Seahorses and Montipora coral

[mars6390]

I saw on the seahorse tankmates page that Montipora corals were given a 3 (a bit of a gamble). I have read that montipora are peaceful corals. Do they sting? Why are they a potential problem for seahorse tanks?

Marcus

 

[pledosophy]

Seahorse will do more damage to the monti then the monti will do to the seahorse.

Under normal circumstances ideal conditions for both species contradict each other, one liking high flow and high light, the other low flow and lower light. Temp is also an issue.

IMO it can be done if done carefully.

JMO

 

[Fredfish]

Oops, messed up post.

 

[Fredfish]

Which montipora? M. digitata is actually a very forgiving coral that will grow well in a range of conditions. It is considered a good beginner coral.

It has a very mild sting and will probably not be able to penetrate the skin of the seahorse.

IMO, seahorses do not have any particular issue with higher light tanks as long as you can manage the tank temperature.

What size tank are you using? Something like the smallest Tunze nanostream in a 40g tank would provide lots of flow for your Montipora and still be good for horses.

Fred

 

[HorseoftheSea]

but you have to remember that montipora being an sps is used to high rates of flow , which seahorses arent very fond of past a
certain extent

 

[whatnot45]

You could easily aquascape the tank so that there is one area of high flow for the monti, and the rest of the tank not so high for the seahorses. Seahorses dont mind high flow, as long as there are places they can go to escape it when they get tired.

 

[Fredfish]

One of the biggest myths in this hobby is that there is such a thing as an 'sps coral' and that it needs high light and high flow.

Dr. Veron tells us that M. digitata can be a dominant coral on mud flats. This is not a high flow environment

Another problem. Which montipora. Again, according to Dr. Veron, it is the second most abundant genus in terms of species. No doubt they occupy a wide range of habitats that cover a range of water flow conditions.

I kept M. digitata in a 650g tank with a flow of 750gph, not a particularly high flow tank. The coral was not even loacted in the highest flow area, yet it grew quite quickly.

Here is what I would do. M. digitata and plating montiporas like M. capricornis are very common in the hobby and not particularly expensive. Get a small frag of which ever Montipora you are looking at and put it in your tank to see how it does.

Fred