Anyone Know about Seahorses????

[zrs6v4]

I have a 35 gallon HEX tank I took off of a friends hands the other day, and I am setting it up for a seahorse tank. I posted on the seahorse forum, but haven't gotten any feedback.. anyway, the only thing I have learned so far is they need less flow and lower temps. here are my questions

Do they need any other water levels to be different than a reef setup, other than the temp?( PH, Calcium, Phosphate salinity)

I am running a prizm filter/skimmer, a maxi500, 1.5" fine sanded, 20 lBS of LR (probably will add more), not sure what light I need yet...

any info or links I can get some info would be great. thanks, Zach

 

[Nanook]

They will do best in NSW parameters...SG 1.025-1.026, temp 76-78 degrees, low flow so they can swim around and get food at feeding time, lots of perches where they can grab hold, no micro-bubbles at all, good water parameters with low nitrate and phosphate ideally. As far as light, normal output bulbs or PCs would be fine, black sand will help bring out the color in some species as well as brightly colored corals in the tank. Avoid anemones and other critters that are likely to sting or compete for food with the seahorse.

I was going to keep them once upon a time, but decided not to do so. Another big thing is good nutrition.

 

[chadscamaro]

Make sure you get tank raised ones, they do extremely well and usually eat mysis and frozen cyclopeeze right away. They seem to be extremely hardy compared to wild ones.

 

[Chelsey]

http://www.syngnathid.org/ <- undergoing some maintenance right now but is a great source of info

http://forum.seahorse.org/ <- another great place

I had a pair for a while that ate frozen mysis. They were cool at first but were a PITA and not worth the trouble IMO.

 

[JxMetal]

horses don't swim! That's crazy talk. What next? You gonna tell me that fish fly?

 

[zrs6v4]

ok cool thanks.. I am actually setting it up here at my house for my friends girlfriend/wife. So They are really hard to keep huh? I may try to persuade her another way. I have heard that tank raised are the best though..

 

[kpc01]

I wouldn't say they are hard to keep, just a pain as far as feeding them often as you need to. Thats my only complaint on ours. If the wife didn't love them I would probably do away with that tank. But they are cool...just depends on what they're worth to you!