seahorse tank mates from the "org"

[Allmost]

hello,
so I want to have a shrimp and more stuff in my seahorse tank, lol, yes I'm a huge lover of overstocking haha

so here is the question, would u place species that are rates at 2 ?

I was thinking of getting a:
Fire Shrimp
(Lysmata debelius)
Threat Level: 2

but need your opinions
too risky ? should I get some
Peppermint Shrimp
(Lysmata wurdemanni)
Threat Level: 1

instead ?

are there any other small creatures I can add to that tank ?

 

[PghFishNerd]

I wouldn't worry about shrimp at all unless you're having keeping dwarves, which I'm assuming you're not. The only shrimps I'd be worried about are Coral Banded Shrimp. Just make sure they're not stealing all the food off of your horses. I had a baby seahorse (less than 4 inches) kill both of my Peppermint Shrimp in one night. That's the only problem I foresee from my experience. You can have snails, micro hermits (I love to have these in my seahorse tank. They're really good cleaners) , micro stars, cucumbers... There's lots of things you can have.

 

[Allmost]

I wouldn't worry about shrimp at all unless you're having keeping dwarves, which I'm assuming you're not. The only shrimps I'd be worried about are Coral Banded Shrimp. Just make sure they're not stealing all the food off of your horses. I had a baby seahorse (less than 4 inches) kill both of my Peppermint Shrimp in one night. That's the only problem I foresee from my experience. You can have snails, micro hermits (I love to have these in my seahorse tank. They're really good cleaners) , micro stars, cucumbers... There's lots of things you can have.

nice, thanks

sorry u said the baby seahorse killed the shrimp ? or other way around ?

I will have to be more carefull with the breading males as I guess the shrimps will eat the fry as well .

might get a seahare and a pep. shrimp, sounds safer

 

[PghFishNerd]

The baby seahorse killed the shrimp. He tried to snick them up. Found them both folded in half the next morning! That's what I always see when my ponies try to eat something that's too big for them. On a side note, I had a seahorse kill an emerald crab as well. I think we forget sometimes that they're predators... and carnivores. lol. Seahares, i know can do bad things to the water if they die so I'm a little unsure of them, but Peppermints should be great as long as your ponies aren't beasts like mine. haha.

 

[pledosophy]

Peppermints are fine with adult seahorses. I would even recommend them. A threat level "1" in that article is meant to me perfectly safe.

Kevin

 

[Elysia]

People w/ large cleaner shrimp have had seahorses annoyed by their cleaning habits, which can include "cleaning" the inside of a seahorse's pouch. Large shrimp are also likely to eat seahorse fry.

People also report seahorses eating peppermint shrimp (although often if the shrimp are large, or are in the tank prior to the horses, they are safe) and other small crust. like hermit crabs.

 

[laurarca]

The only issue I have had with pepp's or cleaners with my ponies is that they steal their food...they eat at the speed of light and the ponies just mosey on over. I have had a goby/pistol pair, mandarins and emeralds with them. They do get annoyed by hermits when they are trying to rest and the hermits come along and pick. I have resorted to taking all the hermits out and keeping snails as my main CUC.

 

[Allmost]

thanks everyone
so found a nice deal on pepp shrimps, picked up 6 of them

now only 3 big ones left lol

oh well they had a good meal last night I assume haha

the problem is my seahorses have became picky and only eat the food suspended in water now, it touches the sand and its waste lol so the shrimps can hopefully eat those instead of making me remove them manually that's my main reason for getting them.

right now they are all hiding, one of them tried to "clean" the seahorse and the seahorse tried to eat it, lol, now all 3 of the shrimps are hidding in one corner

quite amazing how scared they are from seahorses LOL haha

might add a fire/blood shrimp over the weekend to help more with eating uneaten food, hopefully those can look after themselves.

 

[namxas]

rather than the fire shrimp, invest in a few Nassarius snails. they'll happily clean up excess food.

 

[Allmost]

rather than the fire shrimp, invest in a few Nassarius snails. they'll happily clean up excess food.

hmm good Idea, but I have a DSB in the seahorse tank, hmmm would those snails be fine with a DSB ? I kow they like burriyng themselves in it.

are the blood shrimps not safe ? or is this just better choice ? cause I wanna give the seahorse tank a bit more life/action with the shrimp

 

[namxas]

if you're just looking for some movement, consider adding a few nice-looking guppies or mollies to the tank. they won't bother the SH, and they'll add some color and movement to the tank. mollies will even pick at algae.

they do fine in normal SW, as long as you acclimate them slowly. to be honest, i have a couple of guppies that were uneaten feeders simply switch to SW and they're living in a NC12 with our barnacle blennies.

 

[Allmost]

if you're just looking for some movement, consider adding a few nice-looking guppies or mollies to the tank. they won't bother the SH, and they'll add some color and movement to the tank. mollies will even pick at algae.

they do fine in normal SW, as long as you acclimate them slowly. to be honest, i have a couple of guppies that were uneaten feeders simply switch to SW and they're living in a NC12 with our barnacle blennies.

yap I have a dedicated SW molly tank and 3 others to raise their fry they are food for my black ribbon eall

OOPPS I meant, I didnt get the black ribbon haha

I heard mollies will pick on seahorses though !

oh and my seahorse eat 1 day old molly fry I sometimes give them a couple. once every couple weeks.

 

[namxas]

i suppose a molly might pick on a SH that has algae growth on it, but i've never heard of it happening in the circles i travel in. IMHO, a fire shrimp would be far more likely to pick on a SH.

 

[Allmost]

okay so just to update on this.

Peppermint shrimp have been doing amazing in the seahorse tank, they even wait for seahorses to eat and then move in to eat the left over, they already had babies twice in the seahorse tank, and the seahores eat all the babies(not sure if nutrition is good, but still some live food so cant be taht bad)

the fire shrimp was removed last night, cause it likes to pick on seahorses at night and I see the seahorses being annoyed by it.,

 

[namxas]

Peppermint nauplii are an excellent food for SH.