seahorse tank size etc...

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whipit

New member
I have always wanted to try seahorses and I want to turn a 55 gallon reef tank into a seahorse tank. I recently setup a 125 rr tank and I am going to move the corals and fish into the larger tank and use the old 55 gallon. this is how the old 55 is setup. I have a 1400 remora pro skimmer, hob fuge loaded with pods and cheato appox 80 lbs of live sand and 75 lbs of live rock and 3 K2's for flow and a 4 x 54 watt T5 w/ mh light this tank has been up and running a year and a half and is very stable. I would like 3 pairs of tank bred SH's.
any advise on equipment ,flow, lighting is welcome also inverts and fish that I can have with seahorses or maybe a good website with lots of info would be great. I have sucess keeping 1 mandarin in each of my other tanks and I wonder how much harder seahorses would be? I also hatch brine for my mandarin's.. sorry so long winded I just have a lot of thoughts on this subject and I want it done right the first time
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Cindy
 
This is one really good looking place I found to get them from.
Any species in mind? Check out the Seahorse.org library, it will give you a ton of ideas on tank mates and most your other questions, just poke around and you should be able to find some of what you're looking for.

Edited to add(ETA):seahorse.com is another place to get the horses from, their prices are a bit steeper, though. they also have some info on SH, too.
 
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One concern would possibly be the flow. Seahorses won't like the kind of flow you have in a reef tank; they like a calmer flow.
 
The metal halide might be out; the light itself isn't a problem but it could cause the tank to be too warm. Seahorses do best at temps cooler than reefs, even the topical species. I'd plan to have the tank less than 75 degrees, and this may vary with species as well.

You'll also want to evaluate if there is enough open space with your rock - Live rock is good for seahorses but they also need open spaces.

Seahorses take more daily and weekly care than a mandarin. You'll have to feed a couple times a day. Frozen mysis is generally preferred and a suitable staple diet, though mixing it up a bit now and again is good.
 
Octoshark said:
One concern would possibly be the flow. Seahorses won't like the kind of flow you have in a reef tank; they like a calmer flow.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but this is the equivalent of an old wives tale.
You can have areas of low, medium and high flow in the tank, with hitches for the seahorses to fasten to in the area of their choice.
Some of my seahorses like to swim into the power head output and get thrown along the tank, only to go back and do it again. (not a full time occupation though)
 
thanks guy's I plan to adjust the flow, heat and not use Mh's I was thinking getting tank raised erctus 3 pairs at seahorse sourse I hear they are really good and they guarantee they are eating on their own. the tank is fully estabished and will stay that way as I move things over to the new tank when cycled in. I read the ponies should be acclimated in the dark as not to stress them too much and some good tank mates are firefish and bangii which are two of my favorites:)
Thanks rayjay I too heard they prefer several differant flow area's:)
 
If you plan on using the K's, cover them up with mesh. The seahorse can/will get their tails stuck in there & it can cause damage. Do you plan on using a feeding dish? Look on the org at their tankmate guide, it will help you with your tankmate selection.

Have fun with them,

tim
 
Thanks Tim, I was wondering about the Koralias yes I will put mesh over them if I decide to use them or maybe I will find another way to get the right amount of flow?
 
w/ 80 lbs of sand in a standard 55 gallon, how much depth does that leave you? It won't matter if you don't want your horses to mate and you don't mind seeing dropped eggs on the bottom of the tank. Otherwise, it is generally recommended that you have 3x's the uncurled height of the seahorse.
 
Turnover in my SH tank is around 20x or so, plus a nano wavebox... 10x of it is through a 2" pipe, so it is very low velocity flow (its pointed straight at the sandbed and doesnt disturb it). The other 10x comes from a maxijet directed 3/4 of the way up across the back of the tank to create counterclockwise flow (this is a high flow area), the wavebox doesnt add much to the total flow but makes things sway a bit (directly in front of the wavebox is a high flow area). Most of the tank is low velocity flow, a few areas are medium flow, and the two areas are high flow areas). The SHs do really well in my setup, and swim wherever they want to without being blown around (unless they want to, of course... but thats another story).
 
rayjay said:
Sorry, but this is the equivalent of an old wives tale.
You can have areas of low, medium and high flow in the tank, with hitches for the seahorses to fasten to in the area of their choice.
Some of my seahorses like to swim into the power head output and get thrown along the tank, only to go back and do it again. (not a full time occupation though)
Click to expand...

I don't know that it's an old wives tale, as many reefs have an insane amount of flow to simulate the crashing waves of a reef. However, I think there has been a general trend in understanding that seahorses are okay with more than just a trickle of flow. 3x-5x used to be the standard recommendation, but now 10x and even 20x is more common. The flow in most serious reef tanks start at 20x turn over and its not uncommon seeing people with 50x turn over. That wouldn't be a good environment for most seahorses.

I keep my most my seahorses at around 10x turn over. I started that a few years ago on accident but the seahorses seemed much happier, and the tank did better. The exception being dwarf seahorses, which could probably actually handle higher flow than my air powered filter puts out, but I don't want to filter out their food.


As rayjay touched upon, you can create areas of different flow. Shelter areas are important. Though they do well at higher flow rates, they still need calmer areas to rest.

Also, as you mention, creating areas of different types of flow is important.
 
FishGrrl said:
I don't know that it's an old wives tale, as many reefs have an insane amount of flow to simulate the crashing waves of a reef. However, I think there has been a general trend in understanding that seahorses are okay with more than just a trickle of flow. 3x-5x used to be the standard recommendation, but now 10x and even 20x is more common.
Click to expand...

Well said ;)

Thank you for addressing that.
 
Well I never took into account the flows that one would use in a tank with sps in it as a seahorse, IMO, should never be in a tank like that anyway. I won't put seahorses in any of my reef tanks as I would have to remove corals, anemone and clams that I like to have in them that can be problematic for seahorses.
My seahorse tanks have varying flows, mostly with high flow at 10 to 12 but one has a better pump and does about 14 times turnover and it's not even close to being a problem.
I haven't done it but don't see why a 20 times flow would be a problem, unless you didn't have low and medium flow areas like originally mentioned. I'm sure the seahorses would learn to avoid such high flow as I have some that avoid flows now, that other seahorses play in.
That being said, I don't think you could have areas of low flow in a tank with 50 times turnover so that couldn't be used anyway.
 
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