Seahorses and flow

[hatfielj]

Hi, I have a 50 gal rubbermaid refugium/fragtank/mangrove tank that is plumbed into my main system and I recently decided I'd like to try my hand at raising seahorses. I picked up a tank bred seahorse juvenile yesterday and so far it looks as if he's really liking his new tank all to himself. There are TONS of pods in there along with mangroves, macroalgae and frag racks to hang on to.
My question is: Is it possible to continue using it as a frag tank with a single powerhead running for the frags or am I going to have to stop using it as a frag tank? When I turn the powerhead on he seems to do pretty well with staying completely away from it and swimming from place to place. However, I'm too scared he's going to get sucked into it that I'm afraid to leave it on if I'm not there watching.
Does any one else have any experience with seahorses and small powerheads?
Thanks

 

[rayjay]

Check out this thread. HOB instead of power head but the same thing can happen.
You can also have problems with bacterial disease due to running at higher temperatures than the normal temps that control the bacteria better.
As for frags, if you have any that "sting", then that can be a problem for the horses as well because they tend to grab on to anything handy.

emergency thread

 

[pledosophy]

I have used maxijets, koralia nano's, and Seio's with the fish guard with seahorses and been fine. For the corals the later two might be best.

As long as there is an area of rest I wouldn't worry about the flow to much. IME seahorses will "toughen up" to it in time. I have quite a bit of flow in my horse tank.

Seahorses do better in lower temps IME.

If you didn't buy from a breeder I'd check and see if the horse was CB at a facility or tank bred meaning born in the ocean and kept in nets, moved to a tank trained to frozen and then sold. The latter have some special needs IME.

HTH

 

[hatfielj]

What fish gaurd are you talk about? Is this just a barrier around the pump to prevent the seahorse from getting too close?
I'm not sure if my seahorse is captive bred or just tank raised yet, but I am going to find out today.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[rayjay]

I believe that some power heads come with protective parts to cover the intake for cases like this, but the Hagens that I use do not.
In my horse tank I just hot glued a aquarium heater protector sleeve to the intake of the power head. In the seahorse quarantine tank, I glued a hydroponic mini basket over the intake.
I prefer the smaller openings of the heater guard now that I've done both.

 

[pledosophy]

Seio's come with a fish guard. It's in the box when you buy them. It slips over the intake/output and has a directional nozzle.

Maybe my original reply was a bit confusing, my bad. I have used maxijets and koralia nano's with success. I have also used Seio's with the fish guard attachment with success. Is that more clear?

 

[hatfielj]

Thanks, no your reply wasn't that confusing. I was just curious if there was some sort of product specifically designed for seahorses that I wasn't aware of.
So far I've had pretty good luck with the koralia that I have running. He seems to do very well with the flow. There are multiple mangrove stalks to hold on to at the opposite end of the tank. Also I have a lot of frag rack area for him to grab on to and he seems to do well with that.

 

[louie07]

What gph is the powerhead? the flow should be 10-20 times the tank gallons to be safe. be careful with the korelia's, they can suck your poor seahorse in if it is too powerful!

 

[Lightsluvr]

Huh?

Huh?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14195895#post14195895 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by louie07
What gph is the powerhead? the flow should be 10-20 times the tank gallons to be safe. be careful with the korelia's, they can suck your poor seahorse in if it is too powerful!

Louie, there you go again...

Do you keep seahorses? How do you know what you state above as fact?

I have kept seahorses for nearly two years with Koralia powerheads, and have never seen a healthy (or sick for that matter) seahorse get "sucked" into a Koralia powerhead...

If you have no experience on a subject, please resist the urge to hypothesize...

Thanks.

LL

 

[Driftwood]

I find it best to state weather or not something is being stated from experience or from reading. The advice can be helpful even if it is not from experience but the reader should be able to judge based on if it is learned or experienced.

If you've ever used a koralia powerhead there is no real suction on those pumps...