4 yr old wants a seahorse tank of his own!

[rubysmomma1]

My four year old son and I are getting ready to move into our own place and I was considering setting him up a small nano with a pair of clowns and some small corals, but the more we visit fish stores, I've decided that he should have a seahorse tank.

My questions:
1. Minimum size tank for 2-4 seahorses?
2. What else could I put in there with them?
3. How much flow? Would an AquaPod 12 gallon be too much?
4. Tank raised or wild?

I've been reefkeeping for a year and know that seahorses are hard to take care of, but I've done quite a bit of research and their care does not seem out of my realm of ability. Thanks for the input.

 

[Nano-Nag]

rubysmomma1 -

Seahorses are not really that difficult, but (pardon the horrible Clint Eastwood impression) an aquarist's "gotta know their limitations".

Minimum size for 2 seahorses would be at least 20 gallons, preferably larger. A 12 gallon would be too small for anything other than dwarf seahorses, and they would require you to hatch live brine shrimp for chow time.

As far as tank mates go, again the word limitations apply. Many people prefer to keep seahorses in a species only environment, others add tank mates, like the yellow clown gobie, who will not starve out or harrass the seahorses (http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates.shtml).

Seahorses prefer a relatively low flow (5-7), and as far as choosing tank raised or wild, please, please, please, purchase captive bred. Especially as a four year old is involved. The wild caught and ocean pen/tank raised more often than not have a lot of health problems, and some refuse to eat anything other than live food. I'd hate to see your son get attached to a seahorse with the odds against it.

Best of luck to you and your son!

Shay

 

[luvabunny]

Buying seahorses, or any pet for that matter, for a 4 yr old is unrealistic. If you want seahorses, and you want them to be in the 4 yr olds room, then by all means, get them, but don't try to come across as if the 4 yr old will be taking care of them or doing any maintenance, because he won't. And if you actually expect that from a 4 yr old, then my suggestion is to get a 10 gal tank full of guppies or something and skip the seahorses. That way, when they die, you won't be out so much money.

Now, if YOU want seahorses, I would say a 29 gallon is the minimum size for a pair or trio. It's easier to keep the water quality in check, and there is more room for natural landscaping. Seahorses don't do well in a nano tank - it's just a plain fact that they poop too much. A way to combat high nitrates and phosphates is to add caulerpa, which helps with water quality, is attractive, and a natural hitch for the horses.

Tankmates should be kept to a minimum. Some small gobies are OK. Most softy corals are OK. Otherwise, it should be pretty much horses and horses only.

Flow will be relative to the size of your tank. A happy, healthy horse loves to play in the flow, but none will do well being blown around the tank like a leaf. There should be some very low flow areas, especially if you are going to use a feeding station, but a flow which makes softies and caulerpa wave around is OK.

Please, please, please buy only captive bred (CB) horses, especially as a first time owner. Those generally considered the hardiest and easiest to get are erectus. If you don't want to mess with babies, which are not like raising guppies by the way, then get same sex horses. Buy all you want from the same source at the same time. This cuts down on the possibility of transferring disease.

In case you didn't know of them, there are also 2 very good, informative sites - www.seahorse.org and www.syngnathid.org. There are 2 very well respected erectus breeders on seahorse.org - Bruce and DanU. Either of them should be able to get you some beautiful, healthy horses for a reasonable price, and you won't have to take the LFS word for it that their "black" seahorses are CB and eating frozen.

 

[rubysmomma1]

luvabunny,

The tank is for him, but I will be taking care of them. I would not expect a 4 yr old to take proper care of a dog, let alone a fish tank. Thanks for the input and I'll check out the links you recommended.

 

[Sk8r]

I would emphasize to him that mommy does all the feeding and he must absolutely come to mommy if he suspects his horses need feeding. That is probably the most disasterous thing he can do on his own, and I don't have to tell you about 4 year old notions. Make the point in no uncertain terms that he must never, ever put anything in the water or touch the water.

 

[Fishfreak218]

make sure he doesnt decide to "give the fish a bath" or "clean the tank"

 

[Samala]

Guys we're not giving parenting lessons, we're giving fishkeeping ideas. Lighten up! Ruby's got a year on a separate reef system, so I'm sure a measure of "darling dont touch that" (and etc) went into it.

I'd say a 29gallon minimum for a pair. Like April (who is so good with excellent timely advice) mentioned, you can go with all same sex horses to avoid the fry dilemma. I think two female erectus in a 29gal with a little LR and a lot of macroalgae, along with perhaps a small unaggressive gobie would be wonderful. A small powerhead with a filter attachment, along with a hang on the back filter or a canister if you're brave with plumbing, are all ideas.

A friend of mine who has little kids (2, 5, 7) and several tanks (two of which are in the kids room) simply bought nice tank stands with cabinets that could be locked. Avoided a lot of potential problems like disconnecting hoses, fiddling with thermometers, dumping in cans of flake, etc. Just a thought.

All that said, the nano cube with some mushroom corals and LR, maybe a little macroalgae or other easy corals with a clownfish might be much more interactive. Seahorses can be kinda slow in movement, a child might find that yawn-worthy. I know I liked big flashy fish when I was little.

>Sarah

 

[luvabunny]

My son decided it would be cool to empty the fishtank into the back of the TV, especially when the TV started making funny noises and smoking............it wasn't even in his room.

(***Wish I knew how to get that funny little smilie with the quirked up grin***)

 

[god910]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7644535#post7644535 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Samala
Guys we're not giving parenting lessons, we're giving fishkeeping ideas. Lighten up! Ruby's got a year on a separate reef system, so I'm sure a measure of "darling dont touch that" (and etc) went into it.

>Sarah

Thanks for that. I do not need parenting lessons and he knows about not touching the tanks. Not only have I been reefkeeping for a year, but have had freshwater tanks since he was born.

I do know about 4 yr. old notions and everything will be kept out of reach and out of sight (food, heaters, etc.)

Thanks for the input!! It'll be another two months before we get our place, but once we are settled in I'll start his seahorse tank and get pics from the ground up.

 

[rubysmomma1]

Sorry, god910 is my boyfriend and I did not check who was signed in before posting. Anyway, thanks guys!!

 

[god910]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7651985#post7651985 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rubysmomma1
Sorry, god910 is my boyfriend and I did not check who was signed in before posting. Anyway, thanks guys!!

Kids! Sheesh!

BTW, Sarah, you should see this kid. We go into an LFS, and he suctions his lil butt to the seahorse tanks. We make rounds of all the LFS' in our little slice of heaven quite often and he knows which ones have horses. The last time we were at a store and I was waiting on some help to pick up my Convict Blenny, (to replace the now missed Midas Blenny that was murdered in cold blood) he sat alone watching a tank full of algea getting blown around by the current, and LOVED every minute of it, for the better part of 40 minutes.

He's been known to talk to Mr. Ray (Horses, known as such because the Nemo book we have with the singing buttons has a seahorse as the emblem for the song where Mr. Ray sings. Don't ask me why a 'ray isn't the emblem, but now all horses are known as Mr. Ray.) for the better part of an hour while we diddle around a fish store.

I wish I was that easily amused.

 

[rppvt]

Any way you could tie your new "horse tank" into the sump of your reef tank?
Just a small pump out and the overflow back? That way your ponies would have all the water they'd need and the benefits of a reef without the huge flow of one. The hidden heater/chiller and the added water volume sounds like a bonus.

 

[tizme]

I think you missed the fact she is moving out of the place with the reef tank and setting up tanks of her own for herself and son.

I know what you mean about kids loving the seahorses, my 3 yr old is claiming MY seahorse tank as her own and my 5 yr old is almost as excited as I am that I getting horses!

 

[rppvt]

that'll teach me to skim long missives...

 

[rubysmomma1]

Ok. I have one more problem. My apartment says I can only have a max 20 gallon. I think I could cheat with a 25 gal, but I'm not sure I could get away with a 29gal. If I kept dwarf seahorses instead of the larger ones, would a 25 gal work?

 

[tizme]

A 25 gal would be too big for dwarf seahorses.......because they eat live food, the concentration of food would be too much for that big a tank. I had a 7.5 gallon setup when I had dwarfs and I think most with them have small tanks.

I personally found having to hatch the brine shrimp everyday to be hard and I couldn't keep up. That is why I chose to get bigger CB horses that eat frozen this time around. If these two decide to have a family though, I will have to do the BS thing again!

 

[rppvt]

you could do what I've done with small tanks and that is to attach a 55 gallon plastic drum to the tank as a sump (closed loop) they cost about 5 bucks used and fit nicelyt in the nearest closet

 

[cuda6872]

I bought a pair of young ponys for my 3yr old (she just turned 4 yesterday 0n 7-2) about 4 months ago. Set them up in a nanocube-6 with a 6lb piece of rock, saw blade & sword blade calurpa, 2 zebra hermits, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 med sized tiger serpent star, 1 baby falsee perc & 1 baby scopis tang. (before the tang we lost a pigmy angel, before that we lost a yellow clown goby) A month ago we lost the smaller pony that was eating good and showed no signs of anything other than normal. Everything is doing very well now & my daughter acts like a lil teacher when people come to visit. (like when someone asks "is that a starfish? she tells them no it's a sea star not a fish!) She will name off to them all the fish in my reef, most of the corals and a lot of other things that people that have no clue do not know. Very impressive for a child so young. I know that the 6gal. nanocube isn't big enough so i looked into the 12 & 24 gallon systems. Drs foster & smith (aka. petwarehouse.com) is selling the aquapod 24 systems for $170. I'm planning on ordering 1 for the seahorse upgrade so i can use the 6gal for my G.Smithii mantis shrimp which is in a 2 gal explorer. Then I can use the explorer for the baby clown fish that hatch out of my 90gal. reeftank. A new batch about every 2-3 weeks for the past 2 months, but the always seem to become food for the other fishes. In some ways I think things might spiral out of control & i will wind up flooding my basement to make a tank big enough for all the things that I want. But then what will i do If that isn't big enough? Hmmmm does this mean I'm addicted?

 

[cinnamongirl]

Another thing to consider is heat.... Does this apartment have central air, or at least will you be able to keep the ambient room temp cool? Seahorses need to be kept at around 74 degrees, max. I know I have trouble with mine in the summer

 

[god910]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7673528#post7673528 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cinnamongirl
Another thing to consider is heat.... Does this apartment have central air, or at least will you be able to keep the ambient room temp cool? Seahorses need to be kept at around 74 degrees, max. I know I have trouble with mine in the summer

I do have central air. So the heat in the summer would not be a factor. The other thing I'm worried about is the winter. I keep my house realtively cool. If things do get too hot would I have to look into a chiller?