lets talk feeding...and movement

[Devaji108]

Ok I have been thinking of setting up a SH tank for some time now.
prob. a 55 or 75 gallon. I keep going back in forth on a reef or a SH tank.


my main thought is will there be enough movement to keep me happy?
I would do 2-3 pairs and maybe pipe fish and shripm or two.
what are your thoughts? how many of you have a SH tank as your main tank?

my other thoughts are feeding... 2-3times a day is fine when I am home. but what do you all do when you leave for a day or two?

thoughts? feedback?

 

[pledosophy]

If you break the movement up you are fine. You just need to give the seahorses a spot to rest. If this spot rotates once and awhile you are fine. Think wavemaker switching every few hours, not every few seconds.

I have got seahorses tanks up to a combined constant turnover of 60x. I used spraybars to get the water always moving throw the rocks so food could not get in to decay.

If you set up your water movement devices on the same "switch" it is easier to turn them off for a little bit to feed IME.

If you can not feed one day, no big deal. For a long time it was popular to let seahorses have a day to fast. If you stretch it to two days once in a great while, it is not the end of the world, but better if you can have someone come in and feed them at least once on the second day.

In a 55g I would do two pairs and then some tankmates that would be helpful, such as a two spot goby, or a watchmen to stir the sand up a bit. Some snails, maybe a cucumber. I find Cardinals to be good tankmates as well.

I would not do pipes and seahorses myself, to many associated problems in my book.

Unless the shrimp is large, it will be an expensive snack.

JME
HTH

 

[namxas]

I agree with Kevin...don't mix SH species or SH and pipes, ESP. if you're new to SH keeping. Most of the time, mixing Syngnathids ends in the death of one or both species.

I don't agree with keeping sand sifters tho...they deplete your sandbed of fauna and will starve if they haven't converted to prepared foods. Nassarius snails or a Holothuria sp. cuke are better ideas, but a 55 is a bit small for a cuke as they do get large.