Fill me in on Seahorses!!

[Cutiewitbooty]

Ok right now I have a 10 gal reef, but I'm going to been upgrading to a 20 gal next weeks and i'm trying to figure out what to do with my 10 gal. My husbands first though was a small FW planted tank (since i have decent lights on the tank, 4watts per gal) but then i was thinking that it might be fun to do a small seahorse tank. So my questions are......

Can a 10 gal be ok for any species of seahorses?

What kinda of filteration would be ok, how about a HOB filter?

What low light corals would be ok with them?

I was thinking of coral skeltons (for them to grab onto) in there with small amount of LR, whould that be good?

please help me, i have no idea what i would really need for them and it probaly wouldn't be set up for 2 months or so, so this is the researching phase.

 

[Swanwillow]

the only horses that could be kept in a ten gallon aquarium would be dwarf seahorses... which involves hatching brine shrimp daily, and having a high population of horses so they can find the food, and LOTS of brine shrimp.

corals are not good with dwarf horses, a hob filter is almost too much flow-a sponge filter is usually recommended, but maybe if you can turn down the flow on the HOB and add a sponge to the intake, it would slow it down enough. NO live rock in with dwarves: anything can kill them...

IMO, if you want to try seahorses, get a 29 gallon tank for it, and start with the easier erectus, reidi, or kuda. horses take dedication (2-3 times daily feedings) BUT if your willing to learn, you can do it, and the rewards are SO NICE

two sites to get info from are seahorse.org and sygnathid.org

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

ok thanks, so dwarfs are ok then, but take alot of work. I'm willing to learn I currently have a sun coral whitch is pretty dificult and have kept a mandarin alive eating mysis so i figure i can learn with the dwarf seahorses. Like i said though, i have lots of time to learn Just out of cerosity why wouldn't the other species be ok in a 10 gal, do they just get to big, do they need more swimming room or do they produce to much waste? How many dwarfs would be good to keep in a 10 gal? Is brine the best food for them (i know it's not the best for fish) do they not normally take frozen/dead brine?

 

[Swanwillow]

since you can take care of a sun coral, and have a mandarin on mysis... get bigger horses and have fun, since they EAT mysis!!!

but, yes, they just about only eat live brine shrimp-i've heard of one instance of someone saying that they got thiers on cyclopeeze, but I don't think that its going to be the norm AT ALL!!!!!

seahorses need tanks that are 3x thier full adult height. that means, for the normal sized horses, you need a tank about 24 inches high (give or take-18 inches minimum, more is better) but they also need a good footprint, cause they like to wander around.

hence, get big horses, and a 29 gallon aquarium.

better yet, whats in your reef aquarium? mayhaps with adjustments, it would be ok... BUT we'd have to get a list from ya... and talk you into getting a 29 gallon instead of a 20. the larger horses have things that are ok with them, such as your sun coral, and the mandarin... shrooms, zoanthids...

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

well I don't have a mandarin anymore, that was was about 1 ago when i lived in Alaska, but he did fine (don't know what happened to him after i sold the system, but i taught the guy what to do) I thought about getting a 29 gal but i don't know if i'm willing to go tht big (i'm on the second story and live in an apt. so i don't want anything going wrong and flooding, then i'll be in big trouble) I might go with a 29 though....hmmmm I kinda wanted to stay with 24" wide, becausee i'm getting MH and want to keep the cost down and don't want to go to 30" I'm not sure if my tank would be ok with seahorses though. Currently I have 1 percula and one damsel that will be transfered, 1 xenia, 1 sun coral, 1 feather duster, and a pip organ coral (noting that stings, so far) I want to get a frog spawn, some zoos maybe green star polyps, maybe a hammer coral, maybe a clam, not really sure what else, i guess whatever i like in the LFS maybe i'll end up trying some acros and other SPS. I have pretty good flow about 30x so when i get the 20 gal i'm going to be probally adding a powerhead to keep the flow around 30x. Here are some pic of my tank.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=770413

 

[DrBDC]

The 10 is def. only tall enough for dwarfs. Some corals do alright with them. I have anthelia which they hitch to in mine and some zo's. I'd stay away from the fw planted tank as with heavy lighting you'll need CO2 injection which becomes a PITA with the DIY versions and expensive with the full setup of co2 regulators etc. I've heard of clams clamping down on sh's but I've also heard of people having them together.

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

well if i was going to set up the 10 gal i wouldn't have clams or anything in there. In the 20 gal i'm getting i think there would be too much flow for a seahorse. How much flow can they handle?

 

[DrBDC]

Hardly any. No powerheads or anything. I was advised even my built in filtration may be too much and it's just a 3 gallon eclipse. I just covered the intake with a sponge prefilter that came with my mag 3 I use on another tank. That cut the flow down and I dont' see any problems but very little movement.

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

hmmm i could do that with my 10 gal, but the dwarf seahorses seem pretty difficult. The only thing that i think would suck is having to fed them LIVE brine, ahhh. How hard is it o get them on frozen brine, is it even possable?

 

[Swanwillow]

nearly impossible...

I've only heard of one person getting them onto frozen... but for MORE advise, and some practical answers, go over to seahorse.org or sygnathid.org they both have dwarf forums, and both can help ya out really well

 

[DrBDC]

Mine are eating frozen cyclopeeze but that was the first thing in the tank after being born. My WC adults do too but not as aggressively as the babies. They just casually pick at them.

 

[GregM779]

I looked into dwarfs but they are way too much work for me to continue to do all of the time. The have to be fed baby brine shrimp so you can't go and buy live brine. A 10g would be too small IMO for the other kinds. The 29g I'm using is ideal and I found it used cheap, a little work and I fixed it up.

 

[Cutiewitbooty]

yeah i think i have decided to stay away from seahorses. I really don't want to set up another tank thats bigger. I was just trying to figure out what to do with the 10 gal with 4 watts per gal. I think i might just set up a small FW tank or maybe a mantis tank, who knows lol