Great Seahorses Hippocampus kelloggi - Easier to keep? Delicate?

[chrisbenavides]

Are the Hippocampus kelloggi seahorses good seahorses or are they not hardy? I went to http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2419 and saw them for a good price.

What about the Dwarf Seahorses (http://www.seahorsesource.com/zosterae.html), are they hard to keep? Not hardy?

Basically I am looking into buying the more inexpensive seahorses for a new tank I will be setting up. The LFS told me it would take about 4-6 months for the water to be cycled enough for seahorses. Is this true, since most people cycle other marine fish tanks for 2 months.

 

[Fishfreak218]

6 months LOL, anyway it all depends on the cycle IMO but seriously i have never heard of a tank that took 6 months to cycle.... i think 1.5 months-2 months is about right. personaly all of my tanks have been done cycling in 1 month....

 

[DanU]

Boy Chris, you are going to 2 extremes

Taking hardy issues out of the picture for a moment, the kelloggi according to the site, get upwards of 11 inches. If you go with the rule of 3 times the height of the seahorse for tank height, you would need a very large tank. I agree with their minimum provided it is a tall tank.

The zosterae on the other hand take it to the other extreme. The most successful setups that I have seen with hobbyists are in the 2.5 to 5 gal setups. They require a constant supply of live food and you have to watch the parameters of small tanks very closely to have success.

Either of the above can be done successfully. Just study up on them before making the move.

I tend to agree with Josh on the cycling.

Dan

 

[chrisbenavides]

zosterae can do better in 5 gal setups than bigger tank setups (e.g. 30-55 gal)?

Would these do good in larger tanks, and if they don't why don't they?

THANKS!

 

[DanU]

Primary problem is stocking and feeding densities. I can easily keep 100 dwarfs in a 15 gal tank. You would have to put way too much artemia in a 30 to 55 gal tank.

Dan

 

[chrisbenavides]

ok...it sounds like the Dwarf seahorses are out as well as pipefish (I was told not to mix pipefish with CB seahorse)....now I must find some good affordable ones......I started cycling my tank today, so I got 4-8 weeks to start stocking my tank.

If you all know of good anf affordable places that ship to south Texas, please let me know. I'm on the hunt right now in finding a good breeder/dealer. I tried: http://www.aquahorse.com/ but their website is not working properly, couldn't even see prices. I checked liveaquaria.com and seahoursesource.com

Any help in with this too would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[2divers]

Dan U is the seahorse man - try seahorsesource.

Guy knows A LOT! Has helped many of us who have tried our hand at breeding.

 

[LisaD]

I have a pair of the kelloggi from liveaquaria. I would not recommend them to beginners for the following reasons:

1) they arrived very small - smaller juveniles don't survive as well as larger ones

2) they were VERY skinny - a sign of stress, from which they may not recover, also may be a sign of parasitic infection

3) they are not accepting frozen food, they don't even eat tiny ghost shrimp, only taking enriched adult brine shrimp

I'm not sure what the whole story is with these seahorses, but they do not look like what I expect from captive bred. I would avoid them and either buy from www.seahorsesource.com, draco marine, or a reputable hobby breeder.

 

[Montrose58]

Kelloggi

Kelloggi

I have had a pair of H Kelloggi for about 2 months now. M & F
I picked them up at my LFS after feeding them.
They are active and when they see me coming they go to the same spot in their tank for feeding. (They have me trained)

I also picked up an Alligator Pipefish for their tank.
No problems with the pipes addition.
Lots of Rodeos.

They all eat like pigs and are doing well.

*If there's no visible blemishes and they are eating well, you'll have good success.

 

[Montrose58]

Hey Chris,

Hey Chris,

After re-reading your post, I realized thatI didn't cover everything.

If you're starting from scratch,Tank cycling should only last for 2 to 6 weeks. Test your water and watch for the Amonia spike to come down.
One or two days before you add your livestock, do a 25 to 50% water change.
*I'm cycling a 7 gallon bowfront on my desk. I started with water from my reef tank and 2 or 3 cups of the established sand from my reef. -NO AMONIA SPIKE- I will change 50% with week old fresh mix IO a couple of days before I stock.

I believe that tank raised Kelloggi's are hardy and the price is good.
I'm pleased at how well mine are doing.

I started with Zosteraes in 1968 and figured something out pretty quick; Set a small low wattage table lamp on one end of your Dwarf tank and the Brine Shrimp will swarm there.
The horses will swim over and feed. They're pretty intelligent.
After a couple of feedings the Dwarves will be in the habit.

You Can put Dwarves in a larger tank and it will work out well if you use the small light (helps to dim or turn off the main tank light.

The only problem is, Zostraes are so small, a larger tank looks almost empty with even a large group of horses.
I like a smaller tank on a desktop for that reason.

Dwarf Seahorses only live about 2 years maybe 3, so when you get your hands on a pair of adults, there is a good chance they are
getting close to retirement.
* The positive is; they have babies like guppies. A soon as Pop expels the last of the brood, he's back pestering the females again.
The Fry will snick fresh hatched brine shrimp on their first day.

Pipefish will eat seahorse fry so a birthing/rearing tank is a good idea.

I've been picking up equipment alog with a pair of Store Display Tanks (4' x 1' x 16" high). In the next few months, I'll be starting a H Zostrae Prop System.
*Even if I can't get all of them to take frozen food, Tank Raised Dwarves will be something folks will want.
I will post in this forum when I have more info about this.

 

[60G]

Kelloggi seahorses (tank raised) in my 24 gallon nano cube?

Kelloggi seahorses (tank raised) in my 24 gallon nano cube?

Hi i have a 24 gallon nano cube that's been running for 3 and 1/2 years and i wanted to put 2 Kelloggi (tank raised) seahorses in it.the only coral in the tank is xenias there is also some money plant and some fake plants there are no fish in the tank. will my tank be ok for some?

 

[con999]

Hi i have a 24 gallon nano cube that's been running for 3 and 1/2 years and i wanted to put 2 Kelloggi (tank raised) seahorses in it.the only coral in the tank is xenias there is also some money plant and some fake plants there are no fish in the tank. will my tank be ok for some?

whats the temp????? and i would start ur own thread

 

[rayjay]

Hi i have a 24 gallon nano cube that's been running for 3 and 1/2 years and i wanted to put 2 Kelloggi (tank raised) seahorses in it.the only coral in the tank is xenias there is also some money plant and some fake plants there are no fish in the tank. will my tank be ok for some?

Be aware that "tank raised" is like "net pen raised" and not like true captive bred.
True captive bred have been bred and raised in ocean water treated and filtered for the pathogens inherent to the ocean water, or in commercial salt water like I.O..
The "tank raised" description comes from the Asian method of using large round cement tanks for breeding and raising seahorses, a later development than the "net pen" raised.
Kelloggi have not got a good track record lately but it would be even harder in that small of a tank when even a standard sized seahorse should be in a minimum 29/30g tank.
Also, most nano cube tanks run quite hot and unless you can effectively cool the water somehow, bacteria growth in the tank will be a problem.

 

[MischiefManaged]

Definitely pick up some good quality CB erectus or reidi from Dan @ seahorsesource. I made the mistake of going with kelloggi's for my first horses, and it ended in disaster.. Dan and Abbie have gone to great lengths to help me out, and I'm really glad I went to them. I've had my horses over 2 years now, and they're still doing great..

 

[60G]

wow great to hear

 

[berubejjt]

Kellogi Seahorse

Kellogi Seahorse

I bought two Kellogi Seahorse from Live Aquaria. Not a good idea. They were so tiny and would not take to eating frozen foods. After much work (putting them in a seperate breeder type netting) they started eating. The smaller of the two died within 3 months, and the other died close to two weeks after the first. I know they were eating well, I quarintened them two times a day and they also feed off the reef throughout day/ night. Just be warned, cheaper is not always the best way to go. Now I have spent twice the amount I intended an only have one! Good luck with your purchase, and remember- older is better in this case and you don't want to be nursing a 1/2 inch-1 inch seahorse to life. They come so skinny and small.

 

[Bluemon]

what do you mean quarantined them two times a day?

thats bad.

changing tanks twice a day will stress any fish.
maybe if you had put them in the qt for 2 months before, yes, but twice a day????

 

[kichikoi]

Hey, Even though this thread was originally started years ago...since it's been brought back up I'll add my 2cents!
My LFS brought in SH's labelled as "Kelloggi". They were also very tiny and underfed. A few never made it out of the bag! 2 1/2 years later I do still have 3, now adults.
They in fact are not Kelloggi, but H. Comes, or Tiger Tails. 2 that survived any length of time, and have since died were H. Spinosissimus. Also if you look at the pics at live aquaria for their ad, the one SH appears to be an H.Comes.

 

[oscarclinton]

I have one kellogi in my 14 g biocube, the problem with this is when I feed it because is to slow I have to turn off my pump so the food won't be blown away. I get a syringe and put some frozen brain shrimp in a spoon with salt water ,then I suck the water with the shrimp using the syringe, and put my hand in the aquarium closer to the horse as I can and blow out the food .. I've been doing this for a week , today it seemed to recognize the syringe and swam over and suck the brain, is learning, the thing is everytime I have to feed it I have toturn off thepump and put my hand in the tank, so is not funny, I actually have it cuz my girlfriend like the seahorse, as soon as I get rid of my girlfriend ill do it with the seahorse too, to much work.
Ok at least I share a trick for feeding this fishes if someone have a problem with feeding this guys you know this already

 

[rayjay]

Just in case this isn't a troll post on this OLD THREAD, I'll apologize now and mention that if you really do have the kelloggi species in that tank, it is a WAY too small for it as it matures.
Also, many seahorses can be trained to eat frozen food out of a dish or other vessel sufficiently designed so as to keep the food from blowing out, but allowing the seahorses to see the food and access it.
Excess food should be removed before the next feeding.
Frequent and large water changes should be done with this situation, and, special attention paid to finding and removing trapped uneaten food/detritus from around rock work, or hitches.