Need help on selecting sea horse

[Islander84]

Hi i am looking for some info on seahorses. I have a 144 gal halfround tank with a 75 gal sump/refugium. Tank will be stocked with about 120lbs LS 200 lbs LR Mostly sps ( acros, montis, digi, mili) a few lps (frogspawn, acan) a few zoas and a maxi mini carpet anemone maybe 3 1/2 inch in diam. and for fish blue hippo tang, yellow tang, powder blue tang, copperband butterfly, target mandarin, ocellaris clown. Please note this is a build so any suggestions on not adding any of the above please feel free to chime in thanks-Gary

 

[mark0933]

I would say the answer you will get from most people is no seahorse should be in that tank with those inhabitants.

Mark

 

[Ann Marie]

i would say the answer you will get from most people is no seahorse should be in that tank with those inhabitants.

Mark

+1

 

[mikencarol]

Sounds like a wonderful setup...but...Seahorses won't survive....they will starve with your selection of Fish. They are VERY SLOW EATERS. Most Seahorses are in a Seahorse Only Tank with a few inverts and some selected corals. I don't want to bring you down, just don't want you to waste your money and become frustrated with Seahorses...they are wonderful to have..and BTW...you found THE Forum for help and info...this is the right place to go with questions......some of the members here have raised them for years..............

 

[con999]

im osrry but i would put none of that in my horse tank.

 

[rayjay]

At the bottom of a page on my web site there are links to a lot of information on seahorse keeping, one being a link to the "org"s Tankmates page where you will find a lot of what you want will not be compatible with seahorses, both fish and corals.
MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING

 

[GrindingNemo]

I would suggest that you go ahead and set up the tank the way you planned (except maybe avoid putting a butterfly with corals), and then set up a smaller species only tank for your horses. Ray's page looks like it has some great info to get you pointed in the right direction, and from my experience I would also suggest that you avoid live rock with seahorses. There are often hitchhikers that don't pose a serious threat to fish, but will stress out or even kill a seahorse.
You should also make sure that you are familiar with the particular species you are buying; some are more fragile than others. Personally I have found that dwarf seahorses are relatively easy to care for (if you don't mind raising live food for them), and would make a good first seahorse species.

As for the reef tank, I would make sure that you have a healthy copepod population before you get the mandarin. Also keep in mind that while tangs are awesome fish, they often have a hard time when they are introduced to a tank. I try to keep them very well fed with good quality frozen foods, and that seems to help them pull through.

One last bit of advise is that the mini-max carpets wont host clowns, but other than that they are awesome.

 

[jeepin_girl4ya]

I agree with all above...

 

[novazul1]

seahorses prefer cooler temperature and non aggresive tank mate plus low water flow

 

[rayjay]

seahorses prefer cooler temperature and non aggresive tank mate plus low water flow

Only temperate species prefer cooler.
The seahorses most people keep come from warmer water but in our tanks we have better chances of success in keeping temperatures lower so bacteria doesn't run as rampant as it does in the warmer water.
Low water flow is another misconception. You just don't want currents "blasting" them against something, but you can have low, medium and high flow areas with hitching in each area so they can choose where they wish to be at any given time.

 

[TKE659]

Side Tank

Side Tank

I would go ahead with your plans for your big tank and put a smaller (20 gal or so) tank on the side of it. You can plumb it using the same water as your big tank. Put an over flow that drains into the sump and a return from the cleanest water your sump can offer for them. I would also keep it bare bottom.

 

[TKE659]

only temperate species prefer cooler.
The seahorses most people keep come from warmer water but in our tanks we have better chances of success in keeping temperatures lower so bacteria doesn't run as rampant as it does in the warmer water.
Low water flow is another misconception. You just don't want currents "blasting" them against something, but you can have low, medium and high flow areas with hitching in each area so they can choose where they wish to be at any given time.

+1

 

[rayjay]

I see two things wrong with plumbing a smaller tank for the seahorses to the larger system. Not that it can't be done, but that it can be problematic to be successful.
First, the water in the smaller tank is likely to be as warm or nearly as warm as the tank with the corals in it, and this leads to increased bacterial levels in seahorse tanks with the resulting loss of the seahorses many times. Also, the pathogens carried by the inhabitants of the main tank will often not be tolerated by the seahorses and many will succumb to those pathogens, if not the bacteria.
Second, seahorse tanks are known to be "dirty" compared to reef tanks and many find sps suffer from all the excess nutrient in the water, UNLESS due diligence is applied to keeping the seahorse system ultra clean.
While you can start off doing all the required husbandry, for many of us, including me, it tends to get glossed over as time goes on, resulting in losses down the road.

 

[seahorseman49]

h. erectus

h. erectus

I will sell these wonderfull animals in a few months. They wil be eating frozen food from birth.