Dwarf Seahorse Care Questions

[Reefing102]

Got a few questions on dwarf seahorses:

1. Where do you get dwarf seahorses?

2. How many can fit in a 5 gallon hex tank?

3. What is the best food?

4. What are some good hitching posts?

5. Is there any other fish that can go with them?

6. Do you need a substrate?

7. Any special light requirements for them? (i know dumb question but i know some non marine animals require special light for correct bone growth.)

8. How old should the tank be before adding them? (Like after the initial cycle)

9. Are there any corals that can go with them?

10. Is there any questions I'm missing?

 

[crazedpuffer]

1. Many sites sell them, I don't know whats the preferred one though. Shipping will end up costing more then the horses themselves, so if you can find someone local that would help.

2. Not sure but I would start with around 5 or 6 horses, and let them produce babies. Your tank will be stocked in no time.

3. Most only take live baby brine, and that is very good for both babies and adults. You might get lucky and have horses that will take frozen or freeze dried cyclops'

4. Fake plants work well, unless you want real which I have no clue.

5. No, and definitely not in a 5 gallon.
You could keep shrimp with them and thats about it.

6. No but it might be easier that way.

7. No special light requirments (to my knowlledge) It all depends on what you prefer.

8.I think just when the tank is done cycling should be fine.

9. None to my knowlledge.

10. I think that covers it.

 

[Reefing102]

Thanks for the reply crazed.

 

[sixfins]

1. I'm not sure abiut any reccomendations, but try ccritters.com, sehorsefarms.com, seahorseworld.com, and seahorsesource.com.

2. I would go with at least 3 pair to start, that size tank will easily support 15-20 full size adults with no problem.

3. Newly hatched baby brine shrimp and live copepods are best. If in a pinch most adults will take full size brine shrimp, but should not be staple diet. I have never heard of dwarfs taking any kind of prepared foods, except as a short term and I wouldn't count on being able to train them either.

4. Anything small enough for them to get around really.

5. Snails, MAYBE small hermits like blue legs. Possibly a small pipe, but watch the feeding density and water quality.

6. No, but most like the astetics of having one.

7. Not to bright, it'll cause algae to grow on them. Otherwise whatever you like the look of.

8. I waited about a year, but after cycle is complete you can add the horses.

9. Gorgonias

10. Either use an air/spong filter or cover the intake of the filter with a sponge so you don't suck them up. Watch your flow, to much can be a problem.

 

[ReefNutPA]

1. See sixfins answer. Also add FloridaCollector.com

2. Total? You could easily house two dozen dwarfs in a 5 gal tank. However, DO NOT start with that number. As was advised, 3 or 4 pair to start would be adequate.

3. The best food would be a varied diet of copepods and other larval foods small enough for the dwarfs to eat. The majority of us keeping them feed a mix of newly hatched brine shrimp, enriched brine shrimp and copepods. The food must be live. The easiest food to use is newly hatched brine shrimp, but it's not nutritionally complete.

4. Either fake plants/decor or live plants pre-treated with panacur to eliminate any hydroid issues.

5. No fish. Period. Tankmates could include nassarius snails, which will survive a panacur treatment. Anything live added to the tank, whether it be rock, plants, snails, etc must be pre-treated to eliminate hydroids. Only some species can withstand that treatment.

6. It's not needed, but makes things easier and nicer to look at IMO. Without a substrate you'd need a superb biological filter somewhere to keep ammonia levels at 0. Water parameters go out of whack pretty quickly with only 5 gal of water and heavy feedings.

7. No special lighting. I use a standard normal flourescent bulb.

8. As soon as the tank is fully/completely cycled I would add the clean up crew. If parameters stay acceptable, you're good to go for adding the dwarfs.

9. Tank conditions for dwarfs really don't suit many corals very well. Gorgonians are ok, but require more current than can be offered in small 5 gal tank. Without current algae tends to grow on the gorgonians and they fail to open/capture food and perish over time.

10. As you think of more questions.... just ask away

Tom

 

[Reefing102]

k thanks for the replys guys

 

[Drock169]

Hey Reefnut can you post/pm some info about treating with panacur. I dont see any hydroids in my set up, but I just want to make sure. Any info you can post on this would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[toastii_reef]

Re: Dwarf Seahorse Care Questions

1. Where do you get dwarf seahorses?

other people/ aqualand (seahorseworld.com)/ seahorsesource.com (these are captive bred-- more expensive but CAPTIVE bred) and a great supplier over all

2. How many can fit in a 5 gallon hex tank?

the question shouldnt be how many can fit- its not about stuffing as many as you can into a small amount of space-
I learned this by first ordering 17! dwarfs for my 10gl- well a whole bunch unfortunatley died (wild caught) though im sure i had some part of it too-- and now i have 1 original male dwarf - 1 adult female (i raised from birth) and 2 or 4 fry, in my ten gallon-

I would suggest maybe 5 dwarves though 10 could probably "fit"-- you will be happier- more room for error with water quality- and more room for babies!!

3. What is the best food?

the best food is copepods-- but you need a lot of them- if you want to do it this way- you need a 10 gl copepod culture- 2 10gls are prolly better incase one crashes
not many people do it that way however- most use enriched baby brine shrimp as a staple and then have copepods as a snack type thing-
what i would do if i were to start over is- seed my cycled tank for a week with copepods and then also have my 3 gallon snack culture.

4. What are some good hitching posts?

depends how you want your tank
calerpa
fake posts
dry seafan
gorgonia
anything-- they hitch on anything

5. Is there any other fish that can go with them?

yes but not advised as the fish will compete for food- and the fish will prolly not think twice of a fry snack- or a dwarf snak if you ask me

6. Do you need a substrate?

umm i have never thought about this-- but i guess no you really dont neeed a substrate if you dont want it

7. Any special light requirements for them? (i know dumb question but i know some non marine animals require special light for correct bone growth.)

nope- i have regular flourecent
unless you want corals- then you will need to upgrade significantly

8. How old should the tank be before adding them? (Like after the initial cycle)

i cycled for about 2 months and then i waited another 2 weeks before ordering incase a second cycle was witnessed

9. Are there any corals that can go with them?

yes- depending on how you want your tank
gorgonia-- you would need a much higher light sorce
zoas- not so much of a higher light source
umm basically softies- though theere mightbe some acceptions