care and requirements of Ocean Rider seahorses by the time he or she has completed the training and been certified. All of which will help to ensure that things go smoothly and that the home aquarist's first experience with Ocean Rider seahorses is rewarding and enjoyable.
This basic training is very informal and completely free of charge. Ocean Rider provides the free training as a service to their customers and any other hobbyists who are interested in learning more about the care and keeping of seahorses. It's a crash course on seahorse keeping consisting of 10 separate lessons covering the following subjects, and is conducted entirely via e-mail. There is no homework or examinations or anything of that nature -- just a lot of good, solid information on seahorses for you to read through and absorb as best you can, at your own speed. The training course consists of a total of over 180 pages of text with more than 100 full life and color illustrations, broken down into 10 lessons covering the following subjects:
Lesson 1: Selecting a Suitable Aquarium & Optimizing It for Seahorses. Tank dimensions and specifications (why height is important); Tank location and aquarium stressors; Setting up a SHOWLR tank to create ideal conditions for seahorses; filtration options protein skimmers UV sterilizers titanium grounding probe substrate lighting water circulation Test kits for monitoring water quality; Aquascaping the seahorse tank; artificial hitching posts macroalgae Basic aquarium setups for seahorses; undergravel filters sponge filters
Lesson 2: Cycling a New Aquarium & Installing the Cleanup Crew. The nitrogen cycle; nitrification and denitrification Step-by-step instructions for cycling a new marine aquarium; Seahorse-safe sanitation engineers and aquarium janitors; snails microhermit crabs cleaner shrimp Starter seahorses (hardy, highly domesticated, high-health ponies)
Lesson 3: Reading Assignments (books, articles, and columns devoted to seahorses).
Lesson 4: Water Chemistry, Aquarium Maintenance, & Maintaining Optimum Water Quality. Basic water quality parameters (acceptable range and optimum levels); ammonia nitrite nitrate pH specific gravity dissolved oxygen Advanced water chemistry for reef keepers; Performing partial water changes to maintain good water quality; Aquarium maintenance schedule; daily weekly monthly
Lesson 5: Feeding Seahorses. Frozen Mysis serves as their staple, everyday diet; brands of frozen Mysis thawing and preparing frozen Mysis enriching with Vibrance Recommended feeding regimen; how to tell if your seahorse is getting enough to eat Feeding tips for seahorses; preparing and serving the frozen Mysis feeding new arrivals secretive feeders morning feedings setting up a feeding station training the seahorses to use a feeding tray artificial feeding stations natural feeding stations purchasing a ready-made feeding station elevating the feeding station fasting seahorses target feeding handfeeding Mysis relicta from Piscine Energetics Broadcast feeding or scatter feeding -- just say no!
Lesson 6: Compatible Tankmates for Seahorses. Safe and unsafe companions -- no guarantees; Tropical tankmates; fish to avoid seahorse-safe fish seahorse-safe invertebrates Feeding seahorses in a community tank; Seahorse-proofing a reef tank safe corals unsafe corals lighting the seahorse reef managing water circulation for a seahorse reef
Lesson 7: Courtship & Breeding. Courtship displays in Hippocampus (fully illustrated) brightening tilting and reciprocal quivering carouseling promenading pouch displays (pumping and ballooning) pointing copulatory rise and the egg transfer Pair formation Morning greetings Male brooding -- a true pregnancy Giving birth -- dawn deliveries
Lesson 8: Raising the Young. Seahorse fry Determining ease of rearing Setting up a basic nursery for benthic babies Advanced nursery tank options for pelagic fry the shaded nursery kriesel and pseudokreisel nurseries the divided nursery in-tank nurseries (illustrated) the greenwater "starter" nursery hyposalinity for pelagic fry Delivery day Culling the fry (if necessary) Feeding the fry hatching and enriching brine shrimp (Artemia) decapsulated brine shrimp eggs culturing rotifers and copepods Fry feeding schedule Weaning -- making the transition to frozen foods
Lesson 9: Disease Prevention and Control. Captive bred vs. wild-caught seahorses Importance of High-Health seahorses Seahorse anatomy illustrations external anatomy internal anatomy Screening seahorses from your LFS Quarantine tank Quarantine protocol for pet-shop ponies and wild seahorses Beta glucan boosts immunity to disease Early detection of health problems aquarium stressors disease symptoms in seahorses What to do at the first sign of a health problem The seahorse-keepers medicine chest first aid kit for seahorses must-have medications to keep on hand properties of the main medications Life expectancy Hepatic lipidosis (prevalence of fatty liver disease) Seahorse disease book
Lesson 10: Mustangs and Sunbursts (Hippocampus erectus) & Acclimating New Arrivals. Nature of Mustangs and Sunbursts multi-generational approach to rearing hybrid vigor genetic diversity selective breeding Hippocampus erectus species summary scientific name and common names meristic counts and morphometric measurements (illustrated) climate and distribution color and pattern breeding habits breeding season gestation period brood size pelagic/benthic fry onset of sexual maturity ease of rearing natural habitats and natural history preferred parameters and aquarium requirements suggested stocking density successful rearing protocols feeding the fry nursery tank designs rearing and grow out tanks diet and nutrition color variations temperature requirements wide ranging species with different races recommended reading Acclimating new arrivals (step-by-step instructions) Keeping and culturing red feeder shrimp (Halocaridina rubra)
I will be providing detailed information on these subjects to anyone who is interested in participating in the training course, and then answering any questions you may have about the material I present. I will also be recommending seahorse-related articles for you to read and absorb online.
In short, the training course will teach you everything you need to know to keep your seahorses happy and healthy, and it will arm you with the information you need in order to tackle your first ponies with confidence. It will explain how to set up a new aquarium and optimize it to create ideal conditions for your seahorses.
How long this training will take to complete depends on your experience level as an aquarist to a large extent. For example, if you have never kept seahorses before and you do not already have a suitable saltwater aquarium up and running, it will take at least eight weeks for your training and preparations to be completed before you can be certified. It will take that long to learn the basics of seahorse keeping, set up a suitable aquarium, cycle the tank from scratch to establish the biological filtration, and optimize the tank to create an ideal environment for seahorses. Only then can you be certified ready to receive your first seahorses.
On the other hand, experienced marine aquarists and hobbyists that have had seahorses before and already have a suitable saltwater aquarium up and running can be certified much more quickly. I will run through the same basic information with them, but most of the information I provide will be familiar material for such hobbyists and they should be able to review it and get up to speed quickly, plus they should have well-established aquariums ready, fully matured that they can fairly quickly adapt in order to make them more ideal for seahorses. In a case like that, certification can be completed as soon as they have absorbed the material I provide and are confident they have a good grasp of the specialized requirements and aquarium care of the seahorses.
In order to provide you with the best possible assistance during the training, I will need to know a little more about your background as an aquarist and the type of aquarium you have available to serve as your seahorse tank, So in order to get started, it will be helpful if you could tell me how experienced you are with saltwater aquariums. Have you ever kept a marine aquarium before? If so, how long have you been involved with the saltwater aquarium hobby? Do you have one or more marine aquariums up and running at this time? If so, how long have the tanks been in operation?
Do you have an aquarium up and running at this time that you intend to use as a seahorse tank? If so, can you please describe the aquarium system you will be using for your seahorse tank? How large is the aquarium (length, width, and height)? What kind of filtration equipment is installed and running on the aquarium? What type of lighting system does the tank you? How long has the proposed seahorse tank been up and running? Please list all of the current inhabitants of the aquarium you will be using as your seahorse tank, if any.
If not, if you don't have an aquarium for your seahorses as of yet, that's just fine. I will be providing you with lots of recommendations and options in that regard so that you can pick out a tank that is just right for your needs and interests. And I will be working with you personally every step of the way until your new aquarium is ready for seahorses and you are well prepared to give them the best of care, regardless of how long that may take.
I strongly encourage anyone and everyone who is interested in seahorses to take advantage of this outstanding free training program. Go through all the lessons with me and get your seahorse tank up and running in time for the latest crop of Mustangs and Sunbursts, which will be maturing this Spring. The latest generation of Ocean Rider Hippocampus erectus seahorses will be hardier and better adapted to aquarium life than ever before.
The free lessons are available to anyone who is interested. You do not have to have Ocean Rider seahorses to be eligible for the training -- it is open to all hobbyists regardless of where they may have obtained their seahorses, or whether they have any seahorses at all. Many of our trainees are simply doing long-term research on seahorses and have no plans to keep them in the near future; they just want to learn as much as they can on the subject for that fateful day when and if they decide to take the plunge...
If you would like to give the seahorse training program a try, just send me a brief e-mail off list (PeteGiwojna@aol.com) with your full name (first and last) along with the information requested above, and I will get you started out with the first lesson right away.
Best wishes with all your fishes!
Respectfully, Pete Giwojna
Post edited by: Pete Giwojna, at: 2010/01/23 03:52
Post edited by: Pete Giwojna, at: 2010/02/10 04:12
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JLyn
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Re:Seahorse Training Program! Get certified here! - 2010/01/17 04:52Hi Pete, I'm a knew aquarist and I've recently taken an interest in seahorses and have decided to start a tank devoted to them. I've gotten a lot of information from Seahorse.com and now I'm interested in getting certified and taking the lessons 1-10. From, Jocelyn Louie
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Excellent! I have your e-mail address from your follow-up message and I will contact you off list with the necessary information and get you started on the lessons right away. You should receive the first lesson no later than Monday, January 18.
Best wishes with all your fishes, Jocelyn! Welcome aboard!
Happy Trails! Pete Giwojna
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Great I m very much interested in enrolling myself for training program for new seahorse keepers. I m having marine aquarium for last 3 years ( size :- L 5ft, H 3ft, B 1ft 6inch). Truly I have never kept Seahorse in my tank as I didnt had any knowledge on Seahorse keeping. And was never confident that i could give proper care to them. But always dream of keeping a tank fully devoted for such gentle pets.
Please enroll me in your training program which is via email. So that i can educate myself in careing and keeping of seahorse.
My Full Name : Sadanand Salaskar
With warm regards Sadanand
Post edited by: Pete Giwojna, at: 2010/01/20 06:13With Warm Regards
SADANAND
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JLyn
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Re:Seahorse Training Program! Get certified here! - 2010/01/19 02:59Hi Pete, It's me Jocelyn I was looking at the website again and I just found out that Ocean RIder doesn't ship within the state of Hawaii. I can understand why and I was just wondering if you could maybe recommend some seahorses that I can find on the island of Oahu. This would be much appreciated. Thanks so much. -Jocelyn
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Yes, you're quite correct -- Ocean Rider (seahorse.com) does have a strict policy against selling any of their livestock within the State of Hawaii. This limitation is necessary to prevent the accidental or intentional release of seahorses that are not native to the islands into Hawaiian waters where they may have a negative impact on endemic seahorses and ecosystems.
The release of captive specimens is widely acknowledged to have the potential to do considerable harm under certain circumstances. The primary concerns are that such releases could introduce diseases into seahorse populations, could pose genetic threats to wild populations, and could disrupt the structure and normal function of seahorse communities, and may therefore actually result in extirpations (localized extinctions) of native seahorses.
The fact that Ocean Rider cannot provide livestock for you will have no effect whatsoever on the training lessons since you do not have to have Ocean Rider seahorses, or seahorses of any kind, in order to participate in the training course.
However, seahorses are still being imported into Hawaiian from sources other than Ocean Rider. Under the circumstances, your best option for locating seahorses will be to contact the local fish stores in your area and ask them to notify you the next time they receive a shipment of seahorses. (I am not in a position to recommend any particular pet shop or fish stores.) As always, Jocelyn, captive-bred-and-raised seahorses are much preferable to wild-caught seahorses or pen-raised ponies, when you have a choice. Lesson 9 (disease prevention and control) discusses how to screen seahorses from the pet store to make sure they are healthy before you make a purchase, so be sure to keep those guidelines in mind when you are selecting a seahorse from your local pet store.
Best of luck finding the perfect ponies for your new seahorse setup when the time comes, Jocelyn!
Happy Trails! Pete Giwojna, Ocean Rider Tech Support
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I m very much interested in enrolling myself for training program for new seahorse keepers. I m having marine aquarium for last 3 years ( size :- L 5ft, H 3ft, B 1ft 6inch). Truly I have never kept Seahorse in my tank as I didnt had any knowledge on Seahorse keeping. And was never confident that i could give proper care to them. But always dream of keeping a tank fully devoted for such gentle pets.
