dwarf seahorses..

[acpoweradapter]

Will they eat cyclops or mysis? I don't think I would be able to hatch food for them everyday. Also, is there any other species that would be comfortable in a 14gal? I also heard they will eat copepods so if I were to set up the tank with alot of algae would I be able to get the cope. pop up and add the seahorses after a month or so?

 

[krazeekiddie]

Hello!

Newly hatched BBS would have to be fed daily if you wanted to keep dwarfs, IME.

I have never seen dwarfs eating frozen. Mine have only eaten live foods & I have not seen it done any other way. (Although someone else may pipe in if they have done it successfully!)

I would think you would need to get your copepod population much higher than a month could do. They will eat everything & wipe it out pretty fast as the only food source.

So keep that in mind & be ready when you have to constantly buy expensive pod cultures. Maybe a nice refugium or seperate tank to culture them, but I would think a month is not long enough to get a good enough supply going. Unless you start with a HUGE population & have plenty of areas for breeding.

There is one other species of seahorse that could be kept in a 14 gallon. Never kept them myself, so no experience there, & not sure of the name!

 

[acpoweradapter]

Does anyone else know the other species for a 14 gal?

 

[ann83]

I can't think of any other species available in the hobby that would be okay in a 14 gallon tank.

 

[krazeekiddie]

Ann, I thought Ocean Rider had a species??

 

[ann83]

Some people might suggest that caps, fuscus, or brevi's would be okay in 14 gallons, but personally IMO, they need 20 gallons at the very minimum; there's just not enough space in a 14 gallon. Not to mention, caps and brevis need a chiller, and if you're spending the money on that, you can usually rationalize spending enough money to get them a decent sized tank.

 

[krazeekiddie]

yea, I had heard mention of them, just no actual experience with them! Reidi, kuda, erectus & dawrfs are the only ones I have owned!

Thanks for the input!! I wasn't to sure! =)

I am a big advocate on water volume myself. There are just so many things that can go wrong in a small system. And with horses, the margin for error is so small due to their sensitivity!

 

[2pairs]

14 gal isn't a good seahorse tank. except if you have a lot of dwarfs, with the others 20 high is the smallest and tall is the best.

 

[MBasile]

I have about a 25 gallon refugium full of caulerpa that is just packed full of copepods. Does anyone think this would be a suitable home for some dwarfs?

 

[ann83]

Dwarf tanks often have to be treated with Panacur to protect the dwarves from being injured and killed by hydroids. If your refugium is connected to a tank housing corals or inverts, you will not be able to treat it with Panacur without killing the corals and inverts, and you may loose any dwarves that you add to hydroids.

 

[fl_izzy]

i had dwarf seahorses and you need full time brine shrimp hatcheries, not copepods. i think copepods are too big for these guys. it is also best to decap eggs before hatching to prevent choking and improves water quality of both hatchery and dwarf tank by not haveing shells floating around decomposing. there are also cases of brine shrimp itself eating shells and choking on them. i had them at about 72 F and slow flow with a modded ac30 in a 5.5g. the smaller the tank in a way the better to provide better concentration of food.