10g seahorse tank...I'm lost! Need Help pls:)

berger9953

berger9953

New member
Hello, I have a 10g tank, a hob filter, dry sand, stock light, some plastic plants all lying around. I love seahorses. I've read its the perfect size for dwarf seahorses. But after reading a bit more I've found that they are much harder to care for because they are very finicky eaters and only like live hatched BBS. Could I do some sort of regular seahorse that is smaller but not dwarf so it is CB? THis way it will be hardier and will eat easier. Is there such thing as CB dward seahorses, so I don't have to make or buy a hatchery? I just want a real easy setup so all that I have to buy is some algae and the horses themselves. Thanks so much! I get my info from this site:

http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/SeahorseFactsAndInfo.shtml
 
I'll try to help. Seahorses love a very tall system. Not sure about a 10g tank, but maybe a 15 or 20 Super tall tank. I have one in the garage. It's a 20g tank that is 24" tall. They also have nice hex sized tanks too. You can go for plastic plants, but i recommened mangrooves planted as they will help reduce nitrate levels and keep the water a little cleaner. Get a Hob Skimmer, or a "Skilter" This is a filter and skimmer built into 1. Very small and convinent for a nano tank. You must do lots of water changes to keep nitrates down in such a small tank. I would run Chemi-pure elite as a back up, but i can't really figure where you would put it in there. A sump would be a very good idea to also increase the total water in the entire system and to asure it stays more stable. You can go with plastic plants, but i can asure you Mangroves will look very nice in there, and the seahorses will love them. You will need VERY light water flow inside the tank. The flow comming from the filter might be enough, especially if you try to run a 50g filter on it. If you go with a smaller filter, grab a Koralia Nano 245g (i think it is) per hour.
 
Thanks for the reply. Wouldn't a 10g be a good size for dwarves? I thought that they liked smaller tanks so that they could get the food easier, so it is actually on the bigger side from what I understand. But would it be too small for normal sized horses? As you said, they like tall tanks because they swim vertically and have long bodies.
 
They recommend 5-6gallon tanks for dwarfs, for the reason you mentioned. A 10gallon tall might not be too bad but on a standard 10 gallon they can be much tougher to feed. I don't know of any dwarf horses that can be trained on frozen foods permanently. Some have pulled it off for a time, but it never lasts. 10 gallons is way too small for the medium sized horses, for those they recommend 30 gallons minimum. :(
 
You can get CB H. zosterae from www.seahorsesource.com If you have been on the org already, look at the dwarf forum. lots of your question can be answered just reading up on them. I keep mine in a 40liter tank.

If you are unsure about keeping them, do a dry run. Set up the tank, do a daily hatch of the artemia & enrichment. After a month, see if it is still worth your effort to keep them.

Artemia is only part of their diet. Look into A. tonsa, live mysis, tisbe sp & shrimp larval.
 
Last edited:
Peka said:
No, a few drops of that daily does not work. You need to hatch the brine and enrich it.
Click to expand...

+1 Sorry but at this time there isn't a way around the hatching & enriching of the artemia. There are other food source, but they are not easy to culture in large enough numbers for daily use.

You can set up the tank & cycle it with the ammonia method. While the tank is cycling, practice hatching some artemia. The idea is to get you use to doing it, learning what/how to enrich it & problem solve issues that might come up.
 
I have a tank of dwarf seahorses and dwarf pipefish. Hatching the brines IS a royal pain in the butt. But for me it is worth it for these guys. They have a short lifespan 2yrs ish, but breed like guppies. I always have them at all ages in my tank. After getting a hand of the bbs it is not hard, just tedious. My tank is a Fluval Edge 6 Gallon, with modified lighting and filter.
 
If you go on vacation you need to teach someone how to feed them. If you're planning to be gone a lot (as in, travel for a job etc) then seahorses probably aren't the best choice. If you're just talking about being gone a week or two a year it shouldn't be that bad to show someone how to feed them.
 
I am in high school still. THank you, i did see that thread about the dorm seahorses.

With just dwarves, should I keep the temp at around 68? And the sg at about 1.019(of course with no inverts or tankmates)? And what is the max number of sehorses I could keep in the tank? I was thinking maybe like 20 or so?? With a few babies??
 
berger9953 said:
I am in high school still. THank you, i did see that thread about the dorm seahorses.

With just dwarves, should I keep the temp at around 68? And the sg at about 1.019(of course with no inverts or tankmates)? And what is the max number of sehorses I could keep in the tank? I was thinking maybe like 20 or so?? With a few babies??
Click to expand...


Look at this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1893306

Temp between 70 -74 is good for them. I lower it to 68 when I want to slow down their breeding all of the time.

Try to get a turnover rate of 4 to 5 times the tank volume & try to provide a place with a lower flowrate.

Start off with a minimum of 3 pair to maybe 6 pairs. They will quickly fill up your tank.

1.019 to 1.022 is a good range.
 
Last edited:
Almenmarine said:
I'll try to help. Seahorses love a very tall system. Not sure about a 10g tank, but maybe a 15 or 20 Super tall tank. I have one in the garage. It's a 20g tank that is 24" tall. They also have nice hex sized tanks too. You can go for plastic plants, but i recommened mangrooves planted as they will help reduce nitrate levels and keep the water a little cleaner. Get a Hob Skimmer, or a "Skilter" This is a filter and skimmer built into 1. Very small and convinent for a nano tank. You must do lots of water changes to keep nitrates down in such a small tank. I would run Chemi-pure elite as a back up, but i can't really figure where you would put it in there. A sump would be a very good idea to also increase the total water in the entire system and to asure it stays more stable. You can go with plastic plants, but i can asure you Mangroves will look very nice in there, and the seahorses will love them. You will need VERY light water flow inside the tank. The flow comming from the filter might be enough, especially if you try to run a 50g filter on it. If you go with a smaller filter, grab a Koralia Nano 245g (i think it is) per hour.
Click to expand...

Chemipure is great for the seahorses. The chemipure elite is not good for them.
 
So this is my plan:

1. Rinse out tank.
2. Put in about an inch of dry sand.
3. Fill tank with fresh RO water
4. Add salt to get 1.020
5. Put in heater and try to regulate to 72 degrees
6. Put in fake rocks/coral/plants
7. Seed dry sand with a couple of cupfuls of live sand from my reef tank
8. Put on hob filter with filter pad and carbon(Is carbon okay for SH??)
9. Also put a frozen salad shrimp in the tank for 10 minutes to get the ammonia going
10. Check for cycling
11. After cycling is done then setup BBS hatchery
12. Feed a couple times with no seahorses to get the hang of feeding. And remove food.
13. Do water change.
14. Get seahorses from recommended source(still unsure where to get them from)
15. Acclimate, feed and enjoy dwarves!
 
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