First of all, Allmost, I sure wish you would not advise against what is recommended by the majority of successful keepers.
I certainly don't have enough experience after 4 1/2 years to disregard the basic recommendations of seahorse keeping.
Just because you have a smaller tank doesn't make it right, especially for someone else. People don't realize just how much work and effort it would take to be successful in a smaller tank, and indeed, many STILL will have problems with a pair in a 29g.
I do have to correct you as a pair of reidis WILL NOT work in a 10g tank.
While you and a some others haven't had problems keeping seahorses at 80°, far more people do have problems and there is much better success keeping them at 68° to 74°F
By the way, a sump is not a filtering system and in fact some sumps don't contain any filtration means at all.
It is a remote reservoir that MAY contain many things, including such things as heaters, dosers, reactors, return pumps, settlement baffles and a lot of them have biological filtration, but none is essential.
For all my reef tanks the sump is only a means to add volume of water to the system and pump water to my skimmers.
My seahorse tanks do contain the live rock for the biological filtration.
Recommendations for dwarf tanks would be in the 5 to 10g range depending on stocking densities. Filtering systems work quite fine in these small tanks when properly serviced.
2 dwarfs in a 9g could be problematic when it comes to feeding but that is the only issue I see with it.
Live rock does NOT need high flow to function as a biological filter.
To say T5HO gives off NO heat is misleading. It would have been more correct to say that it produces more light with less heat than many other types of lighting for aquariums.
You DO need to gain more experience and do more research into what works best for a large number of hobbyists before you get into recommending things to others as I'm concerned some may try what you are espousing and end up losing their livestock.
loyalhero90, you do not need a sump! You can add one if you wish, and I plan to do so myself for my dwarf set up, but it definitely is not needed.
By the way, Tim is probably one of the most successful long term dwarf keepers you find posting here or on the org. Maybe the only one with more would be Dan Underwood of seahorse source.
I follow his posts in my quest for information for my coming dwarfs as it stimulates constructive discussion usually. (if he and the org members don't get off on one of their tangents that is)
Ray, you are 100% correct
the way I typed it out, was indeed misleading. and I apologize.
what I meant about a sump was that it would give you a wider choice of filtration as you mentioned as well. also, the more flow through the live rock, the better they function, live rock in seahorse tank can have problems for seahorses, as they are not used to living in rocky shores (copied that from the .com site) it can and will trap more detritus that way as well, so a sump would make it more efficient and easier to work with as well give you room to play around, also, a HOB skimmer will give out micro bubbles, and that is another thing to avoid with seahorses right ? hence the comment about sump and baffles, but I agree that I did not word it correctly. oh and live rock, I was told my the .org guys that use of Live rock is risky, as they could contain hydroids and many other hitchhikers which can and will hurt the dwarf seahorses.
same about the T5 comment, but you see light as a result of something burning, so as you said, T5 has the best heat to light output ratio. to be honest I tried some DIY LEDs as well, and they gave off ALOT more heat than T5 HO.
so far I have not advised against what the recommendations are, EXCEPT temp, and tank size, and here is my reason :
temp : the seahorse facilities keep their seahorses at higher temp as you know and mentioned before, as they will show their best colors and breed more often at higher temps (guess it sets the mode for them
) and also it would make their metabolism work better hence them eating more. The only downside I have heard of was the bacteria on the left over food, so if no left over food, I really can not imagine how it would be bad ! I agree that it is wrong to advice it, but I said that's what I do
and I would love to hear another reason why the higher temps are not good
after all my reidis are from Brazil
its hot there. I was there 2 years ago lol
next, TANK size.
well I used to breed Freshwater stingrays (motoros) in a 120 G tank, which by motoro experts is not enough room for one !!! hmm, I had 2 in there and they were breeding ! (I never attempted to raise the fry, they were transferred to my friends house who has a indoor pool for stingrays and raised there, we still breed some of the rarest freshwater rays there. along with my ex rays
) so my point is that, if the fish can swim around, and the water is perfect, then why not ?
I agree posting those info is not right, but I want to encourage ppl to tell me another reason why I am wrong so I can learn form it.
thank you for correcting my post. and as you mentioned, info on seahorse keeping 5 years ago till now has changed alot, so no reason to think we have reached the end. there can still be new points and discoveries, and new ways made
