Seahorse safe?

[MCNY36]

Hey guys - I know most tree corals are seahorse safe but I was curious if you guys had any experience with either of the two species below. If you have would you consider either of these seahorse safe? Let me know. Thanks!

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+600+649&pcatid=649

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+1492+2295+2597&pcatid=2597

 

[MCNY36]

Nobody?

 

[LisaD]

I've kept mine with Kenya tree coral, Capnella, but in general I think you are better off offering non-living hitches, with the exception of macro for hitching.

 

[April F]

The first one, I would say no. It is agressive and toxic, not to mention needs medium to high flow which is generally not in your horses best interest.

The second is a possibility, however I have never actually had either of these in my seahorse tank and so am just going off of what the blurbs on the ad said. Were I thinking for my tank, I would definitely say no to the first and maybe to the second.

 

[vipjd39]

I have kept both successfully and both are adequate and great for seahorse tanks. The reason the ad says they are "toxic" is simply because it will have chemical "warfare" with other certain reef corals such as SPS. If you look, many websites say other softies are "toxic." These include toadstools, Kenya trees, devils hand, etc. Now will they start shooting off toxins if SPS are in your tank. Not necessariy. Will they shoot of toxins if they are touching SPS? Not necessarily. Will one win and one lose...most likely. If you want to run carbon this will also keep any of the toxins from being spread in your tank.

The true challenge is keeping these alive long term. Liveaquaria even states that it is very difficult to accurately identify which species you will receive. Most of these style "neptheas" are difficult in the sense they need a drip style food depending on what species you actually recieve. Most cases though you should be totally fine. Your seahorses will hang on them and this will not bother or hurt any of the seahorses.

 

[namxas]

a pic is worth 1000 words:

it was that male's FAVE place...

 

[Andrea_Aust]

I agree, the nepthea are quite safe with seahorses. They will appreciate good flow though ... but I find many softies like these, sarcophytons and sinularia all like to be in areas where the flow is nice and strong.

Seahorses love a decent amount of current ... I have my tank running with a vortech at just over 90X turnover. The system has never been healthier - and the horses never happier.

Just make sure you have loads of hitches they can grab onto and that any really rough / sharp rock is snoothed off a bit (a dremel works well). You can attach small bits of dead coral skeleton to larger dead coral rock with aquarium safe epoxy for natural hitches that won't accumulate slime like fake hitches do.