Seahorse not eating

Question
Hi Jennifer,
I recently purchased a second seahorse.  The first one is eating well, but the second one doesn't want to eat.  It has been 4 days and we have filtered the tank, checked the ph levels and all appears okay.  Do have any advice as she appears okay but still doesn't eat when we feed the other one.  With thanks
Melissa

Answer
Hi Melissa. What you are going through is a very common problem with seahorses. They can be very difficult to feed when they are first introduced to an aquarium. Try calling the place you got her from and ask them what they were feeding it to see if maybe you have a picky eater on your hands. She may be used to eating something that you are not giving her. You should always start off feeding a newly acquired seahorse live brine shrimp to get her started feeding . Though you don't want to use this as her only diet because brine shrimp has very poor nutritional values. It can very difficult to wean seahorses off live foods onto frozen, so you will have to be patient and offer her live for the first few weeks. If you have access to any other live marine food such as live mysis shrimp, daphnia, glassworms or live bloodworms by all means offer those over brine shrimp. Gradually wean her onto frozen by introducing it with the live food at first or by replacing one of her feedings a day with frozen over the live. In the wild, seahorses are constant planktonic feeders and this should be replicated in the aquarium by four or even five feedings each day. Also try a variety of different foods. Try anything you can to get her to eat. Other than that there is really not much you can do. This is the number one reason why seahorses fail to thrive in an aquarium and why I always recommend that before you buy any seahorse ask the place you get it from to feed it to ensure that it is a good eater. Good luck and keep trying.