Please help me set up a tank for H. Ingens

[C-Rad]

I want to prepare a tank for a few H. Ingens, and I'm looking for information that can help me do it right. I have never kept sea horses before, but I have successfully kept a series of two California two-spot octopus (O. Bimaculoides), so I have experience setting up a temperate species tank. For that tank I did months of research, and preparation, and that is what I will do for my sea horse tank (I, of course, will not try to keep sea horses and octopus together!)
I'm not interested in any other species of sea horse, and so I don't want to practice on a species which is considered "œeasier" then H. Ingens. I plan to be patient, careful, and thorough in my learning about how to care for them, and about my preparation. I've read what I could easily find about the species, and about keeping sea horses in general, and so I understand a few basics, but I need some advice from some of you wise and experienced people, and I really appreciate any time and knowledge you are willing to give me. Please direct me to anything that you consider required reading for someone in my position.
Here are a few initial questions:
Is a 25" deep tank too shallow? Do I really need a 30" or 36" deep tank?
How large a tank to support any given number of H. Ingens? (at least two, at most six, probably three or four)
Can I arbitrarily mix males and females, or are some ratios to be avoided?
Water flow. How much is too much? How much is optimum?
I plan to feed them twice per day, but sometimes I'm going to want to go away for a weekend. How long can they go without food?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Peka]

You could probably get away with a 25" tall take for right now but keep in mind, this is one of the large species of seahorses and can reach up to 12 inches in length. The 30"to 36" tanks would be more ideal for them but I have found a lot of issues with tanks that tall.. One being that they are difficult to keep the bottom clean due to my arms not being long enough

The rule of thumb is 29 gallons per pair of seahorses.

You can mix any number of males and females. They are social creatures and like to have company. The males will fight to determine who gets the girl.... I have kept 4 males with 2 females in the past and not had any problems once they establish who gets to pair up.

Contrary to what most people believe, seahorses like a lot of flow. You just need to make sure to give them places out of that flow to rest.

Seahorse need to be fed daily, 2 to 3 times. If you don't have someone to come in and feed them while you are out of town, I would suggest looking into keeping another type of fish, rather than seahorses.

I hope that info helps you....

 

[ChadTheSpike]

Beth has good information and I cant add anything she didnt already say. However, I have had good luck training a individuals from my dog walking service to feed the seahorses when they come in to walk the dogs. I have gone through 4-5 different doggy walkers, and once I show them what to do (I always set food aside in a different area for them), they seem to really enjoy doing it.

Just something else to look into. Good luck.

 

[C-Rad]

Thanks for the response Peka

The rule of thumb is 29 gallons per pair of seahorses.

Is that a rule for seahorses in general, or for H. Ingens in particular? If a general rule, how does that make sense?
A 12"x15"x36" (tall) tank, and a 12"x24"x24" are each about 30 gallons, but they have very different amounts of floor space. Are they equally good for a pair of H Ingens? How important is floor space compared to total volume?

Contrary to what most people believe, seahorses like a lot of flow. You just need to make sure to give them places out of that flow to rest.

Great answer, thanks.
I understand that at least some seahorses like to attach to gorgonians, but I thought that gorgonians liked a lot of flow (to bring them food and to discourage the growth of fouling algae etc). That seemed like a contradiction, but if seahorses also like to have access to high flow areas, then it makes sense.

 

[Faerl]

Thanks for the response Peka


Is that a rule for seahorses in general, or for H. Ingens in particular? If a general rule, how does that make sense?
A 12"x15"x36" (tall) tank, and a 12"x24"x24" are each about 30 gallons, but they have very different amounts of floor space. Are they equally good for a pair of H Ingens? How important is floor space compared to total volume?

It's a general rule of thumb for most horses. The recommendations for a 'normal' (kuda, erectus etc) sized horse is 30 gallons and 24" tall. However, for Ingens they actually recommend 65 gallons. I haven't seen a specific tank height recommendation for the Ingens but I'm assuming 30"+ since they do get taller.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/careguide/careguide.pdf

Thanks for the response Peka
Great answer, thanks.
I understand that at least some seahorses like to attach to gorgonians, but I thought that gorgonians liked a lot of flow (to bring them food and to discourage the growth of fouling algae etc). That seemed like a contradiction, but if seahorses also like to have access to high flow areas, then it makes sense.

It used to be said that seahorses liked very low flow. As a result most didn't put gorgs in with them (different requirements as you noted). In the last couple of years however many have found that they do enjoy a higher flow rate. Flow rate is a bit tricky though, you've got how much you're circulating the tank, but also how much of flow is coming out of an individual pump. Seahorses can't handle a big push in one spot like fish can. In other words, put them in front of a koralia nano pump and you'll see them take a ride across the tank. However, split that flow up around the tank (several smaller pumps) and you can still get good flow around the tank without it being so localized. Then suddenly gorg's are a viable option and the seahorses can likely find a good spot to 'rest' outside of the flow areas.

 

[namxas]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned: H. ingens is a subtropical species, and should be kept right around 67*F-70*F, so a chiller is pretty much a must.

Also, as mentioned, ingens are good-sized SH (upto 12"), so I think the tank sizes are a bit small. For a pair, a 65 gal would be about as small as you should go for the first pair, and add 30 gals for each additional pair.

 

[C-Rad]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned: H. ingens is a subtropical species, and should be kept right around 67*F-70*F, so a chiller is pretty much a must.

I agree

Also, as mentioned, ingens are good-sized SH (upto 12"), so I think the tank sizes are a bit small. For a pair, a 65 gal would be about as small as you should go for the first pair, and add 30 gals for each additional pair.

Ultimately, I'll go with what the consensus of experienced guys says, which will probably turn out to be 65 gallons for the first pair plus 30 for each additional pair, as you say. But I have to wonder if that number is artificially high, just to be on the safe side. Why do sea horses need so much water? Is it about water volume and waste production? Or is it about the animal needing a lot of space to move around? Since much of a seahorse's length is curled up tail, and since seahorses are relatively inactive, I would imagine that a "twelve inch long" seahorse eats about as much as a six inch long fish, and produces a comparable amount of waste. Why would four H. ingens need a larger tank than four six-inch long fish? Taller I understand, but why more water volume? I'm not challenging the advice, but I want to understand the reasons for all of my choices.

Has anyone actually tried keeping seahorses, long term, more densely packed then the standard advice? How densely packed? What problems did it cause? How do we know that we're not just repeating somebody's SWAG? (Scientific Wild *** Guess)? Remember when marine tanks smaller than 30 gallons were universally believed to be impossible?

Yes, I was always that annoying kid who had to ask "why?" (and I still am )

 

[ChadTheSpike]

I hope you dont mind that I deleted a bunch of your quote:

But I have to wonder if that number is artificially high, just to be on the safe side. Why do sea horses need so much water? Is it about water volume and waste production? Or is it about the animal needing a lot of space to move around? Since much of a seahorse's length is curled up tail, and since seahorses are relatively inactive, I would imagine that a "twelve inch long" seahorse eats about as much as a six inch long fish, and produces a comparable amount of waste. Why would four H. ingens need a larger tank than four six-inch long fish? Taller I understand, but why more water volume? I'm not challenging the advice, but I want to understand the reasons for all of my choices.

SHs (at least all the ones I have had, erectus and reidi) are inactive during parts of the day and very active during others, especially "dawn" and "dusk" periods, sure they are not tang active, but they get around. IME, SHs use ALL of the space they are given.

My opinion on the recommended ratings are that it is a reasonable volume to keep the SHs in that will meet their spacial needs (they use a lot of vertical space during greeting and mating rituals) and also meet the average SH keepers ability to keep the water clean. SHs are very 'messy' creatures in that their digestive systems no not process food as efficiently as some other fish which means more "tank dirtying" waste. Having a buffer here is a good thing.

So to answer your question, I think the number might be slightly artificially high based on pure "needs", but there is a margin of error in there that has proven to work for most and I think it is appropriate to follow them.

 

[Faerl]

Laugh. It happens. You'll find that most of the subjects posted over there are here as well. The two links that everyone recommends from that site are the one I posted on tank sizes and this one which helps cover tankmates.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/tankmates.shtml
It's general but a good guide to go to when you want to figure out what else can safely go in the tank. It has the majority of them at least.