H. Erectus..Is this a good first seahorse?

[Reefbox]

Hello all,

Would a H. Erectus from southern waters (tropical 74-78 deg.) be a good choice as to a first seahorse?

I plan to keep two of them in a dedicated 20-25 g, 18" tall tk., feed them enriched frozen brine shrimp and live brine shrimp.

Any input will be much appreciated.



Thanks

 

[ann83]

Captive bred H. Erectus from an aquaculture facility like www.seahorsesource.com or www.dracomarine.org would be a great first seahorse, but wild caught seahorses are not good first seahorses. In the home aquarium, erectus should be kept at 70-74 degrees. Higher than 74 makes them very succeptible to bacterial infection.
I would keep two erectus in a minimum of 29 gallons, the bigger the better, and IMO 20 gallons is too small. They are a high waste fish and present a high bioload on the aquarium.
Brine shrimp is not a good diet for seahorses. They have a very simple digestive system, and regardless of enrichments, brine shrimp is like feeding them a diet of popcorn, and they could actually starve on it. Also, many seahorses don't even recognize brine shrimp as food. Captive bred seahorses will be trained to frozen mysis shrimp, and that is a good staple diet. Wild Caught seahorses will require A LOT of live shrimp (mysis, ghost, glass, volcano, etc.), which can get very expensive. Your seahorses should be fed 2-3 times a day, because they aren't very efficient at getting nutrients out of food, and need to eat frequently for proper nutrition.

 

[Duddly01]

Southern Erectus are a great beginner horse. I would however not buy any WC horses. I purchased mine from Draco Marine but Dan at Seahorse Source is also a great breeder.

My pair live in a 24DX nanocube. I wouldn't go with a standard 20gal, you will certainly want more height of aroung 20", 19" at the minimum. My male is only 7 months old and is already 5" in height.

Brine shrimp is not nutritious enough no matter how much you enrich them. PE mysis is the best (IMHO) and Hikari mysis is a close second.

As was mentioned you will want to keep the temp stable and at 74f or below. I use a chiller to keep mine steady at 74f with a variance of less the 1deg.

 

[Reefbox]

Thanks for the input.

I'll definetely get tank raised as I always try to do with any species and I'll feed them mysis shrimp and keep the tank @ constant temp. of 74-72 or. This temp will be ez to keep in my cool basement.


Is there any suitable seahorse food that you can use with an auto feeder? Like maybe freeze dried mysis shrimp?

Is there a suitable first time seahorse that would be happy in a 10 gallon tank?


Thanks for the info.

 

[ann83]

There isn't any suitable vacation food for a seahorse. They typically don't take anything but frozen or live. You'll have to get a seahorse sitter when you leave town.
There also isn't a first time seahorse that would do well in a 10 gallon. There are a few cooler water species that would need a chiller (stable temps lower than 68 degrees depending on species) that might be okay in a 10 gallon, and then there are dwarves, which need newly hatched bbs several times a day.

 

[blind1993]

but i thought that bbs are not nutrionaly good

 

[ann83]

Brine shrimp are not nutritionally good on their own. Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS/Artemia), both newly hatched and enriched, are okay for seahorse fry and for dwarf seahorses, but not a good diet for larger species of seahorses.

 

[blind1993]

oh ok

is that the only thing u can feed dwarf seahorses.

 

[ann83]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10332545#post10332545 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blind1993
oh ok

is that the only thing u can feed dwarf seahorses.

BBS or a whole lot of copepods.

 

[blind1993]

ok