NPS Coral/Seahorse Compatibility?

[CuttleKid]

I have a solana 34 gallon tank and its coming along slowly but surely. I currently have 2 gorgonians. One red Diodogorgia nodulifera and one red sea fan with white polyps. What i want the tank to look like is a colorful gorgonian and nps soft coral forest. While im picturing this my brain is searching for the right animals that would be a stand out on their own but also complement the corals nicely. Ive had seahorses in the back of my mind for a while and im starting to seriously consider getting 2 pairs of hippocampus barbouri for the tank. I have been keeping seahorses for 2 years in a seperate tank but i had to give them away because my tank fell to the floor 2 years ago on new years eve courtesy of my cousins dog. But they survived and i gave them to my lfs to keep them alive. They died there because they didint feed them enough. I slowly watched them wither away. Now that i have a new tank up and running i was hoping to get some ponies for the tank. I have seen so many spectacular photos of seahorses on gorgonians, and wire corals and soft corals so i thought it would be cool to replicate that in an aquarium. I will not keep any nps lps corals because of the stinging cells. But the question that is buried deep within all this blabbering is whether or not this would truly work or is it one of those ideas that are better in your head rather than executed. Im pretty sure it will work because ive seen seahorses on gorgonians in the wild, but i would like some second opinions. I was thinking of getting 4 female ponies instead of 2 m/f pairs so i dont have to worry about raising the young or them breeding themselves to death like ive read they could do without separation.

Any Thoughts/Ideas?

Thanks

 

[nicewicz]

I currently have two Hippocampus erectus in an aquarium with Diodogorgia now for several months. The seahorses prefer to hitch onto the gorgonians, but I've given them additional hitching posts to keep them off of the gorgonians as much as possible. It's been a bit of a struggle. At first the coral would retract all of its polyps as soon as the seahorse hitched on it. Now it only retracts the polyps which are directly touching the seahorse. That said, I've pretty much lost one Diodogorgia simply from their tails slowly rubbing off the fleshy parts of the gorgonians. I have not given up, but I will not lie it is not easy. I have had more luck with Pterogorgia and it really does look great with its polyps extended. Tubestrea do well with them when the horses don't try to steal the food from them.
Flow is another thing to consider. I have a fairly high flow rate for a seahorse tank, but it is probably rather low overall for an NPS. I plan to post a journal in the coming weeks because I too would like some feedback as to the best way to maintain these species in the same aquarium.
I know that probably isn't a definitive answer to your question, as my aquarium is still a work in progress. Still, I hope it helps somewhat.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

As long as it isn't rhizos, sun corals, dendros or anything else that stings you can put it with seahorses. Those gorgs are fine but they probably won't appreciate being hitched to by the horses. It won't hurt them though.

 

[Elysia]

Overall, I think that you will have better luck with photosynthetic gorgs than you will have with NPS. My photosynthetic gorgs learned to close only the polyps that were being touched by my seahorse and my gobies, but this extra stress on a NPS gorg, along with what is likely going to be a reduction in flow and an increase in nutrients (as seahorses put a high nutrient load on a tank), you are more likely to get algae growth on the gorg -- especially if it isn't extending its polyps regularly.

 

[velvetelvis]

I have to agree w/Elysia. I've seen seahorse tanks where NPS gorgonians were used as hitching posts, and the gorgs were in pretty sorry shape. I don't think they handle the additional stress of hitching as well as the hardier photosynthetic species can.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

I think the reason the gorgs in with seahorses do so poorly is that the seahorses need low flow while the gorgs need high flow. People end up favoring the seahorses and having low flow which in turn kills the gorgs.

 

[CuttleKid]

I have two gorgonians and a scleo that seem to be thriving in my tank with no extra flow given. Just the standard AIO system flow. If they continue to do well and I don't add too much more flow down the road would it be ok for seahorses?

 

[teemee]

I'm looking forward to seeing how this works, as I'm planning on setting up more or less the same thing in my fluval osaka.
I have about 6 gorgs, only one of which is photosynthetic. I'm also planning on getting some macroalgae for the tank, either sea lettuce, or red grape algae, or both, hoping that it might take some pressure off the gorgs.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you.