My 35 gal seahorse tank

[bundybear1981]

Good day all! New to seahorses but not new to salt water. I've been keeping salt water tanks now for about 10 years. Been looking at heading down the seahorse path for a little over a year now, well I decided to take the plunge and set up a new tank for them.

The Setup
Locally we don't have a huge range of brands to choose from so I ended up going with a Aqua One setup.

The Tank



The tank was a package deal, the Aqua One Horizon 130, which comprised of a 35 gal tank, stand, HOB filter, heater and LED light.
I then added a protein skimmer, the Aqua One G216 (rated to 105 gal).
The system has several large pieces of cycled live rock and caulerpa algae plus a fake branching coral to add more hitching areas.



At the moment the tank is sitting at a stable 77F with it still being summer. The heater is currently not connected, I still need to fit a heater guard to prevent the kudas from hitching to it and getting burnt.


The Inhabitants



The seahorses that I have stocked with are Australian captive bred Kudas, starting with 2 seahorses.



As I get more experience I plan on adding some more kudas to the tank and possibly adding a mandarin (I had one in my reef for 3 years prior to moving house, sadly he didn't survive the move)



The have settled in well to their new home.





The CUC
The CUC I have is comprised of a pair of peppermint shrimp



plus several snails collected from one of my local beaches (we are allowed to collect from many beaches here)

Feeding
I am currently feeding two to three times daily using a combination of frozen artemia brine shrimp and frozen mysis (same foods as used on my reef tank) with a partially targeted feed using some air hose and a large syringe. So far they are both feeding well.


Water Parameters
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Calcium - 440
Mag - 1400
kH - 8
Salinity (refractometer) 35 ppm
Temperature 77F (25C)
Water Source - RODI filter system

I look forward to watching my system grow and hopefully getting to attempt to raise some fry in the future, once I have gotten more experience and have a mating pair in the tank.

 

[spiceycat]

Nice start! Might want to get your temp.down to below 75 to discourage nasty bacterial growth,but do it gradually. What kind of flow do you have in this tank? Contrary to old views seahorses like some areas of nice flow. Good luck.

 

[JLynn]

Cute! Your seahorses are adorable, and the macro algae looks really nice, too.

And ditto on the temperature; you should at least remove the heater, if you can't afford a chiller. Bacterial growth/reproduction slows exponentially once temperatures are decreased to below 75 degrees.

The tank is too small to produce enough food to support a mandarin, so you should definitely pass on that. I would also hesitate to add more seahorses, lest your nutrients get out of control.

 

[bundybear1981]

Working on dropping the temp at the moment using fans over the water surface. If needed I'll get another chiller (I have one on the reef tank at the moment) Been a bit side tracked keeping an eye on the recent cyclone in the area. Luckily it went around us here, just a bit of wind and rain (hit 280 miles north pretty hard).

The heater is currently not plugged in (just ready for the approaching winter here, last year the other tanks dropped to about 65 during winter)

The mandarins that my LFS stock all eat frozen (I've watched them feed them)

 

[Postal]

FYI, your "peppermint" shrimp is actually a camel shrimp. They still shouldn't be an issue for your seahorses but are definitely not reef-safe in general. So if you have plans to add any coral to the tank in the future, be aware that it will be a potential food source for the shrimp.

 

[Mom2jayden]

Been thinking about doing this for a while? Is it difficult to maintain? I heard you have to feed them several times a day...

 

[coral102]

Amazing!!!

 

[bundybear1981]

Difficult to maintain is very subjective. For me I find it no more difficult then my other tanks, I enjoy the husbandry that goes with them. I have been keeping salt water tanks in some form for around 10 years.

With the sea horses its something I have been thinking of getting for about 5 years now, been reading on them and trying to learn what I can. I figured if I just kept thinking of doing it then it would never happen so I made the plunge.

With feeding, I have been working on 3 feeds a day. One before work, one after work and one before I go to bed for the night.

The kids love to watch the tanks, when they are a bit older they'll get taught how to care for them properly.

 

[vlangel]

I think most folks feed 2 or 3 times daily. I fed my juvenile seahorses 3 Xs but only feed my adult seahorses twice a day. The biggest difference in how I maintain my seahorse tank compared to past saltwater aquariums is I am very mindful of water quality. I do much bigger, more frequent water changes and I endeavor to keep particles or detritus from accumulating anywhere, (rockwork, sand, filter pads or filter socks). This is to protect my ponies from bacterial infections which seahorses are so susceptible to.

 

[Mom2jayden]

Someone told me if I get a seahorse tank to say goodbye to ever going on vacation again lol I guess its having to feed then tree times a day.

 

[kudagirl]

Hi bundybear1981 (jason ) Like the look of your coral but have you made sure it has no sharp points on it otherwise your sh may hurt there tails on it.
Do you have other fish in with the sh (clowns ect )only as your clowns get older they become territorial as you know with your other saltwater fish. If you can it best to have just sh or gobys but none of the fish you say above.

 

[bundybear1981]

Hi kuda
Yeh, I made sure that the fake coral didn't have any sharp points on it. Don't want these two to hurt themselves.

The only reason I was considering the before mentioned fish as sea horse . org listed them as lowest risk to the horses. But I'm more then happy to keep it as a SH only tank, I already have a reef tank with clowns, corals ect.