A multi-headed question

[TheZ]

Greetings all,

I am very slowly and carefully putting together a seahorse tank, and have been reading and researching for months now in books and on this and other forums, but I still have a question or two.

Background:

The tank I am planning is a 25 gal. tall with a hang on refugium, skimmer, live rock/sand, macro algea (sorry to those who do, but I can't stand the thought of a bare bottom plastic planted tank)and a chiller to keep temps steady below 74 degrees. I only want 1 pair of horsies (probably erectus - or whatever is the easiest beginner pony), that I plan on purchasing CB from seahorsesource.com

My questions kind of revolve around babies. I have no way of rearing fry, so how often does a mated pair produce offspring, and how many? What happens then? Do the babies just die? How quickly? How often will I be sifting through my tank looking for them before they polute the water? WILL they actually polute the water if I do nothing?

I am not opposed to having two horses of the same gender, and in that case, what's the best combination? Do you still get the same kind of interaction and rituals that you do with a mated pair?

Sorry if these are insensitive questions, but I would rather face the nasty side of seahorse husbandry right away rather than have it hit me in the face later on

 

[namxas]

Seth,

First, a word of advice...drop the "horsie" and "pony" stuff, and peeps will take you more seriously.

Sounds like you have a good setup in mind.

Same gender is a good idea if you want to be "fryless". Some folks argue that males can get PE, but I've never had any issues that weren't related to a pouch infection, and that was one SH many years ago. I could turn around and argue that females can become eggbound and not reabsorb their eggs, which is even worse, but again, this is rare.

So, my advice would be to look at the profile of a male SH and a female SH, and decide which you like better. I'd say that females probably interact more with each other, but that's my experience.

As for species, since you're not doing the fry thing, erectus or reidi are both great SH for beginners.

HTH

 

[TheZ]

No horsies or ponies. Got it.

 

[Peka]

If you decide you want a male and female, you can always ship me the fry to raise. If that is of interest to you just pm me and we can talk about it. You may want to try to raise them once you see how cute they are

Your set up sounds good. And your choice of vendor couldn't be better.....

 

[amazo]

What is it about rearing the fry that you are concerned with?Just curious.

 

[namxas]

What is it about rearing the fry that you are concerned with?Just curious.

I dunno if you've ever raised fry, but it's tuff and time-consuming. It's an endeavor that you really have to want to undertake. Some folks don't have the heart to lose them too.

Beth,

Next time our mixed pair have fry (if they do), I'll let you know if you're interested in seeing what "reidectus" look like.

 

[amazo]

I haven't raised any fry yet,I understand that it is not easy but I'm starting a S.H. tank and kinda figured dealing with the fry was part of the experiance.As for the rituals(correct me if i'm wrong) I think you are refering to the mating "dance" so I wouldn't think It would be quite the same.BTW I'm just trying to learn at this stage and thats why I was wondering what TheZ's concerns were so I might take them into consideration with my build.

 

[Kay Tickle]

I have two females (CB from Seahorse Source). I felt the same way about losing babies, and basically needing to get used to general seahorse husbandry before I ventured into anything more (it was my first SW tank also!).

I love love love my 2 girls. They interact all day long and dance and play in the powerhead stream. They honestly jump into the flow of the powerhead and ride it to the other side, grab on to a gorgonian, swim around and do it again.

I would love to raise fry one day, but I'm glad I started with the 2 girls. It's a lot of feeding, a lot of cleaning, but so much fun!

 

[TheZ]

Space. Basically that is the reason I know I can't raise fry. I just don't have enough room for the additional tanks needed - not to mention the room needed to raise the food to feed to the fry. Rotifers, copepods, amphipods, brineshrimp assembly lines...I just can't do it in the space I have in my apartment.

 

[Peka]

Beth,

Next time our mixed pair have fry (if they do), I'll let you know if you're interested in seeing what "reidectus" look like.

Greg.... I would love them!!!

 

[namxas]

Greg.... I would love them!!!

I'll let you know if they spawn again (they've done it 3 times in the past year).

For those who feel that they'll never see flirting/mating behavior in a same-sex tank, here's a female kuda and a female reidi giving it their best shot...