Macro Algae tank - jawfish? Sea horses?

[KingOfAll_Tyrants]

For various reasons I'm thinking about setting up a 20 gallonish macroalage tank with a DSB (4-5" - if I do a 16" high about 12" of vertical space. I was thinking of a 20 long but that would leave only 7-8"). I might add a small gorgonian or three.

Reading up, thinking and the like, piscine inhabitants for this tank that my mind has sort of edged toward are the yellow headed jawfish (2, 3 max) and/or dwarf sea horses (2-4 max). These would be added after the tank has been established a bit; in particular the seahorses would need a fairly robust pod colony (either in the tank or external) for this to work it seems.

Thoughts?

It seems if I use the jawfish, I'll have to be careful on how big the sustrate I'd use; that is I can't just willy nilly use very fine sand; I'd have to mix some thicker sand, and keep some reef rubble on top. As well as maybe a small LR or two.

 

[Bret61081]

Dwarf Sea Horses are tiny....in a 20g tank even with half sand, you'd never see them. I had 10 in a 5g tank. Id go with the Jawfish or go with a 40 breeder and do some other captive breed sea horses

 

[Half Vaped]

Dwarf seahorses are extremely difficult to keep. Why not go for a 40 Breeder like Bret suggests? You can probably get away with both Jawfish and some of the bigger CB Seahorses.

I'm keeping a male Erectus and a pair of Kuda in my 40 Breeder. Really interesting behavior. I also have a Jawfish in my 150 G that always has its head sticking out of its hole an inch or two from the front glass.

 

[KingOfAll_Tyrants]

Very funny. I'm flirting with this tank design because I want the 20G to be a DSB+macro display fuge for a 40G breeder (which would have like 1-2 inches of sand). The original design for the 40G would be some kind of relatively conventional reef tank (in which I'd want to keep some corals and anemones), and I only want to keep one DSB.

At the same time, part of me is thinking of putting a DSB+jawfish+whatever else I keep in the main tank and just using a regular sump instead of the display fuge.....

 

[Half Vaped]

How about a display fuge with a Wartskin Angler? Or maybe a 20 high and a pair of Erectus or similar Seahorses. Mantis Shrimp? I like the the idea of keeping something in the fuge you can't keep in the DT.

 

[docstach]

I have done this for awhile now with my display fuge. I originally had a mantis which I loved, but they do create a fair amount of waste and they make keeping that side clean a bit difficult. I then tried a pair of seahorses, which were very interesting but with my busy work schedule they were more work than I expected (mainly feeding). I now have a jawfish and a small puffer and am very happy. I love watching the jawfish, very cool fish for a DSB that you don't care gets moved around a lot. Give them LOTs of rubble to use.

 

[KingOfAll_Tyrants]

Thanks, folks.

HV - funny, I actually am also thinking about a mantis, and have been fascinated by them for a long time. If I get a spearer with my LR I think I'll put him in as the sole resident (I'm afraid though a smasher might eat DSB animals, though....). The angler is interesting too - one macroalgae bed that kind of inspired me indeed has anglerfish:
Check out 4:40 or so

(this is New Taipei City, my wife and my mom's home town, population 4 million. My certification dives were here; on my second dive I forgot to swap tanks and ran out of air nearby the macroalgae are they show around 6:00. Lots of encrusting corals - that area's famous for its massive fossil encrusting corals just on the shore, lots of encrusting corals in the water. Also, look at the wave back and forth - in particular coming at all angles at the large BTA and Clarkiis a bit earlier).


docstash - those are almost the tanks I'm thinking of in this case, they are awesome. Since I probably would have ordered rock from Tampa Bay saltwater*, I think it would have been easy to have a mix of FL photosynthetic gorgonians and Indopacific softies and (later) hard corals in the DT. I also like the divider seperating the tank into two zones - I thought about doing things this way, but thought it would look awful.

But your tank looks great, so I may consider it again! Do you have links to more pictures in other RC threads? What's the size of the grains in the sand bed? Also, when you say that he digs a lot; so that seems to imply it wouldn't be able to accommodate the typical anaerobic bacteria type deep sanded that you see people debating?

KoAT

* unfortunately, this new years was a minor disaster and my tank plans are canceled for at least 2-3 months, since I may be moving. But, Oahu might be one of my destinations.....