New Seahorse Owner with Questions

[TheORKINMan]

So I got a male Seahorse, it appears to be H. Kellogi, at least according to the LFS and Distributor.

I got the setup where he has plenty of plants and outcroppings to grab onto, he's eating well, saw him chomp on about 10 pieces of mysis today.

Basically I'd like to get him a mate, he's still a juvenile atm only about 3 inches extended.

My questions are:

Do different types of seahorses mix? That is could I put in other species and have them be fine?

Do pipefish do well mixed with seahorses, aside from some very small gobies I wanna make my tank dedicated to these two types of fish if they'll mix.

One of my small gobies is an orange striped prawn goby and I want to get him a pistol shrimp, do you think this would be okay or would the shrimp agitate the horses?

 

[ann83]

Mixing species of seahorses or mixing seahorses with pipefish can end up badly for one or both species. They have a tendency to pass on bacterial strains to each other that cause disease and death. It has been talked about several times on this forum if you want more information.

If you are determined to mix, I would mix seahorses, rather than adding pipefish to the mix. And I would make sure that you're keeping your water temperature below 74 degrees and that you are running a UV sterilizer and doing lots of water changes to dilute pathogens.

That all being said, based on what has been coming in as "H. kelloggi" lately, it is doubtful that is the species that you actually have. I would also suggest that you look into deworming protocols for your seahorse. Specifically, I recommend feeding him live brine shrimp once a week gutloaded with dewormers for nine weeks in quarantine. The first three weeks, use praziquantel; the second three weeks use metronidizole; and the last three weeks use fenbendizole.