seahorse/sps tank anyone?

[Allmost]

I am not saying keep SPS, you will NOT be successfull !

and I do not think, nor advice others to do what I do ! I have kept SPS for many years, and Seahorses about 5-6 years !

FWIW .... I keep SPS at 72 with deep water angels .... yes, angels eat SPS too...

so please do not get me wrong, I am not saying you should keep SPS, I dont think it would work out for you. but the statment that "SPS polyps sting seahorses" is simply wrong, and I felt like correcting it and not sure why this person with no experience is arguing with me who has it in front of my eyes as I type this


sorry for taking the thread on an extra ride

I gotta make a correction here ^^^

I keep my SPS tank at 74 .... not 72 ...
sorry about that.

 

[mtc1966]

thanks allmost the way i look at any info i get of these forums is to be weighed and judged for yourself. we all push the limits as we get more comfortable with our set up. i myself have recently introduced a small yellow finger gorgonian which according to the guides is the only one to be avoided . i will watch this carefully but with all my other hitching posts i think it does sting the horses would just hitch elsewhere. :beer:

 

[novahobbies]

thanks allmost the way i look at any info i get of these forums is to be weighed and judged for yourself. we all push the limits as we get more comfortable with our set up. i myself have recently introduced a small yellow finger gorgonian which according to the guides is the only one to be avoided . i will watch this carefully but with all my other hitching posts i think it does sting the horses would just hitch elsewhere. :beer:

You know, I always thought YF gorgonians were to be avoided because of how difficult they were to keep alive for extended periods...nonphotosynthetic critters as they are. I actually have one in my tank right now mounted under the feeding shell. The horses regularly hitch to it when they eat. No ill effects on the horses, and I've kept this one alive by manually removing any cuticle sloughing to allow the polyps to open. I feed it oyster eggs 2-3 times a week.

 

[mtc1966]

nova please explain? cuticle sloughing

 

[novahobbies]

Occasionally the exterior of the gorgonian will loosen and slough off, revealing new bright yellow tissue underneath. Usually the cuticle gets dull and the polyps don't extend out as much as they should. Also seems like aggressive algae such as hair algae and cyano tends to take over the shedding cuticle more easily than it does with healthy tissue. I usually give the gorg a quick cleaning with a soft toothbrush during weekly water changes, and the exterior sheds about once a month / 6 weeks or so.

The layer that sheds is very thin, and easy to remove with a little help. I imagine that this is done naturally in the wild by high alternating currents and a little help from fish. For my tank, there is a K1 pointing directly on it (I tried a wavemaker on this tank once, but the horses said no thank you to that plan) so it gets a good strong linear flow, but not enough to keep the occasional HA off of it without manual intervention.

 

[novahobbies]

I'll try to remember to take a picture of it the next time I see it happening. Maybe its a stress function in the tank, honestly I don't know! I do know that I've had it in there since September 25th 2011.

 

[mtc1966]

thanks i have noticed algae likes to get on mine and have been hitting it with the turkey baster during water changes

 

[jck16]

Wow, I was originally following this thread with interest but then forgot about it. Now it's exploded lol.

I'm adding my input only because I do keep SPS, LPS, and seahorses.

I picked the H. barbouri because of its resistance to coral stings (more for the LPS I keep, not that the SPS I have sting) and natural habitat in coral reefs. I keep SPS with my horses. HOWEVER, I do NOT keep Acroporas and other "difficult" SPS (I tried an SPS frag once in my tank before adding seahorses, it got RTN and died). My montipora cap. and setosa are growing and doing well. My pokerstar monti base color browned out. I have a green birdsnest minicolony that I added in after my seahorses which is growing except for a small spot of polyp retraction with possible adjacent necrosis that I just noticed...I'm keeping a very close eye on that and will amputate it at the first sign of progression. My SPS are all high up in the water column, and the seahorses do not hitch onto them.

For a seahorse tank, I'd say my tank is relatively clean even after 1.5 months of HEAVY feeding. The macroalgae bush in the middle keeps the phosphates down in the tank itself, I barely have any visible cyano, and no hair algae (although the sides of my tank have a green hard film). My sump has chaeto in all the compartment and I put a bag of Rowa-Phos too. And, of course, I change 10% of water volume every week.

That's just my personal experience so far. I don't guarantee the same results will hold even for myself.

 

[mtc1966]

jck16 would love to see your tank how about starting a new thread with some pics for us. love to see other tanks

 

[jck16]

You can see 2 full tank shots in the seahorse tank thread, I don't think it's worth starting a whole new thread just for pics of my tank haha.

Although in hindsight, the pictures don't really show the SPS. I'll use this opportunity to add a link to a video I made a few weeks back
Video
I've since added a dying sun coral colony which is slowly reviving although not helped by my female seahorse hovering around when I feed it and sometimes snatching mysis from it.

Oh yeah, one more thing, I keep my tank at 74 degrees which is the bare minimum recommended by most sites for Montipora.

 

[jck16]

Reading over some of the earlier posts, I wanted to emphasize a couple of points that have helped me so far (remember also, I have not been keeping seahorses for that long in comparison to others here although I have prior experience with small reef tanks). But I think I can offer some suggestions for newbies even newbier than me in regards to LPS, SPS and seahorses, I'll use the questions set by timinnl.

1: Can I keep SPS in an all in one tank?
I doubt it...you need a big sump to handle the crap and uneaten food. Have you seen a seahorse's feces?? It's pretty much a big clump of undigested food...like an owl pellet. I use my sump for my filter sock, skimmer (GET A REALLY GOOD ONE), live rocks, bags of Chemipure and Rowaphos, and chaeto along with an insump refugium. On that note, you also NEED a very good clean-up crew. I have 3 peppermint shrimp, a bunch of nassarius, large cerith, and a bunch of limpets and stroma snails that have reproduced in my tank. I'll count my mandarin too since he does eat frozen mysis but only if it's freshly fallen to the bottom.

2: Are the all in one tanks a good design for seahorses or do I need to mod them? (Read this.)
They need to be modded to flow into a big sump and you NEED a chiller. I don't use another powerhead because 1) I think my seahorses could easily get caught 2) I use an over-rated pump to create my flow (700gph for a 30 gal display tank). I keep my SPS near the return outlet.

4: Where should I buy them from?
I got mine from seahorsesource. I love that they genuinely care...the lady I spoke with when my seahorses weren't eating initially gave me a lot of suggestions and really wanted to help.

5: What is the difference between TR/PR/CB seahorses?
Don't even think about anything but CB from a few trusted sites. Captive bred seahorses should NOT be very cheap since they come from seahorses that the owner spawned in a captive system and then raised the fry in a closed captive system and then weened onto frozen foods.

6: Why is the sky blue?
Rayleigh scattering.

7: Can I mix species together?
I wouldn't?

8: Can I mix pipefish & seahorses together?
That's like asking can I mix vampires and werewolves (NO I'm NOT a Twilight fan......). But I'm about to make a horrible analogy: you have to pick a side because either one of those will survive or none of them will survive just from their needs. For that matter, after reading over all the other guides and stuff, don't keep any other fish with seahorses (I keep an ORA blue mandarin but that's only because he eats frozen mysis after I had to re-train him. I wouldn't recommend even him though.)

Oh yah, also, maxing out your credit cards and emptying your savings for your tank helps (jk...sorta).

Avoid like heck all the LPS with sweeper tentacles (torches, frogspawn, plate, Elegance, chalices, etc.). Also, I personally thinks this tip is crucial:I set up my tank 6 months BEFORE adding in seahorses (or any fish). I went through 3 cycles: the nitrogen cycle, the diatom cycle, and the cyanobacteria cycle (that took pretty much the whole 6 months). I supplemented my pod population, added in live mysis and I have a thriving microfauna population as a result (which took a hit when I added in the mandarin but is still doing well...you can even see baby mysis swarming around in the back). I got my corals established BEFORE the seahorses and built up the tank to handle heavy feedings by feeding my corals with mysis and filter feeder food daily). My one acro frag died in this condition but when I saw my Montiporas grow, I knew they could handle it. Taking a risk with my green birdsnest though...we'll see how that pans out.

 

[c.declivisowner]

Reading over some of the earlier posts, I wanted to emphasize a couple of points that have helped me so far (remember also, I have not been keeping seahorses for that long in comparison to others here although I have prior experience with small reef tanks). But I think I can offer some suggestions for newbies even newbier than me in regards to LPS, SPS and seahorses, I'll use the questions set by timinnl.

1: Can I keep SPS in an all in one tank?
I doubt it...you need a big sump to handle the crap and uneaten food. Have you seen a seahorse's feces?? It's pretty much a big clump of undigested food...like an owl pellet. I use my sump for my filter sock, skimmer (GET A REALLY GOOD ONE), live rocks, bags of Chemipure and Rowaphos, and chaeto along with an insump refugium. On that note, you also NEED a very good clean-up crew. I have 3 peppermint shrimp, a bunch of nassarius, large cerith, and a bunch of limpets and stroma snails that have reproduced in my tank. I'll count my mandarin too since he does eat frozen mysis but only if it's freshly fallen to the bottom.

2: Are the all in one tanks a good design for seahorses or do I need to mod them? (Read this.)
They need to be modded to flow into a big sump and you NEED a chiller. I don't use another powerhead because 1) I think my seahorses could easily get caught 2) I use an over-rated pump to create my flow (700gph for a 30 gal display tank). I keep my SPS near the return outlet.

4: Where should I buy them from?
I got mine from seahorsesource. I love that they genuinely care...the lady I spoke with when my seahorses weren't eating initially gave me a lot of suggestions and really wanted to help.

5: What is the difference between TR/PR/CB seahorses?
Don't even think about anything but CB from a few trusted sites. Captive bred seahorses should NOT be very cheap since they come from seahorses that the owner spawned in a captive system and then raised the fry in a closed captive system and then weened onto frozen foods.

6: Why is the sky blue?
Rayleigh scattering.

7: Can I mix species together?
I wouldn't?

8: Can I mix pipefish & seahorses together?
That's like asking can I mix vampires and werewolves (NO I'm NOT a Twilight fan......). But I'm about to make a horrible analogy: you have to pick a side because either one of those will survive or none of them will survive just from their needs. For that matter, after reading over all the other guides and stuff, don't keep any other fish with seahorses (I keep an ORA blue mandarin but that's only because he eats frozen mysis after I had to re-train him. I wouldn't recommend even him though.)

Oh yah, also, maxing out your credit cards and emptying your savings for your tank helps (jk...sorta).

Avoid like heck all the LPS with sweeper tentacles (torches, frogspawn, plate, Elegance, chalices, etc.). Also, I personally thinks this tip is crucial:I set up my tank 6 months BEFORE adding in seahorses (or any fish). I went through 3 cycles: the nitrogen cycle, the diatom cycle, and the cyanobacteria cycle (that took pretty much the whole 6 months). I supplemented my pod population, added in live mysis and I have a thriving microfauna population as a result (which took a hit when I added in the mandarin but is still doing well...you can even see baby mysis swarming around in the back). I got my corals established BEFORE the seahorses and built up the tank to handle heavy feedings by feeding my corals with mysis and filter feeder food daily). My one acro frag died in this condition but when I saw my Montiporas grow, I knew they could handle it. Taking a risk with my green birdsnest though...we'll see how that pans out.

thanks for the info bro im very new to seahorses and as you may know my last seahorse didnt make it so i took down the whole tank and will be re-starting with a whole new tank(larger,better filtration,etc.) and the money part doesnt matter to me cause my dads paying for it and hes willing to spend a lot to get the proper set up its the cycling and the coral selection is what will be hard to do IMO i should be starting a tank build thread here in the seahorse section of the forums so hopefully i will have that up within 2 weeks possibly less but i doubt it

 

[novahobbies]

8: Can I mix pipefish & seahorses together?
That's like asking can I mix vampires and werewolves (NO I'm NOT a Twilight fan......).

Don't worry, you can be a vampire/werewolf fan without watching that horrid set of movies. That's what Underworld is for. It might not have the best of plots, but at least it has a strong female pro(???)tagonist. And besides...three words. Skin. Tight. Leather.

For that matter, after reading over all the other guides and stuff, don't keep any other fish with seahorses (I keep an ORA blue mandarin but that's only because he eats frozen mysis after I had to re-train him. I wouldn't recommend even him though.)

I would agree with this as a good guideline for a beginner, but certainly not once the OP gains some experience. I think you should certainly START with just the horses....this is the whole point of the tank after all. But there are a few fish that can be considered safe. Small gobys, Mandarins as you mention, etc. I've currently got a Rainford's goby in QT waiting to join my seahorse stable as a matter of fact.

Avoid like heck all the LPS with sweeper tentacles (torches, frogspawn, plate, Elegance, chalices, etc.). Also, I personally thinks this tip is crucial:I set up my tank 6 months BEFORE adding in seahorses (or any fish). I went through 3 cycles: the nitrogen cycle, the diatom cycle, and the cyanobacteria cycle (that took pretty much the whole 6 months). I supplemented my pod population, added in live mysis and I have a thriving microfauna population as a result (which took a hit when I added in the mandarin but is still doing well...you can even see baby mysis swarming around in the back). I got my corals established BEFORE the seahorses and built up the tank to handle heavy feedings by feeding my corals with mysis and filter feeder food daily). My one acro frag died in this condition but when I saw my Montiporas grow, I knew they could handle it. Taking a risk with my green birdsnest though...we'll see how that pans out.

Interesting you mention Chalice corals. I have two different chalice frags in my horse tank, and I've never seen any issues between the coral and the horse. I've even observed them at night for sweeper tentacles with no effect. Yes, I've heard people say Chalices and horses don't mix, but not from anyone who had actual experience with the combination. The horses crawl all over the chalices, to be honest...

 

[Allmost]

Interesting you mention Chalice corals. I have two different chalice frags in my horse tank, and I've never seen any issues between the coral and the horse. I've even observed them at night for sweeper tentacles with no effect. Yes, I've heard people say Chalices and horses don't mix, but not from anyone who had actual experience with the combination. The horses crawl all over the chalices, to be honest...

What kind of chalice ?

 

[jck16]

I debated about keeping chalices for a long time in my tank. I went against keeping them because they apparently do send out sweepers though not often and only if competing for space. One seahorse keeper told me that all it takes is one bad sting at some point to seriously injure a seahorse and I didn't want to take the risk.But I mean, you've had success with them and seahorses so it's probably one of those gray area coral. I would personally recommend against keeping chalices anyway in general with someone first setting up a seahorse tank....sticking with a heavily macroalgae and soft coral filled tank is probably the best route.

As for the fish tankmate comment, yeah, I'd agree. I'd think most slow non-aggressive bottom dwelling fish are probably the most ideal companions with seahorses (like gobies and dragonets). But it's definitely a good point to mention to start only with seahorses for novices (like me...for the first 2 weeks of keeping them lol).

 

[novahobbies]

I debated about keeping chalices for a long time in my tank. I went against keeping them because they apparently do send out sweepers though not often and only if competing for space. One seahorse keeper told me that all it takes is one bad sting at some point to seriously injure a seahorse and I didn't want to take the risk.But I mean, you've had success with them and seahorses so it's probably one of those gray area coral. I would personally recommend against keeping chalices anyway in general with someone first setting up a seahorse tank....sticking with a heavily macroalgae and soft coral filled tank is probably the best route.

I couldn't agree more....and thanks for that info on the Chalices! I will definitely keep a closer eye on them from now on. One person's "good luck" does not translate to "do this, everyone!"

I usually tell people to start simple....and to be honest, sometimes the simple tanks wind up being the most beautiful. You saw Greg (Namxas)'s Macro-only tank in the FTS thread, right? Some live rock, some Caulerpa and Gracilaria, and it's absolutely stunning.

 

[Allmost]

I debated about keeping chalices for a long time in my tank. I went against keeping them because they apparently do send out sweepers though not often and only if competing for space. One seahorse keeper told me that all it takes is one bad sting at some point to seriously injure a seahorse and I didn't want to take the risk.But I mean, you've had success with them and seahorses so it's probably one of those gray area coral. I would personally recommend against keeping chalices anyway in general with someone first setting up a seahorse tank....sticking with a heavily macroalgae and soft coral filled tank is probably the best route.

As for the fish tankmate comment, yeah, I'd agree. I'd think most slow non-aggressive bottom dwelling fish are probably the most ideal companions with seahorses (like gobies and dragonets). But it's definitely a good point to mention to start only with seahorses for novices (like me...for the first 2 weeks of keeping them lol).

that's exactly why I asked wht kind

chalices sting ME ! so Im sure they can take seahorses in a heart beat ..

the chalice I have send out tenticles at night every night !

 

[novahobbies]

that's exactly why I asked wht kind

And I'm sorry I didn't notice this to answer soon! To respond -- plain old, ordinary chalices. One is a red chalice, the other, deep reddish-purple. Neither are "collector" corals, these are the common run of the mill chalices. I'm not really a huge fan of getting into the rare collector species. I keep them physically separated and I haven't seen any aggression issues.

 

[brian cummings]

Very interesting thread. Had never considered SPS and seahorses before. I too mistakenly thought there was a stinging issue. Admittedly though, I don't know a whole lot about SPS. I don't think I'll try it though, at least not anytime soon.

 

[rehype]

Heres a pic of my H.Reidi. Ive had her for nearly 2 years in my mixed reef...