Sea Horse set up

[bottlecapp09]

Hey guys,
I am new to sea horses and have some questions. First off i have a 20long saltwater reef tank and a 55gal fresh water planted tank. I want to setup a 10gal sea horse tank.

What type of filtration? Hang on back filter or intank bubble sponge?
Do they need much LR?
Temp? salinity?

And anything else that i may need to know.

 

[angieg1123]

The only seahorses that can be kept in a tank that small are dwarf seahorses. They require live brine shrimp atleast 2 times a day. This means you will have 2 brine shrimp hatchers running at all times. Most people start them 12 hrs apart. They will not live on nonlive foods, ever.

If you consider dwarfs I suggest you go to a 5g tank to keep the food densities up. You will also have to panacur anything that goes into the tank because a single hydroid can kill them.

If you want the larger seahorses you will have to go to a larger tank. Seahorses require a taller tank. A 29g is a good starting point. H. Erectus are the hardiest seahorses to start out with and they are available from breeders as true captive bred. They will eat frozen mysis shrimp.

On to your actual questions.............

I can't actually answer some of them unless I know what kind / type of seahorses you want to keep. Answer that question and we can help you with the rest.

I hope that helps.

Angie

 

[bottlecapp09]

I work at a fish store that is 50/50 salt and fresh. I just thought of entering the joyness of having my own sea horses tonight. We have lots of brine shrimp for me to bring home, are hydroids comon to come by and what do they look like? As for dwarfs can you post a link so I can get some ideas of the colors of them, and for size are they have the size of normal sea horses?

 

[Pea-brain]

A single hydroid can kill them? Not completely true. Hydroid colonies can kill them. A few hydroids in a dwarf tank may annoy the adults and cause injury, and could very well kill babies, but a bigger problem is that they eat a ton of baby brine. Which causes them to reproduce, causing a larger population which can pose a threat to adults. Just clarifying.

Dan

 

[angieg1123]

YES a single hydroid can kill them. How long have you kept dwarfs may I ask? I've had seahorses for 5+ years and have bred them for almost as long.

Check the seahorse boards. It will say the same thing.

Angie

 

[Pea-brain]

OKay, you win. Just saying I've always heard of hydroids being tiny and dangerous in a colony. I won't claim to know more than someone who has more experience than me.

Dan

 

[ann83]

Dwarf seahorses only reach about an inch and are about the size of a thumbnail. They are usually variations of tan/light brown in color, sometimes yellow. They are very different from the larger species, and require much more specialized care.

Hydroids are very common, and in their pelagic stage they look like tiny jellyfish. In their benthic stage they look like little stars on the glass *, or like a little dot surrounded by a circle of little dots. Hard to see with the naked eye, especially if you are not looking for them. The tank will need to be treated for them. Try a google search for images.

 

[Big Brother]

Uhh I had two dwarf seahorses in a 12 gallon nano that would pretty much only eat frozen copepods and mini-mysis. Where did you get that information that they will die if not given live food?

 

[ann83]

Are you sure they were Hippocampus zosterae? And how long were you able to keep them?

It has been the experience of thousands (or more) of hobbiests, breeders, and collectors that dwarf seahorses rarely take frozen foods, and if they do, they do not continue to eat frozen foods for very long and almost immediately go back to only accepting live foods.

It is possible that if you actually had H. zosterae, that only two in a 12 gallon were able to find enough live food via copepods, etc. to remain alive, considering 12 gallons of water is quite a lot for their size.

 

[Big Brother]

I am not sure of their species, so that may have been where my experience differed.