Need advice from you Pros on a possible Pony tank

S

Saldarya

In Memoriam
Hello all,

I have just acquired a new, unique tank and was considering Seahorses. I woudl like your opinions on potential types and numbers. I woudl really like to house some of the larger species and a chiller is available if neccesary.

Tank is about 120gal, 6' long, 31" tall, and 12" deep. Certainly some live rock built up on one end fading into a bed of sea grass with perhaps Mangroves planted on the other end is my thought.

Again, from a 25 year vet and SPS addict, I come humbly into this forum and eagerly into the world of Seahorses.

Would love yoru feedback.
 
well hippocampus ingens is one of the largest species, so are hippocampus abdominalis. you could probably do like 3-5 pairs? (not sure though hard to find a lot of info on stocking them). A chiller would be good just because it would help to keep the temperature constant. its very long but not super tall so you may want to be careful of the larger species.

Sounds like it will be an awesome tank, a bed of seagrass would provide great hunting grounds for the horses.
 
I would not reccomend abdominalis or ingens as a starter seahorse. Yes they are the largest species but have very specific needs.

Ingens can't not be exposed to anything that has come in contact with any other species of seahorse. They also require cooler temps in the 68-70 degree range. Not to mention that the only breeder of ingens is in Mexico, making obtaining them difficult as they aren't readily imported.

Abdominals require a maximum temperature of 64 degrees, they are a cold water species from Australia. In a tank that large, it will require quite the chiller to maintain those temps. Also they are only bred in Australia but are readily imported into the US.

I would recommend a nice grouping of either reidi, erectus, or kuda. They are larger species and can be rather colourful. All are readily available as captive bred here in the US.

I would recommend checking out SeahorseSource.com and Dracomarine.org as palces to purchase your horses from. Both are located here in the US and breed their own seahorses. SeahorseSource also imports some species from Australia and occassionaly gets some from the breeder in Mexico.

Seagrasses are a great set up for seahorses, however they require metal halide lighting which will increase the tank temperature so be sure you have the means to keep the tank cool. On a tank of that depth you are looking at probably 400w halides to reach the bottom. That also means having an area where there is less lighting for the horses to get out of the bright light. Seahorse need a tank temp in the 72-74 degree range, even for the tropical species.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9882540#post9882540 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishymann
very sorry for the mis information.
Click to expand...

Mike,

No need to apologize. They are not very common species so most folks don't know about there specific needs. It's a learning experience for all of us involved.

I should be the one apologizing if it seemed I was contradicitng you. That was not my intention.
 
Not at all matt, i think 4 or so pairs of erectus would look BEAUTIFUL in that size tank, i know how beautiful one pair is.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9883123#post9883123 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishymann
Not at all matt, i think 4 or so pairs of erectus would look BEAUTIFUL in that size tank, i know how beautiful one pair is.
Click to expand...

if you ask the dracomarine owner like I did, he will say 1 pair/10 gallons. so based on his expert advice and you do have a 120, you could have up to 12 pair.
 
you most likely could have 12 pairs BUT 12 pairs would be 24 seahorses thats A) a lot of money B) a lot of food C)just a lot of seahorse in general
 
Thanks for all teh good info....

I had initially considered the Abdominals, and although I was not concerned with the temp issues ( I have an extra 1 HP chiller sitting around) I am concerned about condensation on the glass in S. Louisiana.

That being said, after more research, I am leaning toward 3 pair of Erectus, a total of 6, and then add in some Pipefish. My hope is with only six in the tank, that will be plenty of room.

ANy other thoughts or suggestions?
 
its pretty much a bad idea to mix Syngnathidaes, erectus are going to be immune to certain diseases that pipefish will not be and vise versa.
 
The reasoning behind not mixing the seahorses withthe pipefis is that the seahorses should be captive bred, whereas there is no source for captive bred pipefish here in the US.

Mixing captive bred and wild caught syngnathids is not recommended for healthy reasons. Wild caught specimens are usually fully of bacteria and pathogens that can wipe out a captive bred tank.
 
The short answer to mixing syngnathids...

Seahorses are hardy, the fact that they can breed in captivity proves that. However, prevention is the best, and often the only medicine for them. There are many common, untreatable or difficult to treat seahorse diseases out there.

Vibrio...it's everywhere, but hits syngnathids hard. Treatment is difficult at best. There are...I don't know...how many different strains of it, and populations (including CB populations) can develop immunities to certain kinds they carry, but be extremely vulnerable to a strain they have never been in contact with, which is carried by another species or population. Different strains of Vibrio grow in different temps, violently above 74 degrees.

Lately, there's been an increase in "weak snick" cases that are resistant to treatment, and no one knows what's causing them. I won't even mention "webbing" which no one has ever cured and no one knows the cause. IGBD is another you may have heard of.

Not trying to scare you, but when you're used to reef fish that get "curable" diseases like ich and HLLE, etc, seahorses are REALLY different.
 
Shilo, do you know how long these people who "get away with it" have had the seahorses and pipefish? They ought to live many years... so unless they did, they aren't getting away with it. I know some people who have pulled it off, but I wouldn't say I know many.
 
I don't mean to get everyone bothered, but it just seems that many of the people who have SH's have pipes in the tank too. It was just an innocent question...I don't have SH's or pipes - alone or together...it just seemed to me that it was a pretty common practice. Sorry to offend you...I was just trying to understand.
 
I'm not offended. I just wanted to point out that many of the people I see that say that haven't had both together for very long, and then you never hear about it again. It can be very misleading. Very few of the people that I know that have had their seahorses for many years have also been keeping pipefish in with them. For that matter, many of the people posting on this board on a regular basis have tanks with only seahorses or only pipefish, not both. That was the only point I wanted to make, so that people wouldn't read this and think it was a good idea without research.
 
just wondering, would a WC seahorse have a better chance of living with a pipefish? Just thought that could ocme up at some point.
 
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