New to Seahorses and Have Questions

[nanoreef16g]

I currently have a 40 Breeder set-up that was going to be for cuttlefish but I lost my last baby cuttle today and have been wanting seahorses for quite some time and it seems the scaping in this tank will be ideal for them. Tank equipment is:

2 MJ 1200's with Hydor Flo's
2 Glass Holes 300 gph overflows
2 Glass Holes 3/4" returns
Mag 5 return pump
SWC 120 cone skimmer
250 watt titanium heater
Pinpoint thermometer
20 long center return sump
JBJ ATO
36" 72 watt LED lighting

I do know that the MJ's will be too much flow. I was wondering what size I could downgrade to so I could still use the Flo's. I do have two MJ 400's laying aound but I feel that may be too little flow. I'm going to post a pic also. Any hints, tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[funkejj]

Ok 500 watt heater is way way to much for a tank that size. If that sticks open it will cook your tank!!!! I would go smaller and from everything I read Seahorses are a cooler water animal.

 

[nanoreef16g]

Thanks for your input. The heater is actually a 250 watt element. I copied and pasted that info from when the tank was set up awhile ago. I was just on seahorse.com and they say 72 to 78 degrees. My tank stays pinned at 77.1.

 

[TamiW]

On the contrary. The 1200's might be just right. We've learned much in the past decade of seahorse keeping, and one thing that we've learned is seahorses do better with a bit of flow. You'll want somewhere around 10-20 times turnover for seahorses. But you will have to protect the intakes.

The 40 breeder is going to be a little short; I think they'll do fine in there BUT they may have trouble breeding if that's what you're planning. On the other hand, seahorses always seem to figure out a way.

I personally would remove the dead gorgonian (I think it's dead, right) and the two rocks in the middle, giving them a little more space to roam. You might want to consider getting some more hitching post type things; either artificial coral, branch live rock, or some branching soft corals.

Also keep in mind that seahorses tend to do best at cooler temperatures than people think of as reef temps. about 74 is as high as you'll want to go; it helps inhibit bacteria that cause problems for seahorses.

 

[nanoreef16g]

The purple sea fan is alive and well actually. I was adding new corals about a half hour before this pic hence no visible polyps. Changing temps is easy enough. I have a few more macros and gorgonians coming soon. I was thinking of adding a branching Duncan. Any other suggestions as to branching corals to add? I will stick with the 1200's then. They already have sponges over the intakes.

 

[rayjay]

I whole heartedly agree with keeping the seahorses in a range of 68° to 74°F.
For each degree rise in temperature, the faster the nasty bacteria multiply, and thus, the lower your chances of success.
It doesn't mean it isn't/hasn't been done, only that more failures happen the higher you go.
I don't have heaters in any of my seahorse tanks.
By the way, there are quite a few things written up on the org that need changing to meet newest recommendations, so if you see something in an article, check the posts under the related forum and see if it is still so.
While a 40g breeder is not ideal height wise, Dan Underwood of seahorsesource.com has mentioned that some seahorses manage to get around this problem and still reproduce.

 

[mtc1966]

i say remove heater keep sea fan but remove some rock to open up space. heres a link to pics of my tank you can see how i opened up the center for them.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2175751

 

[nanoreef16g]

I think I'm going to go with an all female tank. I'm no really concerned with reproduction. I'll remove some rock today. Thanks so much for all the input. Any recommendations as to species?

 

[vsiege]

Cool temps. Hitching posts. Maybe jutst use one of the power heads to start. I have witness them riding the waves voluntarily a many of times. Also, if you choose to keep a heater in the tank, put a guard on it. I'm a big fan of h.erects to start with.

 

[mtc1966]

ditto on erectus

 

[rayjay]

I love H. reidi but H. erectus is what I have most of.

 

[susyca]

I have a four month old 28g nanocube and I a seahorse pair but I was told
i need 18inches of vertical height and it does not have it.Is thisaprob? What is the best pair for my tank?

 

[nanoreef16g]

I have a four month old 28g nanocube and I a seahorse pair but I was told
i need 18inches of vertical height and it does not have it.Is thisaprob? What is the best pair for my tank?

You should probably start your own thread and ask questions.

 

[pledosophy]

You won't need to cover the intake for a MJ 1200. Seahorse tails are not that small, and if they are, then that powerhead is way to strong for them.

Personally I dislike MJ's for that use as the current they generate is to concentrated for my liking. I prefer the smaller koralias or the tunze nanostreams, both of which I use in my horse tank. They seem to have a wider output that the horses can swim through easier.

 

[nanoreef16g]

I'll remove the intake sponges then. I don't like to have them on anyway. I'm using Hydor Flos on my MJ's. They reduce the flow and make it more erratic instead of concentrated.

 

[fishroomlady]

I saw that you tried keeping cuttlefish. They are so cool but it seemed to be so difficult to keep them.....seahorses are similar in that they have that uniquie, mystical quality. Sounds like there are lots of knowledgeable people to give advice.

 

[nanoreef16g]

I was actually raising cuttle babies from eggs. I had one that ate well from the beginning and seemed to be doing OK and I had a malfunction with their lighting and it came on hours early and I think it scared him pretty good. He didn't come out and eat the same after that.

 

[mmorman]

H erectus

H erectus

First off I i have been keeping seahorses for over a year now and love them so here are my 2 cents:

-Keep them in Male Female pairs... its in their nature to pair off an to be happy, the best part of keeping seahorses is watching the morning and night time mating/dancing routine they will spend 20 minutes twice a day doing.... It is beautiful and is the reason i started keeping seahorses after witnessing this. check out a video of this online before you decide to do a femal only tank.
-Since its your first time doing seahorses only get Captive Bred and Raised Hippocampus erectus seahorse ONLY!!! its irresponsible to get wild ones because they WILL die, no matter hoe good a host you are to them.
H. erectus are very hardy and as long as you do normal maintenance and you buy ones that are already eating a frozen mysis shrimp diet they will live.
-breeding seahorses is easy, but raising the fry past day 5 and week 5 is almost impossible unless you know your Shiznit, so donate the fry to someone who can care for them.
-ALWAYS use a heater with a guard, seahorses love hitching to the heater and will fall asleep and burn them selves, they will get an infection and die...
-even though it recommends to keep the temp between 72 degrees and 78 degrees, H erectus and most other seahorses thrive around 72 degrees, plus they wont get sick at this temperature, but around 78 they will. The issue with this is that most people want to keep full blown reefs and other fish in a seahorse tank but to get the seahorses to thrive they need very low flow and very low temp, which no other fish and/or corals can survive and/or grow in. seahorses are best kept in a seahorse only tank with hitching post, sand, pipe fish, and smooth rock. maybe a mandarine or blenny...
-seahorses love to play in a bubble curtain by letting it push them around... get one, youll love watching them.

-I have a 75 gallon and I have some nice korelina power heads and all i use is two cheap 300 GPH power heads that were like $30 each from petsmart. anymore than that and the Seahorses wont be able to swim or catch food. they need calm water or they will get banged around into rocks and they wont be abel to do their greeting dances or play with each other...

they like grabbing tails and wrestling.

basically you dont want any power heads or anything that sucks or blows that their tail can fit into. Also you want around a 14 inch tall tank for H erectus, they say 12 but the 12 inches is what you need, so taking into account the sand and rock try to give them 12 inches after all that stuff is in their. use the power heads to get your water column to flow from down to up in a circle from front to back, you can accomplish this with 2 small power heads in a 40 breeder.. you can put 2 pair of H erectus in there.. youll be pushing it with more than that..


if you have specific question hit me up...Ive been very successful at raising them and breeding them...Ive got about 90 babies right now from 5 clutches ranging from 10 days to 5 months old..


Matt

 

[nanoreef16g]

Thanks for the wealth of info. My heater is in my sump so no worries there. Anyone know of a good online site for captive bred Erectus?

 

[nanoreef16g]

Hells yeah! Seafan is happy today! Might be the lower temps.