Long island mikes Sea horse tank

[ReefDiver]

Awesome, and great video! Does the sea horse tank share sump with main tank or is it closed system? If it doesnt share, any other reason for picking warm water sea horse vs. cold water?

 

[CoralOfDuty]

Awesome setup man. GL with the build.

 

[crox99]

Great job buddy!!

 

[NYreefNoob]

Looks good but a few things, reguardless if they say they can handle the higher temps i would not keep them above 75 degree's, i kept sh for 7 years, take the sps out, they will kill it off eventually anyways, nothing with tenicles coral wise. I personally tried corals for a little while before i gave away to just keeping different types of algea in the tank, besides helping with the filtration. It also gives a place for pods to grow, and i would not atach it to other system, gives a chance for parasites to go to both systems

 

[Zuska]

nice set up

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Hi guys, thank you very much for the kind words. Yes, it does share the same sump. One of the reason why I went with the ORA is because of them being tropical species. Seahorses have to be fed three times a day and their poop is very high in protein. Having such a small system would dirty up the water very quickly. Being that I have about 300 gallons of water in my main system with a lot of live rock, I feel that the it would be much better to use that as my biological. I do not have to worry about my nitrates raising very quickly with that water volume.
Thank you nyreefnoob, I appreciate your advice on this. I decided to put the green monti in because they were given to me from a friend for that reason and they were almost dead already. I expect them to completely die eventually due to hitching and such low light conditions. They will just become hitching posts. I puts in some gorgonia and zooz. The zooz will probably come out but that's about all I would put in. I don't want to put in anything that would sting the sea horses. I spoke to ORA about the water temps before I purchased them. They told me that being that they were tropical and that they keep them in high 70's low 80's and the store I purchased them from also keeps them in high 70's they would recommend me keeping them in high 70's regardless if it was connected to my reef.
Thank you again guys,

 

[NYreefNoob]

np mike, i only did water changes once a year on my system, the macro made life easier. if your on rc they do have a sh forum with alot of info. also dont be surprised if your yellow sh's change color, i had a pair of yellow that turned grey/black, even if you put some fake corals pieces try to add color. load the tank with pods as well,
http://www.reefs2go.com/product/INV...phipods-Copepods-1000---Buy-1-Get-1-FREE.html
i quit buying colored ones after my yellows turned grey/black

ORA Yellow Kudas are selectively bred to display the yellow color form. They are much less likely to change color, although under certain conditions they may darken..In order to maintain coloration, we suggest keeping them in bright lighting with brightly colored objects that they may use as hitches

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

OK, so a couple of weeks ago I was testing my water and notice the sea horses doing a dance. Right away I knew what they were doing (the dance of love!! :biggrinpa) well.... not exactly. She was trying to pass her eggs into his pouch. I waited and watched for about 20 minutes or so and sure enough it happened. I didn't expect much due to the fact it was their first time and we all know how we can get nervous and sometimes stumble our first time but it seemed he did ok and only dropped a couple of eggs. Thats my boy LOL
http://vid1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah253/mikeryan556/IMG_6250_zpsmrajnzqk.mp4

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

np mike, i only did water changes once a year on my system, the macro made life easier. if your on rc they do have a sh forum with alot of info. also dont be surprised if your yellow sh's change color, i had a pair of yellow that turned grey/black, even if you put some fake corals pieces try to add color. load the tank with pods as well,
http://www.reefs2go.com/product/INV...phipods-Copepods-1000---Buy-1-Get-1-FREE.html
i quit buying colored ones after my yellows turned grey/black

ORA Yellow Kudas are selectively bred to display the yellow color form. They are much less likely to change color, although under certain conditions they may darken..In order to maintain coloration, we suggest keeping them in bright lighting with brightly colored objects that they may use as hitches

Thank you so much for the for the link and info, I really appreciate it. Yes, I am always reading on the sea horse forum of RC. I find that you can never have enough info on anything you do. I found that once my male was holding the eggs his color got a little darker. I try and keep the lights on the lower side. When the lights are up they would usually try and hide under cover. When I would lower the light sure enough they were back out and about. I try and keep them in the middle for a happy medium. I picked up some really nice orange gorgonia and I painted the back glass blue. From what I read, they will stay a little on the brighter side if the back glass is blue?
Thank you again NYreefnoob, I will be sure to post more pics on their progress tonight

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

After seeing the transfer I realized I better get on the move on with the sea horse carousel. From the research I did about baby sea horses, They do best in a carousel moving tank. It stops them from floating on top of the water and taking in air. I decided to use a fish bowl with airline tubing. I put the bowl in a 10g tank filled with heated water. The heated water will transfer the heat to the water in the sea horse carousel. I didn't want to put the heater in the carousel because I was afraid they would get burnt. I also added a reef keeper light as my tempter control.

I also knew I better start raising baby brine. The thing with the baby brine is they only have nutrition when they are just hatched and still have their sacks attached. after 2 days there really isn't enough nutrition left in them for the babies. If I feed them enriched foods and gut load them they will be to big for them at this time. So i must constantly have them hatch every 2 days for now.

 

[NYreefNoob]

best of luck on trying to raise the fry, i quit trying because of amount of time and stuff needed with live cultures, eventually i just started feeding them to my reef and my fish loved it

 

[angelo14]

mike, where did you buy the stuff for the feeding station

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

HI Angelo, the cup in the tank is just the bottom of a small deli salad canister. I first was going to use a small piece of tupperware but then realized it would probably be better to use something a little smaller. I wanted to food to be concentrated in one small area. The 2in clear vinyl hose is from home depot. I went with clear so we (meaning me and the seahorses) can see the food as it drops to the collection cup. Its funny, now when I put the tube in the tank they sit buy the cup and watch it drop to the bottom. its like sitting at a restaurant watching the waiter bring you your food from across the room :chef:

 

[angelo14]

thanks mike, I love the feed station

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

No Problem Angelo. Yeah, it really helps keep the tank clean. You just have to keep an eye on the nassarius snails. They sometimes make there way in and clean their plate :eat:

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

OK, so it turns out he wasn't such a pro after all! Usually seahorses will release couple of warning babies a day or two before the release the whole fry. Well this was him releasing the warning fry. The crazy thing was, when he was releasing she was trying to put more eggs in his sack.
http://vid1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah253/mikeryan556/IMG_6417_zpsyhapqxdy.mp4

I have been waiting for more fry for the last couple of days but nothing? I guess he was the only one. Its all good, this is him eating his first meal. Happy birthday little buddy :hb2:
http://vid1382.photobucket.com/albums/ah253/mikeryan556/IMG_6451_zpsziub3ie0.mp4

 

[Dk638]

Wow, that's really amazing. Is the fry in a different tank? What are you feeding him?

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

HI DK, Thank you. Yes, I am keeping him in a separate tank setup as a carousel. The circular motion keeps him off the top of the water and from him taking in air. I change the water every two days. I am feeding him live baby brine that I am hatching every day.

 

[Dk638]

These seahorses are a ton of work. Lol good luck, nice job

 

[Long-Island-Mike]

Yeah, they seem to be. To be honest, I have my two daughters checking on them/me a couple of times a day. I know the survival rate is pretty low but we will have to see. If he doesn't make it, it won't because of something I should of done. I took on the responsibility, they deserve my best.