My first seahorse/pipefish tank

[Bretts05jeep]

I have been doing a reef tank for almost two years and I have always wanted seahorses so here I go. I hope to use this thread to make sure I don't make any bad decisions along the way.

The only things I know about them so far is they need low flow, they like cooler temp, and they need very good water quality.

I just bought a new 14gl boicube. It did not come with a protein skimmer or a heater so I am going to have to add these still.

The main things I need to know before I even put water in the tank is should I buy new sand and dry live tock or is it ok to use sand and rock out of my established 150 tank. My only concern with the stuff out of my other tank is the sand has spaghetti worms and the live rock could have aphasia and who knows what else. Any dos and don'ts would also be helpful.

I will post lots of pictures of my progress because that makes it more fun.:thumbsup:

 

[TamiW]

14 gallon is not a good size for seahorses, and the all in one tanks tend to get to warm for seahorses. I would look into a 30 gallon or larger.

 

[rayjay]

While this link is to comments about my earlier stages of keeping, the links on that page following my comments are authored by experienced keepers and breeders and may be helpful in getting a groundwork of the basics.
MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING

 

[namxas]

ever since their inception, it seems as if this question has been asked with an increasing frequency. as the owner of four such systems, three JBJ Nanocubes and an Aquapod, i feel i can speak first-hand/real life on the issue.

1. 8's, 12's, 14's are all too small for SH, unless you plan to keep dwarf SH. you need at LEAST a 24, 28, or 34 gal.

THE FIX:

there's no getting around the size issue...you need a large enuff tank, whether it's a plug 'n' play (hereafter, PNP) or a regular system.

2. ALL of these systems typically run at 80*F, which is at least 6*F too warm even for tropical SH. this is a very important factor, as SH tend to be prone to bacterial infections, especially at warmer temps due to an increase in bacterial count. you may hear "SH are found in 80*F water in the wild", but you must remember that the bacterial concentration in a closed system is infinitely greater than that of the ocean.

THE FIX:

get a chiller. this is the best and most reliable way to go.

there is an Integrated Chill Assist (ICA) offered by NANOTUNERS, however, this is a tuff mod to acomplish, and it's not really a true chiller in the sense it runs 24/7 and there's no temp set. what it does is cool the tank down at night to give you a lower "baseline" temp in the AM.

however, you can get a temp reduction of about 2*F-3*F by swapping out the stock pump for a cooler-running model (e.g. get a pump that consumes fewer Watts). this will also help with the flow problem (see #3). i've found that Maxi-Jets are a good bet here. it only takes about 10 mins to swap out the pump. depending on your flow scheme, a MJ 400 or MJ 600 are good choices.

also, if you have one of the "open sump" designs where the top of the filtration area is open, run a fan over it. leave the "feeding lid" open. if you have a glass covered HQI model, remove the cover and run a fan over the water surface to increase evaporative cooling.

3. the flow in these systems is too high.

THE FIX:

you can replace the stock pump with a lower flow model (if you choose a lower "wattage" pump, this will also help with the temp, see #2). you can also split the reutrn by removing the stock nozzle (it just pulls off) and adding a locline Y connector and the fittings of your choice to split the flow up. this also helps with being able to direct the flow to remove dead spots.

PROS

the PNP tanx go up quickly and easily, and they make VERY pretty tanx. they're also compact and fit nicely where space is an issue.

hopefully, this will answer the most FAQ regarding these tanx. feel free to use the search feature, and don't hesitate to ask more specific questions as they arise.

 

[Bretts05jeep]

ever since their inception, it seems as if this question has been asked with an increasing frequency. as the owner of four such systems, three JBJ Nanocubes and an Aquapod, i feel i can speak first-hand/real life on the issue.

1. 8's, 12's, 14's are all too small for SH, unless you plan to keep dwarf SH. you need at LEAST a 24, 28, or 34 gal.

THE FIX:

there's no getting around the size issue...you need a large enuff tank, whether it's a plug 'n' play (hereafter, PNP) or a regular system.

2. ALL of these systems typically run at 80*F, which is at least 6*F too warm even for tropical SH. this is a very important factor, as SH tend to be prone to bacterial infections, especially at warmer temps due to an increase in bacterial count. you may hear "SH are found in 80*F water in the wild", but you must remember that the bacterial concentration in a closed system is infinitely greater than that of the ocean.

THE FIX:

get a chiller. this is the best and most reliable way to go.

there is an Integrated Chill Assist (ICA) offered by NANOTUNERS, however, this is a tuff mod to acomplish, and it's not really a true chiller in the sense it runs 24/7 and there's no temp set. what it does is cool the tank down at night to give you a lower "baseline" temp in the AM.

however, you can get a temp reduction of about 2*F-3*F by swapping out the stock pump for a cooler-running model (e.g. get a pump that consumes fewer Watts). this will also help with the flow problem (see #3). i've found that Maxi-Jets are a good bet here. it only takes about 10 mins to swap out the pump. depending on your flow scheme, a MJ 400 or MJ 600 are good choices.

also, if you have one of the "open sump" designs where the top of the filtration area is open, run a fan over it. leave the "feeding lid" open. if you have a glass covered HQI model, remove the cover and run a fan over the water surface to increase evaporative cooling.

3. the flow in these systems is too high.

THE FIX:

you can replace the stock pump with a lower flow model (if you choose a lower "wattage" pump, this will also help with the temp, see #2). you can also split the reutrn by removing the stock nozzle (it just pulls off) and adding a locline Y connector and the fittings of your choice to split the flow up. this also helps with being able to direct the flow to remove dead spots.

PROS

the PNP tanx go up quickly and easily, and they make VERY pretty tanx. they're also compact and fit nicely where space is an issue.

hopefully, this will answer the most FAQ regarding these tanx. feel free to use the search feature, and don't hesitate to ask more specific questions as they arise.

Thanks looks like I will be making some mods to my tank. Do pipefish have the exact same requirements or can they handel a bit higher temp/flo. Just thinking that maby try a pipefish befor a seahorse.

 

[rayjay]

Are you still planning to use the 14g biocube?

 

[namxas]

If you can get them weaned onto frozen mysis, you could probably keep a M-F pair of blestripe pipes in that setup. It MUST be a M-F pair or single specimen, as males will fight to the death.

 

[Bretts05jeep]

Are you still planning to use the 14g biocube?

From reading everything above, I was going to try dwarf horses. I was going to buy a smaller pump to lower the heat. I was thinking only two horses, and if I could get that to work add a pipe fish.

 

[Bretts05jeep]

While this link is to comments about my earlier stages of keeping, the links on that page following my comments are authored by experienced keepers and breeders and may be helpful in getting a groundwork of the basics.
MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING

looks like the biocube is out. Not to worry I just upgraded to a 150 gallon tank so I have my 90 that I was going to use for agressive fish (now Im going to have to thing of what to put in the biocube:spin3

The picture is from when it was new. It needs a good cleaning, some fresh sand, and live rock. Then Im going to have to cycle it.

 

[rayjay]

If you can modify the 14g to control the temperature, you could still do dwarfs but it would mean putting a lot of dwarfs in the tank.
Because the dwarfs primarily sit and wait for food to come by, feeding density has to be sufficient for them to still get enough nutrition without searching out the food. This can lead to water quality issues which then become seahorse issues.
I don't know the actual volume of water in the biocube but would think you need perhaps 10 to 12 dwarfs to make it work, coupled with removal of uneaten food between feedings.

 

[Bretts05jeep]

If you can modify the 14g to control the temperature, you could still do dwarfs but it would mean putting a lot of dwarfs in the tank.
Because the dwarfs primarily sit and wait for food to come by, feeding density has to be sufficient for them to still get enough nutrition without searching out the food. This can lead to water quality issues which then become seahorse issues.
I don't know the actual volume of water in the biocube but would think you need perhaps 10 to 12 dwarfs to make it work, coupled with removal of uneaten food between feedings.

That sounds like a bit much for me to begin with. What type of seahorse would you suggest of a biginer? Can you mix different speices?

 

[namxas]

H. erectus or H. reidi are the best SH for beginners. If you want to try your hand at raising fry, go with erectus, as they bear larger, benthic fry (they hitch from birth).

If you don't want to raise fry at all, consider a same sex tank.

Mixing Syngnathid species is a crapshoot on a good day...sometimes it works, many times it doesn't and you lose one or both species. Many Syngnathids carry species-specific pathogens to which they're immune, but other species may not be.

I wouldn't mix species without a lengthy QT of both species, and even then, you're rolling the dice. If you're a novice keeper, I don't recommend mixing species at all until you get some time keeping SH under your belt. At that point, you can decide what your "risk tolerance" is.

HTH

 

[Bretts05jeep]

Alright so heres my progress. The tank has been cleaned and I have added about 55 lbs of live rock. I only have a 45 gallon trash can for my ro/di water so it is only about half full, so I wont be able to fill it all the way till monday.

My next question is should I use bioballs or live rock rubble in the sump. I already Have a ton of both but dont know which is better.

 

[rayjay]

If the bio balls are the spiky plastic ones then they do nothing to process nitrates for the tank so rubble would be best.
My personal preference was to fill the sump with the live rock rather than have it in the tank and make it more difficult for me to find the seahorses.
Even without the live rock in the tank I find it difficult many times to find all the seahorses. They just seem to "disappear" on me, although once I do find them I can't believe I had trouble seeing them.
Also, with the live rock in the sump, it's much easier cleaning the display tank to keep bacteria levels in check.

 

[Bretts05jeep]

If the bio balls are the spiky plastic ones then they do nothing to process nitrates for the tank so rubble would be best.
My personal preference was to fill the sump with the live rock rather than have it in the tank and make it more difficult for me to find the seahorses.
Even without the live rock in the tank I find it difficult many times to find all the seahorses. They just seem to "disappear" on me, although once I do find them I can't believe I had trouble seeing them.
Also, with the live rock in the sump, it's much easier cleaning the display tank to keep bacteria levels in check.

I only have a 20 gallon sump/refugium. It is in three sections the middle bieng the biggest for the refugium. I was going to fill the left side (were water enters the sump) with as much rubble as possable, and the right ths the return pump and skimmer pump so I was going to fill in around it with live rock rubble.

 

[rayjay]

There are many others, in fact probably most keepers have the live rock in the tank.
Anything extra, as in rubble in the sump can only be a bonus.
For me, it was a personal choice I made after the difficulties I had been having keeping the seahorses alive.

 

[Devaji108]

any updates on this tank?

 

[Bretts05jeep]

Sorry about not updating. I ended up buying a new tank for the seahorses.

I got a 37 gallon tall and for lighting I got a small led light fixture.

I added a pair of ORA Kuda seahorses about 4 days ago. They both eat frozen mysis, and appear to be doing well.

I will post some pictures by friday at the latest.

 

[small alien]

Thanks looks like I will be making some mods to my tank. Do pipefish have the exact same requirements or can they handel a bit higher temp/flo. Just thinking that maby try a pipefish befor a seahorse.

I keep several species of pipes at 80F with reasonable flow.

 

[Bretts05jeep]

the tank