Seahorse

[jcolon2]

Hello. The reason I originally began my saltwater tank was to house dwarf seahorses. However, after much research, I decided they were too advanced to care for. I have upgraded to a 55, and now would like to purchase a pair of hippocampus erectus as I am no longer interested in the dwarfs due to the extra risks they come with. However, I am no longer sure if my tank is adequate for seahorses. I would like to get input before I add any other fish/inverts or equipment to the tank.

Fish: 4 blue/green chromis (had 5, 1 died this morning), and 2 ocellaris clowns. I was going to add 1 midas blenny.

Inverts: 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp, 2 small maxima clams.

coral frags: orange lobo, Florida ricordea, orange agent acan (doing very poorly), tryee full spectrum chalice, pagoda cup, green polyp toadstool, pink cap, 2 red sea xenia, unknown xenia, lunar eclipse zoos, armor of god zoos, green palythoa, ORA green birdsnest, green star polyps.

Equipment: heater (water @ 78 degrees), bak pak 2 protein skimmer, coralife 48 inch fixure 270 watts (2 actinics, 2 power compacts).

I have a cpr 150 overflow box which I will be hooking up once I construct my 20 gallon sump. This is where I am most worried; I ordered a red sea wavemaker pro and two maxijet 1200 powerheads. I have 69 pounds of live rock with some interesting aquascaping for them to hide in (I will post pics).

My substrate was sugar sand however, it is now carib sea sand (it has shells and pebbles). I am ordering a master test kit. I try to keep my salinity level a 1.024. I use gallons of bottled water for the sake of the inverts. I am willing to hatch brine shrimp (I have the cysts). I use purple tech on the tank. The tank also has a growing population of pods which I am willing to restock again with quality pods I purchase from Ebay. I also feed the tank small amounts of phytoplankton.

 

[basiab]

You really need to read a lot. There is a site just about seahorses but I can't remember the exact name. But I can tell you that you don't want any of your fish in a seahorse tank. Possibly some gobies. But your best bet is to keep just seahorses. Dwarf horses are probably not any harder than regular except that they will only eat live stuff. So you have to have brineshrimp hatching all the time. I had them for a while. The biggest problem is trying to grow frye to maturity but that is difficult with any of the horses.

 

[NYreefNoob]

NO TO : 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp, 2 small maxima clams.
lobo, acans, no to blenny and other stuff, would really suggest going to seahorse.org and doing some reading and care requirements. seahorses are pretty easy to care for if given right enviroment. also no to the purple up, i have a pair of yellow watchmen gobies, and some nano gobies, pistol shrimp and alot of macro algea in tank, very low flow which cuts out alot of the corals as well and no sps or corals with tenacles,

 

[jrobbins]

Reach out to Dom. He kept seahorses (he might still keep them for all I know). He can put you on the right path.

 

[NYC Joe]

well, you would have to get rid rid of any coral that stings, all sps and lps.
no clams, they will shut and kill the horses.

ditch the heater. they like cold, constant at 75 deg. ish.or colder.

also the power heads. either screen them off or get koralias.
5-10X turnover rate.

as far as the fish. clowns are to aggresive feeders.
you cant keep to many fish.
check out seahorse.org for a lot of info.

here is a compatibility list for seahorses,
study carefully
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/tankmates.shtml

mine just had babies, im trying to figure out how to raise em,

I have 2 fire fish, a goby, and a cardinal, a few glass shrimp. 2 pep, and 2 pistol shrimp and im fine.
I wouldnt worry about the shrimp tho.
if they are small, you may consider them food tho.

good luck,
-Joe

 

[bizarrecorals]

seahorses do much better alone w/ plants, gorgornians, slight current, wouldn't really put anything with them, is cool having a tank w/ just seahorse, watch them multiply, try to go to a reputable sourse get "tank raised" seahorse, alot of the seahorse being sold in the NY region, believe it or not, comes from Coney Island when it is warm.lol., or try sticking with red or yellow brazilians, they're pricey, but they live.