How big is too big

[chalaco]

I want to set up a 150 gallon tank with some soft corals. I keep reading
about smaller tanks being set up and wanted to know if it is more difficult to keep seahorses a live in a large system.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Not in my experience...

Not in my experience...

Depends on your aquascape - and the tankmates - and flow rate - are they all SH friendly?

Larger tanks often mean more stable water quality - a good thing for SH, IMO.

I just went from a 95G to a 120G SH reef- - they look happy and have started eating normally again after two days...

Good luck.

LL

 

[pledosophy]

Big tanks are great. Bigger the better.

 

[chalaco]

What kind of fish and how many should I have with the seahorses? I know I have to feed
quite often so would like fish to clean up in case I over feed or food strays away from seahorses.

 

[Lightsluvr]

Safe tank buddies...

Safe tank buddies...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14330477#post14330477 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chalaco
What kind of fish and how many should I have with the seahorses? I know I have to feed
quite often so would like fish to clean up in case I over feed or food strays away from seahorses.

I have been able to control the competition problem by feeding the fish first...giving them 3-4 minutes to eat with the powerheads off. Then I feed the seahorses.

As for tankmates, here is a very good list, IMHO.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/art...tankmates.shtml



LL

 

[chalaco]

Thank you guys

 

[pledosophy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14330477#post14330477 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chalaco
What kind of fish and how many should I have with the seahorses? I know I have to feed
quite often so would like fish to clean up in case I over feed or food strays away from seahorses.

Depends on the setup and how many seahorses you have.

Get something to stir the sand, I like yellow watchmans (other watchman's are not so good) and twin spot goby's for this myself. A pistol shrimp with the watchman can be very entertaining.

Get snails to eat detritus and algae off the rocks. If it is a glass tank you could do a pencil urchin as well.

As for fish, there are not many that do anything but add to the bioload speaking in those terms. It's always fun to have otehr fish in there to, but they are more for being pretty then helping out. Most of the algae eating blennies are a no go IME, as they typically setup shop in an area and are very territorial of that. For some reason there area always seems to be the feeding dish, then they start attacking the seahorses as they go near it. JME

Other great herbivoures like tangs or foxfaces, just don't work with the horses.

Peppermint shrimp are a great companion as they not only clean up, but also help to reduce aiptasia which IME have the potential to be very harmful towards seahorses.

I would avoid all crabs IME.

In a 150, 8 seahorses, a twin spot, a yellow watchman pistol pair, 10 peppermint shrimp, 10 to 15 naussarius snails (depending on size) 15 cerith, maybe 5 or 6 netrite snails, and 10 astrea's would be a good start and a fairly manageable bioload IMO. Just depends on how the tank is setup.

Read and enjoy the article linked, if you see anything you like or having any questions let us know and we can help you out with it. In a tank your size you might be able to get away with some of the 2's and 3's that you could not in a smaller tank, but I'l help you out if I can.

HTH

Kevin.

 

[chalaco]

Thanks so much for the info. This will help me out a lot .
I have another question about my gravel. I heard live sand is much better for growing
pods should I change out my gravel?

 

[pledosophy]

I would. Gravel traps to much detritus and leads to other problems mainly nuissance algaes and bacteria's. You need a smaller grain size.

I don't pay for live sand myself, I use dry argonite.

JME

 

[chalaco]

Ok thanks