sea horse ? any one know about em

[bigmatt1992]

anyone keep seahorse befor in a reef tank ? my list of fish is as fallows
1 chromis
1 dimond goby
1 yellow tang
1 flame angel
1 bi color blenny

not saying ima run out and get one this week just want to know if anyone has any info about them in a reef tank

 

[jamesd74]

you need the perfect conditions esp slow water movement and 0 power heads in the tank.

 

[bigmatt1992]

im not running any power heads as of now just the return pumps from the sump

 

[superstein61]

Don't do it. You need a very particular setup

 

[raynist]

Seahorses will not do well in a reef tank. If you are going to keep them they should be in a species only tank.

They will also starve to death with other fish in the tank as they are very slow eaters and cannot compete for food.

 

[jamesd74]

matt it sounds like you are trying to get everything all at once. if you do you are going to have a bad experience in salt water. i know i did it b4.

 

[bigmatt1992]

no i was just curius about it i was thinking about seting up a 40 tall for them just wanted some info

 

[Paul_PSU]

seahorses require cooler temps also. There are a couple species and the ones at the higher temp range is only 74-78. Others need 66-72 and some 70-74. I was considering a seahorse tank, until I found out about the temps. I don't want to get a chiller or run my ac 24/7.

 

[bigmatt1992]

thats true but i but we run are ac 24/7 no matter what so i was considering it just get a piece of sea fan for in there so they can attach to it idk just a thought but a seahorse tank would be bad ***

 

[cloakerpoked]

Seahorses are for experienced hobbyists only. I hate to come down hard you you, but you are doing an awful lot quickly, and as I've stated before, really worry whether you are going about this entire thing responsibly, or if you're just trying to see with trial and error what will or won't work. You really need to slow down, and let your tank go for a few months before you overload the biological capabilities of your tank, and kill everything in it. This could be a huge waste of your time, money, and most importantly, a terribly irresponsible thing to do. Fish, like dogs or cats, require us to take care of them in a responsible way. Please listen to the advice we are giving you and just enjoy the maturation process of your tank as it is.

Nate

 

[SirusX1721]

/agree. They need to be in a tank by themselves. They are very slow moving and....boring IMO lol. Water flow required is low (around x5 turnover) and require a tall aquarium, not long! They are also very messy, and can be picky, eaters. So good filtration and low flow, eh.


Def for the most experienced. I won't even touch them. Cool little critters but not for me. Also depending on type, most require 20g/SH

 

[bigmatt1992]

idk why everyone thinks im doing things iresponsible no im reading up and asking questions and being resposible by asking you guys who know 100000 times more then me what i should do i ask questions to gain knowlege not get the same thing about being iresponsible i love my fish i treat them as if they was dogs i love my tank i wouldnt want to do anything to distroy it so i ask you guys

 

[Lightsluvr]

Re: sea horse ? any one know about em

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14401481#post14401481 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bigmatt1992
anyone keep seahorse befor in a reef tank ? my list of fish is as fallows
1 chromis
1 dimond goby
1 yellow tang
1 flame angel
1 bi color blenny

not saying ima run out and get one this week just want to know if anyone has any info about them in a reef tank

I think you would need to lose the chromis, unless he is very, very small; lose the tang, and the angel and the blenny. Other than that, they would all get along with the seahorses...except the goby

See this list: http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/tankmates.shtml

Contrary to above, most seahorse keepers have powerheads in their tanks. They are just smaller pumps, like Koralia nano and 1's or 2's. You still need flow in your tanks, but without turbulence. You just need a central place where the horses can hitch and rest. You will need a chiller, period. Even so-called tropical seahorses require water temps of 72 to 75 degrees.

Here is my seahorse tank - at least until this month when I upgraded to a 120G seahorse reef...There are firefish, ocellaris, royal gramma, twin spot gobies, a Bangaii cardinalfish and yes, a green chromis - all of which were raised with seahorses since they were smaller than guppies...

Don't buy any wild-caught seahorses...ever. Bad for your tank and the animal is not likely to survive. Always make sure the horses are eating frozen mysis before you pay a dime for them...

If all this hasn't discouraged you, there is a great forum on seahorses right here on RC:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=35

Good luck.

LL

 

[bigmatt1992]

i dont run any power heads in my tank just the returns from the sump

 

[cloakerpoked]

Biggest problem would be your tank mates. They are way too aggressive to allow the seahorse time to eat.

 

[mandynm]

There's also another great forum specific to seahorses and pipefish but i don't think I can post it here. I've done a lot of reading because I'd like to do a seahorse tank eventually.

http://www.seahorsesource.com/index.html I've heard some great things from people that have bought from here.

 

[carpenterwrasse]

there is another reef site that has its own threads about seahorses and some of the most knowledgeable people that i can think of that deals with seahorses only...if i can give the name on here please let me know i will not post it directly if i am not allowed

 

[Howieytown]

I had them for three years

I had them for three years

Hi,
I had one male and two females for almost three years. The bigger female would breed with the male who was always doing his courtship display (very cool)
I am just taking down my setup now which btw is for sale.
Here is what I used; a 37 gallon tall with compact flourescent lights, CPR backpack skimmer (hang on) and a hang on refugium.
I used no powerheads, nothing but the flow from the skimmer and the refugium. Basically its the same as any saltwater setup without the high water flow. I had a lot of chalerpa and red kelps growing that the horses could use to hang onto. They need to have branches of some sort to wrap their tails around it to hold on.
I also used live rock and live sand everything just like my reef/fish setup only very low flow. I used compact flourescents because I did have some mushrooms and zoo's in there also and the bright light keep the weeds growing great (the excess got sold or fed to the fish in my other tank)
The few things that I didnt like about raising them was when they did have babies it was about 300 to 400 at a time! yeah! Hundreds of tiny and oh so cute baby seahorses that you'll have no way of raising~! Yes you can try to raise the babies but good luck! Very hard to do.
So lets say you dont get a mating pair (smart move) or maybe they dont mate? Good! But the other thing is feeding these guys.
They dont aggressively swim after food.
You really have to shoot/squirt the mysis shrimp right at them. They just hold onto where ever they are and wait for the food to come to them. The one female I had would swim after food at times but really it was a hand feeding using a squirter feeding bulb right at their mouths. Everyday if not twice a day. I only fed them once a day unless I had the time to twice. Not fun if your in a hurry!
Other than those two things they kept fairly well and are awesome to watch. Especially the male trying to impress the females~ hope this helps, have tank and equipment ready 4sale

 

[Howieytown]

Hey another thing,
you cant have anything faster swimming in there. They will slowly search for the food they dont catch right away. Any other fish in there and it would be gone. They cant defend themselves at all so even what you think would be a nice companion fish for them will be able to pick at them.
The only other critters I had in there was a cleaning crew and a brittle star.
IF you have any questions feel free to ask. I'm no expert but I did have them for a while.
The more aggressive of the females would swim right up to my squirter and sometimes even wrap her tail around it while I was shooting the mysis shrimp out at her!
You can hear a snapping sound when they suck in the food. If you have the time to feed them they are a really neat pet that most people never get to see or feed close up.

 

[Yurko]

If you are newer to this hobby do not attempt them! There is no cutting corners with seahorses....I have maintained tanks where they have breed successfully take my advice.